European airlines

My journey started in Bangkok. I needed a cheap option to get to Europe. I found a ticket from Eurowings for ~$250.

The first problem happened during the booking process, they changed the currency to Thai Baht and there was no way to change it back. So it added up extra ~10EUR to the price from Skyscanner, because they had their own “special” exchange rate.

On the day of departure flight was delayed for 35 minutes. Not a good sign.

35 minutes later we boarded the plane, sat there for 5 minutes and were asked to leave again. Another delay. They said mechanics are working to check on something. Even worse…

I tried to check the information on how to change the (connecting) flight or get some kind of the refund. I started calling Eurowings. “Your call is very important, the operator will answer in 30 minutes”. When you call from abroad and someone will answer to you only in 30 minutes — that doesn’t seem important at all.

I tried email. I got an instant reply: “Thank you very much for taking the time to contact us. Your issue is important to us and has been forwarded to a customer service representative. Your request will be processed within 6 weeks.” Hell yeah! That’s really important, 6 weeks!

Ground staff at Bangkok airport said I need to ask for the assistance from the staff at Munich Airport. Okay.

2 hours and 10 minutes later we finally left Bangkok.

Eurowings

I must say, it was the first time I was sitting on the huge plane with such tiny seats. It’s understandable when low-cost airlines, like AirAsia, will make their planes with legroom below average, but those flights usually take 1–2 hours, so it’s okay. But this was 10.5-hour flight. Capital G for Greed.

Another thing was the meals. Basic ticket price does not include any food. The funny thing is that it’s not obvious at the moment when you buy the ticket. There are different fares, the basic one says: no luggage, no refund, no changes. Typical, and that’s okay. Next level includes something called SMART-Meal. Another pricing level includes BEST-Meal. It sounds like SMART-Meal is something better, and BEST-Meal is just the best. But it’s not, it means that the basic fare doesn’t include any meal at all. They will only provide the complimentary tea (or coffee) and that’s all. On almost 11 hour flight.

Can you tell that meal is not included in the Basic fare?

But I think it’s very logical from their point of view because if you visit https://www.eurowings.com/en/information/fares.html you will see all the information. Obvious, isn’t it?

Sarcasm, if you are Sheldon-type. Why don’t simply include in the options list “No meal included”? I would’ve bought something in 7–11 before departure. Or is it the point, so people would starve on board and would be forced to pay for overpriced food, which should’ve been included in the basic fare? G for Greed.

To compare, 2 years ago I took a flight Bangkok-Paris with a stopover in Delhi. So it wasn’t a direct flight, the price was the same (more or less). Well, to be honest, it also wasn’t a perfect flight. During stopover Indians stole my drinking bottle and the flight attendant on Delhi-Paris journey of the flight forgot to give me my meal. He literally passed me with his food tray and while I was trying to get any attention (I pressed that button on the chair), they gave away all the food!

But hey, there was a choice of drinks, including the alcohol. Seats were normal size. So it was much better than what Eurowings can offer for the same price.

In total, Eurowings offered a 10.5-hour flight with no food an no sleep. Adding 2h10m delay to that. Making me miss my connecting flight.

Vueling

But here is another story about another European airline — Vueling.

Technically I still had a few minutes to try to board the next plane, so I run from T2 to T1. The check-in was already closed but staff still tried to look me up on their computer… but it showed no results. I showed them my email confirmation, but the confirmation number didn’t exist. They didn’t know what to do, maybe it was because the official check-in time was over and I was late (fuck you Eurowings).

Later, because Germany can’t make a decent public WiFi hotspot for many years now… Actually, I also want to mention it. Germany is probably one of the worst countries in the world if you talk about the Internet. SIM cards are expensive to buy, any public WiFi connection is impossible to use. WTF?. Anyway, I didn’t have the Internet connection to see the email. It was delivered to me at 7:40 pm, 5 minutes before check-in closed. Amazing timing, huh?

The email said: ERROR BOOKING VUELING

Alerta Booking cancelled

We would like to inform you that due to problems with the payment, your booking could not be processed.

And yet, my bank statement says different

And now I wonder, they charged me for this flight, I can see the deduction in my bank statement. They kept my money for 2 weeks (since I booked the flight). And only 5 minutes before the departure I got an email that my booking was cancelled. But I was in Germany, I couldn’t see that email, because Germans can’t make a decent public WiFi connection even at the airport.

Vueling doesn’t have an office in Munich, you have to deal with them on the phone. But they work only from 9 am to 9 pm. So if you are in another timezone or you have an early flight (before 9 am), you are fucked. They don’t care about you.

So the next day I called them, finally, I got a person on the line. It obviously takes you a few minutes to contact them, because “if you want blah-blah-blah, press 1”. Customer’s service at its best.

I deeply regret that I didn’t record the conversation, primarily because I didn’t expect anyone to answer. They didn’t answer my last 5 calls, why should they answer this one? But they did. The women on the other end of the phone line checked my booking and said that booking was cancelled, as it is said in the email and the refund is on its way, so I have nothing to worry about.

WHAT? They cancelled my booking 5 minutes before check-in time and that’s okay because they will give me a refund. And what about the fact that I have booked accommodation in Spain and it’s 9 pm and I’m stuck at Munich airport?

I was polite enough, but I got a weird reply: “I don’t understand the question, what do you ask me to do? We already processed your payment and soon you should get your money back. So fuck off”.

Okay, I added the last sentence, she didn’t say to fuck off. But that was the tone of the conversation. We are giving you your money back, so no more questions to us. And the fact that I should’ve been in another country, but instead I stuck in Germany, it’s not a big deal, apparently.

Before I saw the email from Vueling, I thought I simply missed the flight. Even with the technical difficulty to find me in their system, I was late for my check-in time anyway. So I went to confront Eurowings about the situation. It took me a couple hours to get an answer, looks like Eurowing screwed up a big time. Lots of people were queuing to get their answers.

I was queuing to the window of Eurowing ticket booth, but the queue didn’t move. Eventually, one of the stuff came to the people and started to explain something. But he only talked in German, so I couldn’t understand anything he was saying. I understand they have a stressful situation because everyone wanted an answer, but I tried to ask him twice to answer anything in English, but he ignored me. Twice.

Eventually, I got a chance to ask my question. The answer was simple: because I had a booking with another airline, Eurowings are not responsible for that. The fact that I should’ve been in Spain by now and stay at the place I booked, it’s not their problem or responsibility. The fact that the price for accommodation in Munich started from 50EUR per night (for a bunk bed in the hostel), don’t bother them. It’s my problem.

I regret to say that I snapped at that guy. He personally didn’t do anything bad to me, it was Eurowings as an organization in general. I didn’t get any sleep in the last 30 hours. I didn’t get any food in the last 25 hours (I got some snacks at Bangkok airport). So by this point, anyone in Eurowings uniform was my enemy.

In the end

So in my travels, I used to fly with only 3 European airlines (not counting low-costs like Ryanair, flights were just too short).

1. AirFrance forgot to give me the meal, I guess they gave it away to someone who asked an extra portion;
2. Eurowings are just greedy as fuck, they ordered the planes with reduced legroom, they don’t feed passengers (and hide that fact on their website very well);
3. Vueling (that’s my theory) sell too many tickets on each flight, so they cancel tickets of those people who didn’t show up. Or who didn’t show up 5 minutes before check-in closes;

My conclusion: fuck European airlines, never again =)