I’ve heard about things being rough at the Kuwait Airport – I did not know that this could be attributed to some of the staff.
Two weeks ago, I finally got a chance to go for a much deserved break to Dubai and merrily went to the airport. I found my way to my counter and waited in line patiently, it started to take longer than expected and soon 15 minutes in queue became 30 – since no one seemed to be moving I asked one of the staff what was the issue and was informed that they had an issue with the conveyor belt. So sighing to myself I said well that’s life and continued waiting – My elderly parents were with me and they were getting really tired. An hour and a half later the queue had still not moved and the time to board the flight was getting quite close. Suddenly the queue started to surge forward and to the right and I moved up a bit ahead thinking a few more counters ahead must have opened up. At this point of time I could see the counter ahead of me and there were perhaps 8-10 passengers in front of me. A gentleman comes up next to me and starts shouting moving his hands “Move from here”, Move from here”. I looked at him quizzically and he stares right back and said it again “Move from here” I said “Well I’m waiting in line for my turn at the counter” to which he replies ” This is the Lufthansa counter, move from here”. I was perplexed so I said well I have been in line for 2 hours and it wasn’t the Lufthansa counter then and he just looked back and me and actually said NO! You cannot see, this is Lufthansa counter – Can’t you see? I was totally taken aback by the tone of his voice and the fact that he was also a certified optician! The queue behind me were also listening in to the conversation . I asked him that if this is the Lufthansa counter why doesn’t it say that anywhere? He seemed to go red and purple – Looked at me with so much anger I thought he was going to have a stroke and shouted “Shut up! – You Shut up”.
Wow! I think my mouth hit the floor when a Lufthansa staff had the audacity to actually tell me to shut up, Of course I was angry and told him that this was not the way to talk to any passenger,but I guess he had already lost it, so he threatened to call security to which I replied not to bother since I would be calling security on him. The Lufthansa staff stormed off to find the local security, and I could see him, doing the cheek kissing ritual and telling them something while pointing at me. The security guys sauntered in and in typical fashion asked for my passport, thankfully a couple of Emirati guys intervened and said that the staff was at fault , he was impolite and it they were in my situation they would have slapped him by now. The security guys seems to understand and walked away. The Lufthansa staff did a double take as he was surprised that the security guys didn’t do anything , the poor man couldn’t stop with his animated gestures and disappointed facial expressions.
Seething I wanted to give him my point of view, but I had a flight to catch so I let things be. However, since I am a bit of a busybody I came back and got to know that the gentleman at hand is the Deputy Station Manager at Lufthansa working there for the last 19 years – Seriously?!
From my view, Lufthansa – Your staff’s behavior was such a poor demonstration of customer service, you need to seriously train your staff , I could have even been a Lufthansa passenger, but the Deputy Station Manager did not bother to check why I was standing there or which airline was I flying. Even senior staff need to retrain as being on the same job for so many years brings about complacency.
