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Trying to get to Italy on Lufthansa ruined the start of our ski holiday. We were lucky to get there a day later on Air Canada and Alitalia. Here's the sad story: By Ed Pollock Our travel agency, Ultimate Destinations organized an escorted seniors' group ski trip to Italy, every winter from 2004 to 2009. In 2007, our trip to Italy had been planned and ticketed on flights scheduled to leave Toronto Friday March 2nd, 2007 at suppertime, arriving in Frankfurt early Saturday morning and leaving Frankfurt three hours later for the final flight to Verona Italy. Arrangements had been made for the 2-hour private bus transfer from Verona to the ski resort hotel in the Alps in Moena. Two of our group were booked on Lufthansa - myself, Edward Pollock, the tour escort and author of this report and John Gallagher, who had been on all but one of my previous trips. The others were booked on Air Canada. John and I were booked on Lufthansa Flight 471, scheduled to depart from Toronto Friday, March 2nd at 5:30 pm, to arrive in Frankfurt at 7:25 am Saturday morning, to connect with Lufthansa Flight 3944 leaving Frankfurt at 10:25 am, scheduled to arrive in Verona Italy at 11:50 am. The entire trip package, including flights, ground transfers and accommodation was sold to clients by Ultimate Destination travel agency and booked and prepaid with Manditours International Inc. Richmond Hill ON. However, Mandi Tours did not issue the Lufthansa flight tickets. Mandi Tours booked the flights with Voyages Intair TR, who issued the tickets for the flights. Both of us, Ed Pollock and John Gallagher checked by telephone prior to leaving for the airport Friday and were told the flight from Toronto was scheduled to leave on time. We arrived at the airport separately, about three hours prior to flight time, checked in our luggage in and both of us were told at the check-in that the flight was scheduled to leave on time. We proceeded to the departure lounge separately and at that point met up with each other. We noted that the information at the departure lounge notice boards still showed that the flight was scheduled to leave on time. But when it came time to depart, the two Lufthansa staff members at the gate informed those who asked, that the plane was on its way from Montreal and had been delayed, but should be arriving shortly. The notice boards continued to show departure times right up until that departure time had passed, after which they changed to a later departure time. This scenario continued to repeat itself all evening, including the Lufthansa gate employees' insistences that the plane was on its way from Montreal. One of the passengers used the public telephone at Pearson airport to call Lufthansa's information number. The passenger was told that the aircraft that was supposed to be coming from Montreal was experiencing problems and had to return to Montreal airport. The passenger was told that the aircraft was originally scheduled to arrive in Toronto the previous day, but had to stop in Montreal because of the weather in Toronto. The aircraft had waited on the ground for the weather in Toronto to clear, and had kept the engines running on the ground, hoping to be able to continue to Toronto and this may have been the reason the plane was experiencing equipment difficulty. But the Lufthansa gate staff at Pearson continued to tell people that the plane was on its way from Montreal and the notice boards continued to show a later and later time right up until 11:30 pm when an announcement was finally made that the flight had been cancelled and passengers would have to pick up their luggage. It was later on when there was another announcement telling passengers which carousel would have their luggage. No announcement was made to tell passengers what to do other than to pick up their luggage. It took more than an hour for all the luggage to finally reach the carousel. Passengers had no idea what they should do. Many had travelled a long way to reach Pearson airport and the Lufthansa check-in desk was being mobbed by them as they tried to arrange hotel accommodation for those who required it. No attempt was offered or being made to contact anyone at the passengers' points of arrival to make alternative arrangements or adjustments for transfers or accommodation missed because of the flight cancellation per IATA's requirements. By the time Pollock and Gallagher finally got their luggage and returned to the Lufthansa check-in area, there was not one Lufthansa employee there (or anyone else, for that matter). So Ed Pollock and John Gallagher arranged their own transportation to their homes in Oakville and Milton respectively. Ed Pollock, the tour escort tried to get in touch with transfer people who were to meet them in Verona, but it was impossible to reach them before they reached Verona airport to wait for the two passengers who were not going to arrive. When Ed Pollock called Lufthansa the next morning, he was first connected to the Lufthansa's U.S. phone service. The person there had no information and said he could not confirm Pollock and Gallagher on the Saturday flight. Later on the Lufthansa phone help desk in Canada said the same thing, but suggested that they would be confirmed at the airport. Just to be on the safe side, before leaving for the airport, Ed Pollock got on the computer and checked seats available on flights from Toronto connecting with flights to Verona Italy leaving Saturday March 3rd arriving Sunday March 4th, 2007 and took the printout with him to the airport. On arrival at the airport, Pollock and Gallagher were told they could not be confirmed on the Lufthansa flight and their luggage could not be checked in because there were no seats available, because there was only one aircraft and there were too many people left over from the previous day's flights that had been cancelled. This was surprising news, since Lufthansa should have had more than enough time from the previous day to arrange for aircraft to make sure they could accommodate all the people that had been left over from the previous day's flight that had been cancelled due to equipment problems (not the weather). When nearly everyone else had been checked in and confirmed on Lufthansa or other flights, Ed Pollock approached the one lady that everyone else working for Lufthansa seemed to have to come to in order to get anything done, and showed her the printout which showed that seats were available on an Air Canada flight to Rome connecting with an Alitilia flight to Verona. She immediately went on her computer and booked John Gallagher and Ed Pollock on the flights and filled out the ticket forms. No one offered to or said they would call the hotel in Italy to change the transfer arrival time in Verona. If Ed Pollock had not had the information on the Air Canada flight to Italy along with the Alitalia flight to Verona, it was almost certain Ed Pollock and John Gallagher would have lost the second day of their six day's skiing vacation, and who knows when Lufthansa would have been able to get them there? Pollock and Gallagher had just enough time to check in their luggage and board the Air Canada flight to Rome. They arrived in Rome on Sunday morning, and had a five hour wait for the flight to Verona. They went to the Lufthansa desk in Rome, and the manager there immediately confirmed that in circumstances when a flight had been delayed or cancelled due to equipment problems, the airline was responsible to notify the destination of the change, and he did so immediately without question and was very pleasant about it, unlike the Lufthansa manager at Toronto Pearson, who provided no help whatsoever. Ed Pollock called Mandi Tours from Pearson to tell them the Lufthansa flight the night before had been cancelled and there were problems getting seats on the Saturday flight. He was not able to reach them again by the time arrangements had been made for the Air Canada flight. So Mandi Tours did not know Pollock and Gallagher were not on the Saturday Lufthansa flight and consequently were unable change the arrangements for the transfer from the airport to the hotel again. So two transfers were missed - one on Saturday and again on Sunday. After having a meal during the long wait between flights at the Fiumicino airport in Rome, Pollock and Gallagher were met after the flight to Verona by the twice previously delayed transfer driver and driven to their hotel in Moena, Val di Fassa. In Moena, they met up with the other members of their group who had left Toronto on the Friday evening on their Air Canada flight and had arrived at the ski resort a little late but had not missed out on any days of their six-day ski vacation. The return flights on Lufthansa at the end of the ski vacation were uneventful. The value of the ski vacation, which cost more than $3,000.00 and had been shortened and reduced nearly 17% - as well as resulting in significant additional out-of-pocket expenses due to Lufthansa's inability to deliver the services contracted for and their refusal to accept any responsibility for not being unable to deal with the problem in a satisfactory manner prompted this report. The situation was not just a problem that could not have been avoided, if Lufthansa had been "on the ball". The problem began when the aircraft that should have been in Toronto was not there - almost a whole day after the aircraft ended up in the wrong place. This led to the flight cancellation. Then to make matters worse, another whole day later Lufthansa still faced a the now bigger problem of accommodating all the passengers. If Lufthansa was a little guy with only a few aircraft, this might be understandable. But Lufthansa is not a little guy. The situation that Lufthansa found itself in is not unique in the air transport industry. It happens often. But Lufthansa did not deal with it satisfactorily. Various parties involved were contacted both verbally (whenever possible) and in writing. Below are excerpts of four of the pertinent documents:
Footnote: Ed Pollock spoke to Rosso de Gregorio of Mandi tours recently and was informed that Mandi Tours paid for the delayed and missed transfers and received no re-imbursement for this considerable expense. Ed Pollock and John Gallagher received no re-imbursement for their additional expenses or losses. |
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