Lufthansa abandons special assistance passengers in a stairwell at Munich airport
Lufthansa has apologised after a sequence of errors left an injured passenger, a mother and an infant trapped in a stairwell at Munich airport, while their plane to Heathrow prepared to depart without them.
One of them was the leading professional singer, Annabel Williams, who is the vocal coach for ITV’s The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent. At the time of the incident, in December, she had a knee injury and needed special assistance.
The German airline's flight LH2476 to London was boarding at a remote stand, requiring a bus transfer from the terminal. While the rest of the passengers walked downstairs at gate H02, Ms Williams and a mother and baby were taken to ground level in a lift.
Ms Williams said: “We walked into a stairwell. We were told to wait for the bus which we were told would come back and get us.”
The member of ground staff who had been processing passengers then left the trio.
“No-one came. We were trapped in the stairwell. No-one knew we were there, and there was no way for us to contact anyone or get out,” said Ms Williams.
“The mother and I were both in tears and panicking. It was a truly awful experience.” The temperature at the time was below freezing.
As Ms Williams’ injury meant she could not climb stairs, the mother left her in charge of the baby and went upstairs in search of an escape.
Meanwhile, on board the plane, Ms Williams’ colleagues were alarmed by her absence. She managed to send a WhatsApp message to alert them. They told the cabin crew, who then informed the captain. In the ensuing discussion, ground staff apparently said the missing passengers were untraceable.
The aircraft was already late for its flight to the busiest airport in Europe. The captain decided to leave without the three, even though this would break the only channel of communication with Ms Williams. He said that one of her colleagues could leave the aircraft to help locate her, but would need to buy a new ticket to London.
Back in the stairwell, the mother made a third attempt to seek help and finally attracted the attention of a member of Lufthansa ground staff. By now the three had been trapped for 25 minutes and had been told by text from fellow passengers that the plane was leaving without them.
On board the aircraft, the captain announced to passengers that the plane was delayed due to having to remove the luggage of three missing passengers.
This delay provided enough time for the three to reach the aircraft before loaders removed their baggage. When they boarded, some passengers who believed they were responsible for the late departure booed as they walked along the aisle.
The flight eventually left Munich 45 minutes late.
Once the cabin crew and pilots learned of the circumstances, they were sympathetic, said Ms Williams. “The flight attendants and even the captain told us they had never ever heard anything like this in their entire careers and that what we had gone through was beyond comprehension.
“The consequences don’t bear thinking about. We could have still been there hours later.”
Once in London, Ms Williams contacted Lufthansa to express concern about the incident. The German airline failed to respond to her for eight weeks, at which point it offered her an upgrade on a future Lufthansa flight.
Ms Williams said: “I think the offer of an upgrade is insulting. We could have been in serious danger.”
Lufthansa told The Independent: “We apologise wholeheartedly to all affected passengers and we will of course respond to all customer communications that we have received about this particular flight.
“Our airline takes pride in our customer service, so reports of this nature are very disappointing. However, it is our aim to constantly ensure that incidents of this nature are never repeated.”
