Lufthansa - try to do carry on

This was in the DW business news story I mentioned the other day -- they interviewed an employee who didn't want their face to be shown who said planes are coming to the gate but there aren't any ground crew or gate staff to open the doors and let people out.

That is crazy.

It is crazy, but it isn't really fair to paint Lufthansa with such a black brush. First, I doubt this happens on every Lufthansa flight at every airport. Second, IIRC, baggage handling is an airport responsibility, not the airline's.

Given the difficulties with flying just about anywhere in the world right now, travelling with carry on only is good advice for everyone.

Challenges at airports are happening at many busy airports across many countries affecting many airlines. Summer travel will be challenging everywhere. Blame? No one and everyone ….

When we landed in Portland OR on 6/21 it took a very long time to get our baggage. There were passengers from other planes waiting as well. We normally do only carry-on but in addition to a short vacation we were going to a wedding and had to check a bag with dress clothes for the wedding.

Sounds like you could be eligible for some delay compensation under EU 261

Unless it's a direct flight, carry-on is the way to go. It took a while to convince my wife but now she's a true believer, too. Heck, I tell her I've got extra room in my carry-on if she needs it, and of course she does. I'm a great husband. We take older socks and underclothing that's on its last legs and throw it away. I had a couple of old undershirts with mustard and ketchup stains my wife forced me to throw away. Hey, it served it's purpose, my friends.

Overheard a lady in the grocery store telling her friend about her recent vacation. She said they were stuck at JFK for 2 days with no luggage. Sounded like connecting flight issues. I don’t know if she was leaving for vacay or returning but regardless, I bet she learned her lesson. I rarely check a bag but regardless, pj’s, meds, basic personal care items and a complete change of clothes are always in my “fits under the seat” personal item! Yes, I learned that lesson the hard way too, about 15 years ago!

This has nothing to do with the airline -its the ground crew at Frankfurt - and could have happened to any plane - just Ithink its LHF's hub so they have a lot of planes there

Not just Lufthansa or a Frankfurt problem. Landed at London Heathrow on June 19 from Oslo and sat at the gate for 15-20 minutes waiting for someone to come operate the sky bridge.

Wow, 20 minutes on the shuttle to the plane, followed by 3 hours on the plane, waiting to take off! We’re any refreshments served during any of that time, economy or upgraded classes?

Were the toilets accessible, too, and were they busy, I wonder? Carrying on luggage certainly would avoid being part of the will-our-luggage-get-loaded-before-we-take-off dilemma.

Our flight from Cape Town to London (British Airways) had a surprisingly large percentage of the coach passengers carrying on suitcases. If every person in every seat actually brought an International Carry On bag aboard, I don’t believe there’d actually be enough overhead bin space for them. It’s a good thing that some people choose to (or need to) check their luggage, but there are clearly scenarios where checked bags are in a tricky situation.

I’m assuming this must be happening everywhere and maybe Frankfurt in general is worse? We also waited about 30 minutes (included in that 3 hours) waiting for the “pull back truck”. We were offered chocolate and water and yes bathrooms were available.