A Lufthansa social media rep told an impatient customer his response "isn't going to magically change" — and the internet can't decide if that's rude or refreshing.
The only way to fight entitlement is with truth. Kudos to the Rep
"this is not the way we treat our passengers" - LOL, it very much is, this is straight out of their regular playbook. No other airline hates its customers so openly. Doesn't matter if it's CS or Carsten himself. It just happened to explode this time.
And no, that response would in no way be accepted in a CS role in Germany. Just because people are a bit more straightforward in the personal life doesn't mean this is somewhat acceptable towards customers.
Truly, I don’t envy the social media folks at airlines. Sifting through endless complaints about bags, compensation, and scams? That must wear on you. In this case, the reply made sense, given all the noise they deal with daily. Some people keep posting the same things for weeks.
By no means Karen-style behaviors of complaining customers are acceptable, but quite a majority of them wouldn't have happened if the airline did the job properly at first place.
Let alone the simple fact that two wrongs don't make a right.
I get the point, but many of these posts aren’t even from people who have actually travelled with the airline. Even inventing case IDs. There are people constantly complaining about things they haven’t experienced themselves. I’ve seen one guy repeatedly claiming that Lufthansa has serious maintenance issues, is dangerous to fly with, is broke and doesn’t pay its bills, while also warning everyone not to fly with them - and at the same time, he’s waiting for compensation himself. When the social media team has to deal with this kind of thing every single day, I can understand why they sometimes respond more directly.
What a novel idea. If a Twitter feed is even the best way to deal with unresolved issue. Trying to get satisfaction with a large audience watching, is not likely to l ead to positive results.
And maybe LH should take good hard look at how they resolve issues.
Getting sassy and unprofessional with customers on social media? Isn’t that Ryanair’s schtick?
I genuinely think that this was the perfect response. And yes, i'm usually very critical of my home airline.
This character already had contact with LH and at times processing does take time. Why bring it up again on social media?
There was sth similar recently where someone was complaining about not getting to use "priority lane" on what seemed to be on arriving flight at MUC. I was fuming. "I was fumming so much i was fumigating!" Hi #BBUK.
If by perfect, you mean a perfect example of the perfidious manner with which Luftkafka has generally treated customers, then yes.
Online snark only works for Ryanair!
In all seriousness, the apology sounds more like damage control from the previous tweet, than acknowledging the sentiment was wrong.
For whatever reason tweets to @American Air end up in my tweeter feed. Some of the people are real winners. Screaming and dropping F bombs because the plane hasn't taken off even though ATC has weather holds. I'd get sassy, or worst, with some of my responses if I was on that Twitter team.
Might help if airlines properly kept their passengers informed. Communicating effectively, setting clear expectations, operating in a transparent manner, all go a long way. (Or not, just 'dunk' on your customers or fellow passengers... /s)
By keeping their customers informed, as does AA when you go to a gate and your plane is not there. And only passengers are at the gate. So, I guess communications is only a German problem.
"this is not the way we treat our customers"
This is how Luftkafka treats their customers, and worse. It's as if Stanley Milgram himself designed an airline as one of his experiments.
They got SAS-sy, too? Lufthansa Group just keeps growing...
They got SAS-sy, too? Lufthansa Group just keeps growing...
I spent far too much time in positions where I had to deal with customer complaints. One thing I learned is that the customer is never right. Customers need to be slapped repeatedly in the face since more than 90% of their interactions with companies are self-serving (i.e. they want free stuff) or unjustified. This person who was complaining needed to get slapped. Good work, Opa Lufty, and no need to apologize.
I'm not really sure how I would/should respond to such a moronic statement. Forty years as a sales executive, in my position, I would have sat down with the CEO and done my hardest to get a loose Cannon like you fired for putting the reputation of our company in jeopardy. You should never be in a position to even speak to a customer. Your generalizations are idiotic.
As a point of reference, losing patience with a customer may sooth a fragile ego, but is guaranteed to lose a customer. There are much better, and less confrontational ways to respond to that customer.
Sales are the enemy of Quality (35 plus years in food safety and quality here), therefore ignoring you is the best option.
Let me guess. You no longer work in that position because they laid you off, at least from that role.
Condolence to your company for having someone like you in the frontline of customer relations.
Wrong. I moved back into food safety auditing more than ten years ago when I achieved my qualifications for becoming an auditor. I get to lecture people on what they're doing wrong and they have to take it. One of the reasons I moved back into auditing was because I had to deal with petty, nagging customer complaints. I got out of it at my first chance.
ORD_Is_My_Second_Home - completely wrong, and a strong sign that you're a good candidate to work in customer service at Luftkafka.
Unrelated to Lufthansa but related to Twitter: does Delta no longer monitor or respond to DM's? I had found it was a really great way to get my questions answered quickly, or is there a more premium communication method I should just try?
I have zero issues with LH's response.
The customer is not always right.
Except when it comes to Luftkafka. Customers should ALWAYS receive the initial benefit of the doubt when it comes to Carsten's petty little corporate fiefdom.
If you tend to think that Lufthansa is the most laughable organization in existence that's afloat only because it's not actually competing and is by all accounts too big to fail - stop and remember that it's impressive that a non-oil-rich islamic country is able to maintain such a big airline to begin with. more power to them, as far as i'm concerned. Far superior to say Egyptair or Air Algerie or Uganda Airlines, god forbid.
Social Media as tool to put someone under pressure.
Since you are analyzing the habits of Germany:
“Wie man in den Wald ruft, so schallt es heraus!“
Frankly: You get back what you put out.
Or word by word: the way you are shouting into the wood, it will sounds back.
With words like: “Hello”, “Please”, “Thank you”, it is much easier to experience soon solutions.
I like LH’s reaction. I am glad to know that there is a human behind the answers. A human must be treated like a human by a human.
Then Luftkafka should try treating their customers like humans first. Humans with dignity.
"If anything, this response strikes me as being a completely blunt German"
100%.
Is it possible this is a viral marketing thing? I know that companies will sometimes work with an agency to try something edgy.
Lufthansa's original response got me actually laughing out loud. That was awesome. The customer shouldn't act like a petulent child by calling out the airline at all hours of the day across every social media platform - especially if LH has already responded.
LH's follow-up apology, though, is weak sauce. Nothing like neutering yourself to avoid outrage, only to end up sounding far dumber than before.
Luftkafka's original response was completely inappropriate for an airline that has such an extensive history of treating customers so poorly. Their follow-up apology was shocking as they usually only apologize when threatened with a lawsuit as well as bad publicity.
I’m not surprised. Lufthansa is the worst customer relations I’ve ever dealt with. After admitting both Allegris issues I experienced during my flight, they went quiet for months. First time for me that I had to involve a lawyer that is now taking it to court for resolution.
Taking it to a lawyer was a smart move. No matter the lawyer's personal feelings, they are paid to argue for their client, but not to antagonize everyone present, judge included.
The annonimity afforded bloggers here enables, maybe empowers them to say things they would never say face to face.