Nightmare

First and foremost I would like to report one of your staff members. I took a picture of her so you can identify her. My flight itinerary needed to be changed by the airport and thus I was provided with a “hold” ticket because the flight was full and they had no idea if they could accommodate me. I was told that I should approach the boarding counter and ask the representative there for assistance. Upon reaching the counter this lady was exceptionally rude. She was just standing there Idley when I asked her for help. One of her collègues was on the phone and the other collegue was scanning peoples passes. She was NOT! She could’ve helped me. When I gestured for her to help me a third time she yelled “I do not have time for you!” Are the airport staff not supposed to assist us?? So if she doesn’t have time for me then who must I ask? She works there! Eventually I was helped by one of her other collègues but I noticed how her tone shifted when a nonblack passenger asked her for assistance. All of a sudden she had all the time in the world.

This is not the only thing that literally brought me to tears on this trip. And the reason why I will have to close my lufthansa account and miles and more. Furthermore, I think you guys are absolutely driven by money and you as well as Austrian air have zero courtesy and consideration for passengers, specifically passengers of color. Thank goodness for the airport staff that were able to help me because your employees were awful to me at every step. I booked my flight itinerary to go back home to South Africa. I booked DIRECTLY through lufthansa with my South African passport details. Not once was I alerted that I should not continue the booking due to conflict with transit. I did Take the liberty of contacting the Austrian embassy after contacting Lufthansa (your staff have zero clue about anything). The embassy stated that South African passport holders do not require a transit visa. Furthermore since my flight was with Austria air I took the liberty of contacting them with regards to this. Since you love recording your calls for quality control you can go fetch those calls from your archives to realize that your collegue told me that I will not require a transit visa and I should just check in at the airport. I always use assisted check in and I was checked in without any issues at all. It is only once I reached the boarding gate that the airport staff stated that I cannot continue this itinerary because of “double dipping”. This is a concept I have NEVER heard of before! Even looking at embassy pages and airlines this is never brought up that you cannot have 2 layovers in 2 EU countries. As someone with anxiety this was incredibly distressing because I always try to ensure that I am prepared enough for a flight. I contacted bourn Austrian and Lufthansa and the most you could do was state that I should fill in a feedback form. What is that going to do exactly?? In this moment when I just want to go home!