 Ronn Torossian |
As the holiday loomed, Lufthansa tried to offer a compromise, but the pilots refused. That created a perfect storm for the airline: more than 340,000 passengers were stranded after nearly 2,800 flights were canceled during one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.
Frantic customers rushed online to check their flight status. Meanwhile, the airline told affected customers they would not be charged a fee to rebook their flights. This communication didn’t sit well with customers: they were trying to get home or to see family for the holiday only to be told, “sorry, no dice,” and the airline offered next to nothing for the inconvenience. Effectively “not charging” someone to be inconvenienced is not a perk, and the airline heard about that incessantly all week.
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Meanwhile, Lufthansa is already out the cost of thousands of hotel rooms for stranded customers and even set up cots in terminals because some customers can’t leave the airport due to visa restrictions.
Casual consumers viewing the dispute with pilots from the outside can’t really find much sympathy for the airline’s position. Lufthansa pilots have gone without raises for more than five years, and they’re currently asking for an average annual increase of about 3.7 percent. Bolstering that request, the pilots point to what they call “record profits” at the airline and massive pay raises for company executives and board members.
The airline, meanwhile, says its pilots should be happy because they’re getting more than pilots at other airlines. But you know who isn’t happy? Customers. They’re righteously indignant about getting left out in the cold during the “most wonderful time of the year,” and they’re not about to let the airline forget it.
This is a reality Lufthansa needs to consider in its calculations going forward. At present, the airline doesn’t seem to want to hear either its pilots or its customers. There’s no getting around how bad that appears from the outside looking in.
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Ronn Torossian is CEO of 5WPR, one of the leading PR firms in the U.S., with travel clients including Cheapoair.com and Reservations.com
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