A frequent flyer's odyssey in the snow chaos at Munich airport: "Whatever happened to the rigor and organization of the Germanic world?"
I'm a multi-star senator, I fly hundreds of times a year and am used to the unexpected, however, had never seen anything like what happened at Munich Airport these days
Over the past two decades, I have traveled millions of miles. Flying above the skies of our planet. You will also understand that it is statistically likely to experience inconvenience and problems. This is part of my job, and it is one of the many daily variables and challenges I have to manage. Like all frequent travelers, over time, I have accumulated my fair share of adventures to tell friends and family. Tales sometimes funny, sometimes surreal.
I experienced 9/11, the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull, two pandemics (the Swine and Covid) and lots of strikes as well as exceptional snowfall.
In this article:
The one I would like to tell today, however, is a watershed moment, an inescapable sign that the European system, what was once called the Western world is now a faded memory which has given way to Middle Eastern and Asian companies. It is a story for all of you to memorize and keep in mind, should you ever find yourself in similar circumstances.
It all begins in Riga
It all begins on a cold winter afternoon in Line Latvia, where I embarked at the end of a week's work.
First Flight AirBaltic for Munich, Germany, on the afternoon of December 1, and Then from there a flight to Turin with Air Dolomiti. In Riga, as in most of northeastern Europe, It has been an exceptionally cold and snowy week. So much snow in November is not so common even in these latitudes.
Even though it has snowed continuously for a week in Latvia it doesn't seem to be a problem, and with temperatures of -8 they are proceeding smoothly pretakeoff operations by performing de-icing Of the aircraft's moving surfaces. The flight will proceed well, with no turbulence, but we will constantly fly into a deep disturbance with very high clouds and thick snowfall that will not bode well.
Snow in Munich had been widely predicted for 48 hours. A heavy snowfall would begin to fall from Friday afternoon and would continue throughout Saturday, December 2. My hope was to arrive and leave on time.
Upon arrival in Munich, I immediately realized that the weather situation was definitely complicated.
The snowplows were in action, side by side in a row of seven, spaced apart from each other so as to clear the slope quickly. These are peculiar scenes that you don't see every day, even if you travel often. Taking off is normally considered less complicated than landing, so I was prepared for a long wait, safe delays due to air traffic management and aircraft de-icing operations.
My flight to Turin operated by Air Dolomiti was perfectly on time and was scheduled to take off at 9:10 p.m. As I got off the plane, I immediately realized that the situation was definitely more complicated than expected.
Since I had time, I decide to check the length of the queue of people silently and diligently waiting their turn at Terminal G to reschedule their trip: 800 meters, this is the length measured by my step counter. Translated into time, that's over Four hours of waiting, to know one's fate And get a re-booking on a new flight.
First anomaly: under such conditions I would have expected dozens of staff working to support passengers, but instead nothing: only three operators, those normally on duty, having to handle an exceptional workload and emotional stress. No support.
Instead, upon reaching the Senator lounge, the situation was completely different, there were few guests and a surreal peace hovered. At that moment I realized that the situation was at great risk of cancellation and began to consider possible alternatives. My Air Dolomiti flight had not been cancelled., while all LH-operated flights were by the time I arrived at 7:20 p.m.
After years of accumulated experience, the traveler tends to develop a certain sixth sense: I was certain that Lufthansa had just been quicker to handle cancellations while Air Dolomiti was "sleeping."
I could not request re-routing and checking my Apple tag showed my luggage loaded or immediately under the aero wing. Would I be able to leave? Obviously not... At 9 p.m., about two hours after I arrived in Munich, my flight was canceled simultaneously with all of Air Dolomiti's EN flights. Someone had finally caught on to the situation and updated the board.
But by 9 p.m. the situation was completely out of control. At 9:59 p.m., the airport would be officially closed initially until the next day at 6:00 a.m. Thousands and thousands of passengers from every nation and language had been stranded.
"We can no longer assist you, the airport is closing. If you are able to find by your own means accommodation for the night you can send us the invoice to claim reimbursement, we are sorry but it is snowing...."
Two apps must always be present on a traveler's phones: Flight Radar24 and a good weather app. I use Windy and this one predicted snow overnight into the next day, Saturday, December 3 (about 30 cm).
Given the management up to that point, it was easy to imagine that the airport would be closed far longer than overnight. Meanwhile, the lounge at 9:40 p.m. was preparing to close and employees go home. The lounge is supposed to close at 10:00 p.m., but customers are asked to "clear out" because at 10:00 p.m. no one is to be inside it, with tables cleaned and coffee machines emptied.
Who cares if the company's best customers are all on the phone trying to find accommodation for the night. Commercially speaking, it is in times of difficulty that strong customer loyalty can be established, or, if handled poorly, cause rejection that is difficult to recover from.
I remember two scenes from that evening:
- The three Senator and Business reception ladies who, apologizing to everyone (again there was a fair queue of about 30 lounge people), informed that their shift was over. Sorry--and in saying this they already had their jackets on, ready to run away like in the best Fantozzi movie, leaving their premium clientele stunned.
- The lounge waiter who, with entrepreneurial spirit, sits at the coffee table and sets up a small impromptu travel agency. On the phone with his wife, he offers accommodations in hotels, friends' and relatives' homes to lucky business clients, who obviously happily thank him for the unexpected support and advice. Tips of course are not slow in coming.
Sleeping in Munich? No way, too high a risk of having to be stuck for days. So I decide to try to book a car with release in Frankfurt where it is not snowing and overcast skies are expected for the following days.
Meanwhile, Germany's second airport was closing completely, abandoning thousands of passengers to their fate. I made time to photograph some scenes worthy of humanitarian aid delivery in a country of war and not Europe's premier economy.
People were pouncing, pushing and screaming to grab a blanket, pillow and some snacks to eat by finding abandoned dumpsters by diligent attendants who quickly disappeared afterwards.
Just chaos and despair: imagine old people, disabled people and children left there... "end of shift, we have to close the airport, see you tomorrow at 5, sorry!" Meanwhile, the airport's website officially announced the closure of the airport, just before it went down due to high traffic (kudos to the IT people who run the airport).
At that point I was convinced, I absolutely had to leave.
Finding a free car via app (Avis, Hertz, Sixt, National) with the option to release the car in another city was impossible. So I decide to book a car from Munich to Munich from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m. the next day. Knowing that I will most likely have to pay the penalty....
But at the Avis check-in desk (the only one still open at 10:30 p.m. along with Sixt) they tell me that changing destination would mean paying 3,500€ penalty. Endless minutes of reasoning and discussion, until I compromise with the rental company by booking the last available Volvo 4×4 at twice the normal price to avoid paying the release penalty.
400€ including insurance instead of the 147€ normally expected for 12 hours of car rental. A pirate price, but in these cases there is no room for maneuver.
Now I have the car, get out of here.... Upon exiting the parking lot this was the situation before me , about 15cm of fresh snow with -1 degrees. Not a pleasant situation but nothing exceptional for those who normally in winter travel the mountain state roads and the legendary Maloja Pass to reach Saint-Moritz.
I left at 11 p.m. and reached Frankfurt at 3 a.m., traveling on lightly trafficked highways but in weather/road conditions that were not easy. Having solved problem number one, getting away from Munich, I now had to solve the second problem: returning home without a ticket and with luggage left at the airport.
The Lufthansa reservations switchboard phone number was unreachable, while calling the one dedicated to Senators dropped the line after 45 minutes of waiting. I was driving and had already gone 90 minutes of unnecessary phone waiting without getting through to an operator. I decide it's time to play the desperation card and pull out a secret number, which very few lucky passengers know about: I finally talk to someone and within 5 minutes find myself booked on the 12:00 flight the same day (Saturday) from Frankfurt.
For the boarding pass nothing to do, it cannot be emailed to the passenger...who knows then for what strange reason and technological security. I arrive at my destination, easily find hotel accommodations and finally decide to sleep a few hours.
I return the car to the rental still covered with ice and snow.
Monaco communicates extension of the closure to 12:00 noon.
Arriving at the airport in Frankfurt is not unlike the scenes seen in Munich the night before; at 7:30 a.m. there is already a queue reaching all the way outside the airport of people waiting to re-book. This is because, during the course of the night, all intercontinental flights were diverted to this airport.
There is also a fair amount of queuing at First's acceptance desks, but half an hour is nothing compared to what's around me. At that point I manage to get a ticket but without a seat, I am on the waiting list. So much effort for nothing? One look at the Munich airport website was enough to realize that the choice made on the night remained the best one.
Munich will not only shut down completely for 38 consecutive hours, but the first Air Dolomiti flights to Turin will not resume until Wednesday, December 6. Eventually, thanks to my senator status - which guarantees me a priority - and years of experience, I was able to leave three hours late and finally return home.
Now I would like to make some considerations with you
The weather conditions had been widely predicted for days. There is simply no snow plan in Munich, or if there is, it does not work. After years of global warming, management must have been convinced that cold and snow would never return to Germany.
Now comes the case of snow and cold weather: 30 cm of snow and a few degrees below zero cannot, in 2023, paralyze one of Europe's major airports for five days.
Io I understand inconveniences, they can happen; but then you have to have a plan and precept staff to handle emergency cases. The distinct feeling is of being faced with untrained, unmotivated and, above all, severely limited ground staff in numbers. Post covid bequeaths us employees accustomed to working little and expecting much. All smartworking at home, except then realizing that four underpaid immigrants are not enough to unload suitcases from an aircraft.
This year I flew without any problems to Astana in Kazakhstan., the coldest capital city in the world, with an average temperature of -14.5 degrees in January, and a record -51.3 degrees. Consider that up to -30 schools and activities remain open, beyond that restrictions begin for them as well.
Calgary and Montreal in Canada and Riga in Latvia. All airports that consider cold and snow normal.
I hope that those who did wrong will pay for their mistakes, hoping that this is not just the beginning of an inexorable decline.
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