[Resolved]  Lufthansa — Cancelled Flight / Missing Luggage / Service / No answer to 3 registered letters

Dear Sir / Madam,

It is with great regret that I write this letter of complaint and hope that a concerted effort is made not to repeat the experience that we as a family had on your airline !

I took my flight on the 25th of November 07 from London Heathrow. Flight 4725 (Trip Locator ZZX68R) to Mumbai (India) via Frankfurt.

The flight was delayed due to a “backlog” of landing flights I was informed and my ongoing connecting flight to Mumbai took off stranding us all in Frankfurt all day.

I had to wait at Frankfurt airport for over 11 hours !! until I was put on an Itihad flight via Abu Dhabi stopover, causing further delays in my business schedule.

I consequently missed my internal flight to Bangalore ; my meetings were postponed ; my pick up vehicle cancelled costing me more money ; I had already spent over £ 45 on phone calls ; a further £ 25 on my meals ( I was given 15 Euro meal coupons by the airline which was an insult !) ; and my Duty free purchase was “lost” due to the fact that I had to leave the transit area and re-enter the airport security system as I was forced to obtain an Itihad Flight Boarding pass !!

It got better !! At 10.25 pm at night the flight was delayed due to my bags that were misplaced by Lufthansa !! I very nearly missed that flight due to the mismanagement of the luggage in transit !!

I finally arrived in Mumbai nearly a day late, having missed my connecting flight to Bangalore / pick up and my business meeting.

My wife and two children joined me for our holiday in late December and we returned via India by Lufthansa on the 3rd of January 2008, via Frankfurt (Flight 4724) Locator ZZX68R.

We were kept waiting at the luggage carousel at Heathrow, for over 45 minutes when an announcement was made that our luggage ALL OF IT, was misplaced and not on our flight!! They promised to bring our bags (6 in all) to our home later that day.

This did NOT happen!! The luggage arrived the next day late in the morning!!

My children and I had certain medication that was in the luggage (due to security etc) and my Office papers / laptop and other urgent items that were required urgently and inaccessible due to the misplaced baggage.

To cap it all Two of our suitcases had large gashes at the side and were damaged badly and will need to be replaced.

I will now list my costs / expenditure incurred that will have to be re-imbursed by Lufthansa:

• Phone calls from Frankfurt etc. £ 45.
• Meals at Frankfurt airport. £ 25.
• Duty Free items not allowed by security at Frankfurt. £ 30.
• Private Taxi pick up cancellation and re-arrangement approx. £ 27.
• Connecting Flight to Bangalore cancelled and re-arranged. £ 60.
• Private Taxi pick up cost re-arranged at Bangalore. £ 20.
• Meals in Transit (ie: Abu Dhabi etc). £ 20.
• Cost of Antler suitcase replacement. (damaged in transit) £ 170.
• Cost of Carlton suitcase replacement. (damaged in transit) £ 120.
• Due to the delay on the 3rd Jan 08, we missed our pick up at Heathrow airport and I had to pay £ 45 to be dropped off.

I cannot start to write down the cost of the inconvenience and time and business disruption caused due to the above fiasco!!

In conclusion:

I want complete re-imbursement of my legitimate expenses that I have incurred and listed above, amounting to £ 562.

Four return tickets to India and back (valid up to a year). This is to compensate for the horrible experience we have had on our “holiday”.

I await your reply in the above matter and I am prepared to take this further with the relevant authorities; the Media (that I am associated with) and my legal representatives to bring to light our horrific ordeal / experience.