Just returned from the RS Adriatic Tour, great tour experience but wow, had Twilight Zone experience flying out of Dubrovnik on Lufthansa's Discover Airlines(formerly Eurowings) to Frankfurt for a Delta connection. Flight was to leave early evening but area was hit with prolonged heavy rain and lighting.. Power was flickering on and off. Our departure time came close and then began series of texts saying flight was delayed with new departure time. That continued for over 4 hours. No gate agents anywhere. There was one airport wide info desk but the staff did not represent the airline and didn't offer info. Meantime other airport flights were being cancelled but the only announcements was something to effect of your flight to xyz is cancelled proceed to exit the airport.. That's it.. then the announcer indicated cancellation for our flight saying nothing other than cancelled and depart thru the door.. no explanation as to what's on the other side of the door or setting expectations. So we followed the line and there is baggage claim.. pulled our bags(soaked all the way thru inside) and then followed line outside into rain and awaiting bus. Still no info from anybody, Bus left still pouring rain/lightning and drove back to Dubrovnik city center. Dumped everyone in front of a hotel again with no explanation. One night clerk on duty and a long line to get checked in. Clerk kept all passports and had no info to offer. Had one generic text from Lufthansa indicating stand by for another text in 20 minutes for rebook but none came. It was midnight at check in. Woke up had text from Lufthansa rebooking a not good flight the day after which we did not take but nothing at all about expenses, logistics, what to do, options...next steps ..just a link to EU bill of rights. Anyway, we did what we had to do to get home to US but dumbfounded at the absolute lack of communication. Poor showing from the Airline/Airport on the customer facing side of things. On the bright side, we drank Donkey Milk on our Rick Steve's Adriatic tour... . Happy Travels...
Posted by
Southeast US
4046 posts
I'm sorry to hear about your experience. It would be super distressing to watch the bad weather and have constant delay messages on your phone without having anyone in the airport to give updates. I'm guessing you were flying on two tickets since Lufthansa and Delta are not partners, which added to the stress.
Thanks for sharing this. I am interested in hearing how you worked things out to make it back home. Airlines seem to be happy to take money these days but often do not seem so happy to get people to their destinations when troubles (like bad weather) arise.
Posted by
Austin, TX
2253 posts
Sounds like a terrible nightmare. I have a friend who says that travel teaches patience.
Customer service is suffering due to staff shortages all over the world.
But glad that you had a wonderful R S tour.
Posted by
OP
Palmetto State USA
38 posts
Dave, in terms of getting home, we did have a separate tickets for Delta that was to bring us home from Frankfurt and yes that was definitely a source of anxiety. We did miss the Delta legs and trying to recreate an itinerary between the two carriers around time and seat availability was a bear. But, using Google flights I found potential options. We couldn't do anything online in terms of rebooking so used texting with Lufthansa and Delta and used the options I found as suggestions to the airlines cobbling together a much longer itinerary with more legs and an overnight in Munich. Was able to make the changes without incurring change fees but with a lesser class of service on Delta as they didn't have the seats. Anyway, all is well that ends well. Happy Travels
Posted by
Idaho, USA
7804 posts
Wow! I did that tour in June, too - such an excellent tour!
My flight left Dubrovnik in the morning, and there was a delay because of lightning, thunder & heavy rain, too! But, it was just an hour or two delay. I did get absolutely soaked, though. They loaded us into the shuttle bus to head to the airplane. Going from their shuttle to standing outside & up the stairs to the plane, I was so wet that I had water running off of my short hairdo even while sitting in my seat….but at least I was on the plane!
My flights back were EasyJet to Amsterdam. Stay overnight at Leiden. Then Delta flights from Amsterdam to Seattle to Spokane. That is the issue; I couldn’t get a one-ticket “same airline partners” to go from Dubrovnik to Spokane - same issue you also had when booking your flights.
Glad it all worked to get you home again!