I don’t normally write Day 0 pages but yesterday was a challenge.

I did all the right things: overnight stay at Heathrow so that I could catch an early flight to Frankfurt and rebuild my bike while meeting my fellow riders.No nonsense with budget airlines so I opted for German efficiency and booked Lufthansa to maximise efficient planning.

All went well from check in through bag drop and I was comfortably ensconced in the Terminal 2 lounge by 8am with plenty of breakfast before catching the flight. Soon after we were informed that the flight would be 20 minutes late. Soon after that we were informed that the flight would be delayed a further hour and 20 minutes.

None of this riled me too much.

Then we were informed that the flight had been cancelled and we would be rebooked on the next available flight.The subsequent process was largely automated via email and text but VERY frustratingly no Lufthansa employees were able to give us any information at all beyond what they could see on the internet and airport screens. In a completely Starmeresque fashion the 120+ passengers who didn’t get an automated transfer had to queue for ONE person at the Lufthansa service desk.

I went back to the business lounge to sit out my additional four hour wait disgruntled but at this stage philosophical. With one hour to go the flight was delayed 30 minutes and soon after this was extended to an hour yet I remained in holiday mode which was enhanced by a series of emails confirming I had been transferred and detailed confirmation that both my suitcase and bike had been transferred to that flight.

The joy of Apple tags can also be a curse – I sat on the plane as it prepared to taxi and it appeared that they were still in the terminal 2 cargo area. Must be an error……

There wasn’t an error. Once I cleared passport control there were no bags for me and no staff AT ALL in the carousel area to assist. I had to go out of the baggage hall and eventually found someone who confirmed that the cases would be on a flight landing at 9PM a full three hours away. He also explained rather sheepishly that given the mess that the airport was in it would be better if I waited for the flight and collected them from the carousel myself. As it turns out at Frankfurt Airport if you ask to re-enter the baggage area at a certain intercom they will let you!

The flight was scheduled to land at 21:05. It eventually landed at 21:36. The bags for the flight took 50 minutes to come through. I eventually left the airport at 22:40.

I know there was chaos across European airports that day. I’m not even particularly bothered about the delays, cancellation, and delays. What I am bothered about it that Lufthansa has my bag and bike from 7:20 in the morning giving them 6 hours (!) to get them onto the flight they confirmed they were putting me and my bags on.

I actually felt a bit sorry for the client facing staff as it wasn’t their fault that their strategic management decision makers are such incompetent idiots who can’t manage a client service ethic. The phone numbers shown on the Lufthansa site if you can find them are not in operation and the staff on the ground seem to have to use their own mobile phones and internet to find anything.

Absolute rubbish – I will not fly Lufthansa again. I kept calm through the whole episode and didn’t swear or shout at anyone. I have now had my rant and will update the blog on today’s Day 1 ride later.