Customer Service Transformation at the Lufthansa Group: Why isn't anyone getting involved?

Customer service was one of the biggest challenges for airlines during the pandemic. Especially when international travel restrictions changed daily and passengers remained unsettled.

In this article, our guest authors Carsten Wirths, Project Lead Optimisation Servicing Locations at the Lufthansa Group, and Tim Noack, Managing Consultant at Lufthansa Consulting, show how the Lufthansa Group's Customer Service Transformation (CST) is helping to sustainably improve service levels and offer customers excellent support across all touchpoints - from self-service to AI-supported employee assistance.

When international flights became possible again for the first time during the pandemic in summer 2021, the desire to travel was great - but so was the uncertainty. Which vaccinations do I need? How old can the test be? Which entry requirements apply today - and will they still apply tomorrow? Each country set its own rules and often changed them at short notice. A flight that was still possible yesterday could be cancelled the very next day. As a result, our passengers were unsettled. Many did not want to rely on websites alone, but sought additional confirmation through personal contact with our servicing staff.

It was often not possible to make rebookings digitally - especially if flights had been cancelled by the airline. Customer demand in September 2021 was around 82% higher than the pre-crisis level of 2019, with one in three passengers calling on average. The unavoidable consequence was long waiting times and a level of service that did not meet our standards. At the same time, the large number of flight cancellations led to a massive increase in compensation and complaint cases. Never before had Lufthansa Group airlines received more than 100,000 feedbacks per month - in summer 2022, the figure was around 220,000 over a three-month period.

Short-term measures such as almost doubling the number of service employees and adding external partners provided relief, but were not a sustainable solution. It was against this backdrop that the Lufthansa Group's Customer Service Transformation (CST) was launched.

The customer service transformation follows a clear vision: Exceptional Care on every Connection. We accompany our customers along their entire journey and create personalised, excellent service experiences across all contact points.

Our measures can be structured along two central levers: Customer empowerment and employee empowerment, supplemented by the consistent scaling of automation and artificial intelligence as part of CST 3.0.

The aim is to guide our customers quickly and easily to the right solution via their preferred channel - telephone, chat, app or website. That's what we have done in CST 2.0 and beyond:

The Elisa chatbot is a central element of this: more than half of all servicing requests are already resolved digitally - more than via the telephone channel. The majority of enquiries are processed fully automatically; only around a quarter still need to be handed over to an employee. In these cases, the agent receives an AI-based summary of the previous process and can take over seamlessly.

All servicing issues are also bundled in the digital help centre, accessible via the app and website. Several million guests have already found help there. The system actively recommends the channel that is likely to provide the fastest solution - around 60% of customers follow this recommendation.

We are taking the next step with CST 3.0 (2026-2028):

Sustainable improvements for customers are only possible if our employees are also optimally supported. A key milestone was the introduction of a standardised, web-based servicing platform for all airlines, internal service centres and external partners. This harmonisation required far-reaching process standardisation and organisational changes.

We are currently introducing a standardised CRM system across the Group. Customers are automatically recognised when they make contact, and bookings, status and outstanding issues are immediately visible. This reduces search effort, shortens processing times and enables focused dialogue. We are also testing AI-based co-pilots that proactively support employees with relevant information, recommended actions and knowledge articles - in calls and chats.

We are also increasingly focussing on automation in the area of complaints and claims. Many cases are already being checked fully automatically. The average response time is around two days and will decrease further with CST 3.0.

The customer service transformation is not a finished project, but an ongoing journey. In the coming years, we will:

This is because the remaining human-to-human cases are becoming more complex and demanding. They require experience, empathy and a high level of expertise. Our investments in technology are therefore always also investments in the quality of our teams' work. What our employees have achieved - especially during the pandemic - has been exceptional. Excellent service is not possible without them. Empathy cannot be automated - it remains the core of our aspiration.