Unusual experiences

... Our adventure began with an Uber ride that was to take us from Rio to São Paulo. We’d only been on the road a few kilometres when it became clear that our driver was having serious problems with his rickety old car. It was struggling to do more 80 km/h, and the route that should normally take around four hours just dragged on and on and on. And as if that wasn’t enough: the driver didn’t have much fuel with him, so he stopped after a short time to fill up, albeit for just 10 litres. So it wasn’t long before we had to stop again at another fuel station. After this second refuelling stop, I’d reached the end of my patience, and I called up the Lufthansa HON Circle Service for the first time. I was worried we’d reach the airport less than 60 minutes before departure, and we still needed to check in our luggage.

The person who answered my call was a lady from the call centre in Peterborough, Canada. She was the one who saved the day for us in that moment. She immediately took care of our concern, maintained continuous communication with us and coordinated everything in real time. In this situation, her friendly and calm demeanour was worth its weight in gold. But the drive became more and more chaotic.

After the third refuelling stop, which lost us even more time, the lady started calling me every 30 minutes for an update. Her assistance was relentless, and she maintained constant contact with the ground crew in São Paulo. But the worst was yet to come: at the next toll station, our driver snuck in behind a lorry, which led to the police chasing us with sirens blaring and blue lights flashing. We could hardly believe what was happening.

And that’s still not all: a short time later, our driver suddenly came to an abrupt stop, as he was feeling extremely ill. To our absolute horror, he was sick by the side of the road. At that moment, I was genuinely shocked. The lady on the phone was also utterly speechless when I gave her the update. She was just as staggered as we were that the situation kept getting worse and worse.

Time kept ticking by and the pressure grew, as our First-Class flight was a mileage flight, If we had missed it, we’d only have been able to rebook within the same fare class, and at the beginning of January, there are simply no other mileage flights to be found. That would have meant forking out USD 10,000 per person on tickets just to get home.

Thanks to the staff member who sorted everything out, we did finally make it to the airport, completely exhausted and at our wits’ end, and with only half an hour to spare before our departure. At the terminal, the ground crew were already waiting for us with boarding passes and baggage tags, ready to guide us through all the checkpoints. It was like a scene from a film: we were the last to board the plane, were promptly handed a glass of champagne, and moments later, the door closed behind us. We’d made it.

Without the Lufthansa HON Circle Service, especially the lady who helped us, we would have never caught this flight. Her attentiveness and tireless support not only saved our trip, but also spared us from an almost unaffordable emergency. Thank you, Lufthansa. And many thanks to the staff member in question for the wonderful help in this exceptional situation. And every time I’ve spoken to that same lady on the phone since then, we both reminisce about the situation, and I feel delighted to be a part of this special, curated programme.”

... This experience remains a fond memory for me to this day and is what has made me a particularly loyal customer of Swiss. Unfortunately, I didn’t take a photo, but perhaps, sometimes, it’s better to be present and simply savour a special moment.”

... But just a few days later, something incredible happened: the words “Hon Circle status” suddenly appeared in my Miles & More profile. I could hardly believe it. Sometime later, a delegation from the Lufthansa office in Linz came to my company and officially presented me with the HON Circle status, making me one of the first in Austria to receive it. In all my years of flying, this moment stands out as a truly unique experience.”

... After stowing away my hand luggage and sitting down in my seat (the last one available), the person next to me leaned over and whispered a question that captured the whole situation perfectly: “What status must one have to keep a fully-loaded, departure-ready 747 waiting for more than 15 min?“

Thanks again for the ride. And for the tailwind in the night :-)”

... Then we had a very long wait before us. The captain explained that he needed authorisation from Toulouse before he could take off, as the runway wasn’t approved for Airbus 330. This took more than 2.5 hours, and the end result was: we didn’t fly on to Miami, but instead flew back to Zurich as the crew had exceeded the specified time. Summary: we were en route from 9:50 a.m. until 11 p.m. As a consolation, no one was charged for the flight.

Two days later, I flew to Miami via the northern route and arrived completely unscathed.”

... I asked for a ginger ale a second time and again had no luck. An hour later, a small, elderly gentleman tapped me on the shoulder, handed me a ginger ale and said: “When I am traveling with my wife I cannot drink whisky, ginger ale looks similar. Every second ginger ale is a whisky :-). Keep this as a secret and enjoy your ginger ale.” Who’d have thought it: he was real!”