Flight Managers Christiane Meinicke, and Agents Ingeborg Grund-Pinto, Nina Brandenburger, and Melih Gürm have a full day ahead of them: until 10.00 o’clock they will be checking in passengers in the main hall after which they will handle a flight to Houston, and a fully-booked jumbo jet to Delhi. The tasks are distributed: Nina is responsible for the announcements and the boarding process. Ingeborg will take care of pre-boardings; these are passengers requiring assistance and unaccompanied children.

Melih and Ingeborg check the expected number of guests and which passengers will be requiring special assistance during the flight to Houston: an elderly lady will be brought to the gate by the Lufthansa Special Services team shortly before departure; two children traveling alone and a wheelchair passenger also require special assistance. The two of them prepare all the necessary documentation. They are expecting a normal flight without any particular occurrences.

At the Gate, passenger Lloyd Starks asks Melih for his help: he failed to meet his colleague at the Meeting Point. Melih has the missing colleague paged. After that he assists his colleague Nina with explaining the procedures to a large Sudanese family.

The Al do Demeg family is on the way to Houston with 6 children. Traveling outside of their country for the first time, they are not familiar with procedures at the airport. Melih notices their insecurity and takes his time to explain everything and jokes with their small daughter Samya. Nina makes sure that all the family members can sit together. Mr. Al do Demeg is relieved and thanks Melih and Nina for their excellent service.

Aybike from Lufthansa Special Services brings Mrs. Ari and her hand baggage to the Gate. Despite her hampered mobility, she has fulfilled her great dream to visit Germany with her three girlfriends and see a performance of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Ingeborg takes Mrs. Ari directly on board so that she can settle into her seat in peace.

Melih helps the two children who are traveling alone to board the aircraft. Once on board, the cabin colleagues will takeover the responsibility for the two children. A half an hour before flight departure it is now time to tell all the passengers that the aircraft is: ready for boarding. Per announcement in German and English, Nina asks all passengers to now board the aircraft.

Nina takes the passengers boarding passes and makes sure that their hand baggage isn’t too large to be stored on board. She is of course also available for any questions the guests may have. At the same time, Ingeborg and Melih are preparing to close the flight: the last transfer guests need to be checked in and the waiting list accepted.

All passengers are on board. Only a few minutes remain before departure time. Now, good teamwork and full concentration are needed to complete the final tasks: Melih gives the passenger lists to the Purser and again points out which guests require special assistance.

While Melih is informing the cabin crew, Ingeborg gives Pascal Zlatintsis from Lufthansa Operations her okay: all passengers and extra baggage are on board. Pascal, who is responsible for the proper loading of the aircraft, can now in turn give the Captain the “ready for take-off” clearance.

Christine Meinicke is pleased: the passenger service team has succeeded in getting all passengers and their baggage on board, on time. The aircraft rolls to the runway and takes off without any delay.

Melih sends important information to Houston: the names of the unaccompanied children and of those passengers requiring special assistance. Nina and Ingeborg sort the tickets for accounting purposes and make sure that the distribution of the guests among the individual classes is correct. Following which the personnel disposition team gives the go-ahead for a break. After that it’s off to the overbooked flight to Delhi...

The flight to Delhi is overbooked. Using composure and cordiality, Nina attempts to check-in all the guests for their flight to India. Ingeborg manages to find seats together for Mrs. Shubashini and her family who have arrived late from an incoming flight. Another lady was kind enough to switch her seat and has received a new boarding pass from Nina.

Nina, Ingeborg, and Melih must answer an endless amount of passenger questions: Am I already checked-in? Can I change my seat? Will we leave on time? Where will I store my many pieces of hand baggage? Mrs. Shubashini would like to know where she can put her baby stroller and when she will get it back. Melih looks after little Damini until Mrs. Shubashini has found her tickets.

Melih explains to Mrs. Shubashini that she will receive her baby stroller immediately when she arrives in Delhi. He fills out a special tag for the stroller so that the colleagues from Lufthansa Operations know that the stroller shouldn’t be taken to the baggage claim area, but rather should be available directly at the door when the passengers are de-boarding in Delhi.

Departure time is nearing. Nina and Ingeborg consult with their Flight Manager Christiane about how to deal with the overbooking in Economy Class. They decide to offer some guests an upgrade. They can then fly in Business Class where free seats are still available. This frees up seats in Economy Class for passengers on the waiting list.

Mr. Schmitz inquires about how many miles he will acquire for his Miles&More account on this flight to Delhi. Ingeborg and Christiane can not only give him a swift answer, they also have a special offer for him: an upgrade to Business Class.

Melih starts making the boarding announcements. Nina and Ingeborg check the passenger list – one guest is still missing. Quickly Nina calls to have the passenger paged by announcement in Terminal A. In the meantime, Ingeborg asks the colleagues in the main hall whether the passenger has contacted them.

At the very last minute Mr. Hoffmeister arrives at Gate B 27: he apologizes for his delay and thanks the team for waiting for him. With all passengers on board the aircraft to Delhi can now leave as scheduled. The team begins with the flight completion tasks. All tasks have been taken care of just in time to finish work at 2:00 o’clock.

The team has completed its workload for today. Now is the time to look back and even discussion new ideas for improvement: Were the guests satisfied? Did the team have everything under control at all times during the two flight departures? – The positive results are motivation for their next working day. But now it’s time to take some well-earned time off.
Get to know the team members.