This seems like an exceedingly poorly handled situation, especially when you consider that this happened at a hub (thanks to tv for flagging this)…
Continue reading: Lufthansa Traps Passengers On Plane All Night After Flight Cancels, Airport Closes
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No big deal if the passengers merely go with the flow , and stop complaining .
Yeah even I, who am usually very casual about these things, would likely have tried to open a door at some point in the middle of the night. Or at a minimum call the police or feign a medical emergency.
In no circumstance is it acceptable to tell passengers to just sleep on the plane at a parked gate, even if remote. They should all get compensation - and more than a few miles.
Would that be false imprisonment? At least in the US, barring some weather something that made it physically impossible to deplane I imagine there would probably be a lawsuit with a pretty decent settlement if an airline/airport did this.
Surprised there is not law against that in Germany/EU. Doesn't that exist in the US after that JetBlue incident years ago?
That's beyond believable. There has to be more to this. If not, my God, and LH has become truly a third world airline.
Sounds like the incident at Sapporo airport in late January.
Unusually heavy snow basically closed the city itself - no trains could get in or out of the airport. Taxis very limited, most buses not able to get to the city.
Yet widebodies kept coming in from Tokyo with passengers arriving and no viable way out of the airport. 7,000 people slept there that night but everything was utter calm resignation because, Japan.
Being trapped in a domestic A320 overnight and being tapped in an airport overnight are two different things. One is inhumane. The other just sucks.
@alert
Lufthansa should hire you to work in their PR department as your callous responses aligns perfectly with their unacceptable treatment of these passengers.
I would have opened an exit and they would have found some airport staff to help I bet.
Pretty sure they could disarm the door so the slide didn't go off. Once door was open they would probably notify police etc and guarantee they would bring a set of air stairs over or fins some airport staff real quick. Without stairs Taller/athletic people could probably safely hang and drop to the tarmac without issues but would be risky.
Having flown on Lufthansa, this checks out. That airline is among the worst in the world these days. They mess up everything
Although I appreciate OMAAT's work, I have to criticise that some very important facts are missing here:
- Munich airport was closed due to heavy snowfall
- more than 60 flights that night had to be cancelled, even after being off-blocks, due to night curfew after deicing
- snow removal was hardly possible, now imagine getting those electric stairs to the aircraft through the snow banks (same with jetways, parking positions could not be cleared)
- It was not Lufthansa that did not let the passengers leave the aircraft, they did all they could. The airport and its handling company failed.
The good news is that Carson slept well that night, and nobody woke him up to tell him that there was a planeload of passengers stranded on an aircraft overnight at their Munich Fortress hub.
In Germany working hours are tightly regulated by law and collective working agreements. It's likely the airport bus drivers maxed their hours that night and there weren't enough drivers working. Strict adherence to those laws and agreements take priority over health and safety, so there is no room to be flexible (drive one more bus trip) even in an extraordinary situation.
Several years ago, my United flight from IAD arrived at MUC and the ramp would not connect to the airplane door. So we had to leave the plane with stairs and had to be take to the terminal by bus. I was on a connecting itinerary along with a bunch of passengers and we had to be taken to the other terminal by bus. We were put in a small room to wait for a bus. At least twenty buses came in and went. German officials were walking around, talking on the phone, but could not manage to fetch a bus to take 20 or so passengers to the other terminal. We waited close to 45 minutes. I finally gave up and passed through passport control to officially enter Germany, walked across the plaza to the other terminal and then exited Germany five minutes after I entered. They were not only incompetent but also rude to us for asking about an update about the whereabouts of the bus.
Of course they are entitled to compensation. Each is entitled to €250 ($295) for a delay of at least 3 hours. They can also claim for any meals and HOTAC needed prior their rebooked flights.
That’s the minimum, LH could be more.
Couldn’t like an apron car or something take 3-4 passengers at a time to the terminal?
I forwarded your Article to BILD (tabloid), hoping that they find out more (and that this topic is somewhat escalated).
From the USA,where they detain innocent people minors and infants in concentration camps, with no facilities and nutrition, staying in an aircraft a few hours isn’t a breach of the Geneva conventions.
This is wrong.
See § 14 ArbzG.
In extraordinary cases, it is allowed to exceed the maximum work hours.
What will be telling is Lufthansa's response to this. Obviously this is horrific and capable management would have had a plan in place for such an incident but that didn't happen. If Lufthansa offers well above required compensation to all passengers then it will illustrate that the company recognizes that they screwed up and actually cares. Unfortunately, that's not even close to what Lufthansa tends to do. The airline has a strong tendency to disregard passenger issues when those become inconvenient and is pretty virulent about fighting compensation claims even in situations where compensation is clearly required. It'll be interesting to see how this is handled.
‘You would not. The ones the threatens: oh I’d do this and that’ are the ones that are chicken and do nothing
It shouldn't matter, there should be a night shift for emergencies. Most airports have this even if they're close at night. Anything can happen and the curfew is quite short (keep in mind that people don't finish their shift right when the airport closes and vice versa). What if they had an emergency landing in the middle of the night?
My regional airport with 6 flights a day has skeleton staff available 24/7, I can't believe that MUC doesn't.
I can't believe that a large hub like MUC doesn't have skeleton staff that could deboard one plane 24/7. That's just ridiculous. Even larger regional airports have this for any sort of emergencies/diversions etc.
If it was weather or outside the airlines control (likely what they would claim) - no compensation is payable. And coincidentally for Lufthansa they can’t incur any hotel and meal costs when locked on a plane and provided with a rebooked flight when they’re let off, so no cost are repayable either.
How can pilots continue their duty of flying a plane that’s parked at a gate? What duties were they continuing? Engines weren’t running, plane wasn’t taxiing, aircraft wasn’t flying?!? You’re just as clueless as the leadership at LH!
Just like the ones who post bullish comments like yours NB, when you’re hidden behind a screen, are the most sheepish in real life. Baaaaaahhh
Great…German website T-Online now published an article about the incident…using OMAAT as a source.
Happened to me at LIS with Iberia.
We were underway to Santiago de chile but had a medical emergency and diverted.
I looked up the curfew times while in the air and asked the crew when we will get off since they would time out. They laughed.
We were kept on the plane until about 6 am, at some point the crew refused to hand out water to elderly passengers.
They also postponed the bag delivery so passengers would not ask for hotels until the replacement flight.
When I disembarked the plane one of the crew told me “it’s your fault” since I exactly predicted we could not leave due to the curfew and time out.
Welcome to Germany in 2026. A stumbling shell of a country once renowned for efficiency and precision, and now incapable of using logic and common sense to resolve even the simplest situations, like this one. Infrastructure and social services are deteriorating, formerly prosperous city centers are now full of vacant storefronts and sleeping vagrants, and much of the country feels seedy and run-down in a way that would have been unimaginable 20 or 25 years ago. The country just can't seem to get its act together.
Lufthansa has done this rolling delay to my long distance as well. It is all about money.
The behavior of the airport and the airline indicates a criminal offense, namely false imprisonment of passengers. Hopefully, the competent authorities will take action on their own initiative.
We are not happy until you are sobbing, in pain from the industry leading slimline seats, lined up in front of the last functional lav.
If there is an alternative airline…take it. This one needs to work on the basics.
How could this happen at a hub? Well it is lufthansa...that's all you need to say. Probably tried to save a few pennies. And I am curious how much compensation lh is willing to offer... Can't simply be eu261 compensation for this but I bet lh will count its pennies again...
Ultimately LH is responsible for failures of their subcontractors. Period.
Years ago I landed at EWR with my family and checked bags. While other flights were getting their bags, our flight had no bags after one hour. When I spoke up the LH rep threatened me with arrest. I went straight to authorities and asked if they would arrest me for asking for bags after one hour. They clearly had no interest in arresting me, actually cheered me on.
After 80 minutes the station manager arrived and explained they were switching their baggage handling contract and this was the payback.
Ultimately, zero apologies from LH and zero anything.
Sounds like some ruthless German inefficiency and excessive rule following (without anyone taking an extra effort) to me.
Is there a confirmation if this is the real story? No newspaper in Munich reported it and as there is a strict midnight curfew they would have known it by the and not 2 am. What might be true that there are no buses / suburban train from the airport or more accurately only once per hour after midnight.
Everything else would not be realistic at EDDM.
Its now everywhere in the news in Germany. And the story is much bigger. It was not only this flight but a total of 5 flights including long distance flight to Singapore. Lufthansa issued a statement, that they dont see any wrongdoing from theirside and emphasis that all was about weather. That means they wont pay any compensation if you not go to court against them. Lufthansa is a shame for Germany.
I hope these affected passengers are properly compensated in the end. If this was in the US, we’d have no recourse, other than a partial refund or rebooking, which is super lame. Like, even the several hundred dollars of EU261 payout might not be enough here to make this right. Luftkafka, indeed.
The nowadays Germany probably is the only civilised country where something like this can happen!
It gets even better: Singapore, Gdansk, Venice and Graz were also affected. Some 500 passengers in total had to spent their night on the tarmac.
Once more a Proof that Munich is a provincial airport (with a 5 Star Skytrax Rating).
These passengers are entitled to compensation:
"Under EU Regulation 261/2004, passengers on flights departing from the EU, or arriving in the EU with an EU carrier, are entitled to up to €600 in compensation for delays of 3+ hours at the final destination, unless caused by "extraordinary circumstances". Compensation amounts are based on distance (€250–€600).
Key Compensation and Rights (EU261)
Threshold: You are generally entitled to compensation if you arrive at your final destination 3 or more hours late.
Compensation Amounts:
€250: Short-distance flights (under 1,500 km).
€400: Medium-distance flights (1,500–3,500 km, or >1,500 km within the EU).
€600: Long-distance flights (>3,500 km).
Right to Care: For delays of 2+ hours (short haul) or 3-4+ hours (longer flights), airlines must provide food, drink, communication (emails/calls), and hotel accommodation if necessary.
Exceptions: Airlines are not required to pay compensation if the delay is caused by "extraordinary circumstances" (e.g., severe weather, air traffic control strikes, security risks). However, technical faults or "wildcat" staff strikes usually do not qualify as extraordinary.
Refund/Re-routing: If the delay exceeds 5 hours, you have the right to cancel your flight and receive a full refund or be re-routed to your destination at the earliest opportunity.
Note: The Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 applies to all flights departing from an EU airport (on any airline) or arriving in the EU from a non-EU country on an EU-based carrier.
They made it very difficult for us to receive this compensation, but worth a shot.
One point is missing in Ben’s article and most comments: The heaviest snowfall in years, up to 10 inches of heavy wet snow in a very short period of time of that evening. The airport has even lifted the night flight ban. Apparently, communication and staffing were not ideal, but there situation may have ended up the same way in many airports globally.
What a poorly written „article“.
Yes this sucked and is unacceptable, but you left out the reason for it all; heavy heavy snow fall. They even extended airport operations by an hour trying to get everyone out but the snow fall intensified and planes couldn’t take off. Parking positions at the terminals were all full and not enough buses were available. Should have been more done? Clearly but you make it sound like it was a result of a random law but it was clearly weather related.
If you would spend a little bit more time you’d also know that it wasn’t just one airplane.
https://www.bluewin.ch/en/news/500-passengers-stuck-in-airplanes-at-night-due-to-snow-3108931.html
Your article was plagiarized https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=122177422610430500&set=a.122165004452430500
Hello George, this article was written 20 hours ago. The "Bluewin.ch" article was written less that 4 hours ago. "T-Online" wrote an article earlier today mentioning OMAAT as a source. It is just now that this incident is going viral now...possibly because of the OMAAT article in the first place. Therefore, I wouldn't say that this article is poorly written. It may need an update, though.
Itr seems like the spokesperson from Munich airport was caught off-guard and couldn't be reached and didnt really know what was going on.
My opinion is that MUC also has the "Skytrax 5*" syndrome: They pretend to be superb but often fail:
2023: Munich Airport was completely closed in December 2023 for 4 days because of heavy snow fall.
2024: For weeks, passengers had to wait hours to pass the security and hours until bags were delivered due to insufficient staff planning.
2018: 200 flights cancelled because a woman entered the airport without proper screening (fun fact: The airport closed after she already departed).
There are tarmac rules in the USA. In October 2024 I was aboard an AA flight MIA-JFK which boarded, ran into a ground hold due to JFK storm conditions. We spent 2:45 minutes on board, every seat full. We were eventually brought back to the gate to deplane and "wait for instructions". There was no agent to give instructions, after 5 minutes we reboarded. This entire exercise was to avoid tarmac delay issues.
PS: the flight was a bit rough, landing was smooth as butter and then there was no crew to pull the plane to a gate, lol.
I am not sure if Lufthansa is a shame for Germany or if Lufthansa just represents Germany very well. There still is a lot of things to love about Germany, but German Infrastructure is on the decline since years now.
In total, 5 flights were affected with more than 500 passengers
LH 768 München-Singapur
LH 2446 München-Kopenhagen
LH 1646 München-Danzig
EN 8016 München-Graz (durchgeführt von Air Dolomiti)
EN 8206 München-Venedig (durchgeführt von Air Dolomti)
Sorry Sebastian that's completely unacceptable. You know there are planes outside, fully loaded, and you're leaving both passengers and crew in them overnight? Absolutely unacceptable, there's no excuse or justification for that. Not even the snowfall. If I have to cancel the flight, which is understandable, I have to take care of the passengers and crew.
As far as the article itself is concerned, sounds like a case of why ruin a story with the facts?
If you feel an article is poorly written you should ask yourself first if it might just be poorly read?
The article doesn’t mention the closing time of the airport as the reason (for a 3h+ delay?!), but just informs readers it seemed odd they tried - and as it turns out later, the reason was an exception.
This article isn’t about weather related delays at MUC, as that wouldn’t be worth an article at all, but about the poor handling by Lufthansa. To be honest, that shouldn’t be surprising too.
As it was a snow storm they will not receive their 250€ compensation. However Lufthansa broke their duty of care, but I guess it would need a lawsuit to settle that.
Having flown Lufhansa recently, I’m not at all surprised by the poor handling of the situation. The flight attendant on my flight was exceedingly poorly trained and had zero service skills. I travel a lot for work and I know that was my first and last flight with Lufhansa.
That's bizarre. If the airport was being that incompetent (hard to imagine, they have to have emergency procedures in place), then evacuate the aircraft via emergency exits. Those slides are cheaper than all the compensation they're going to have to pay to all those passengers plus the very well-deserved ill-will.
It's not hard to figure out something needs to be done, not "force them to stay here for hours and hours. This isn't "we're in the Comoros, nobody has a visa, and a typhoon is blowing in". It's one of the biggest airports in europe in one of the biggest cities in one of the biggest economies. The passengers could have walked to the terminal in a fraction of the time they spent trapped.
according to German media this happpened also on 4 other flights
Flug LH 768 München-Singapur
LH 2446 München-Kopenhagen
LH 1646 München-Danzig
EN 8016 München-Graz (durchgeführt von Air Dolomiti)
EN 8206 München-Venedig (durchgeführt von Air Dolomti)
It seems to me that the airport really closed down and there was no staff (especially security) left to handle all the passengers inside the terminal. Thus, keeping them on the plane was the easier option
LOL. If you think that’s how the law works, I think you should continue your studies at the Marx-Lenin school of whataboutism.
What does one thing have to do with the other?
In the US you could call the emergency services and say you were being confined against your will and let them sort that out with the airport.
In the U.S. there are actually strict laws about tarmac delays that would have been activated in this situation. The fine to the airline is colossal. The max penalty is $27,500 per pax.
There is no relationship between this and DHS handling of immigration enforcement.
Yup, I’ve gotten those $20 UA vouchers… in this economy, basically useful for M&Ms and a bottled water…
Maybe 'German engineering' (around process and planning, that is) isn't all that?
It's time the Germans learn about the Tarmac Rule, without that these poor suckers can't sue anyone and everyone is just rejecting any responsibility as per usual.
One guy would've probably sufficed to drive one bus forth and back 5 or 6 times for the 5 planes. You don't even need a license to drive a bus on private property like an airport, some cleaning staff could've done this. The airport could have called 112 for assistance and so could've done the flight crew and the passengers. Instead, everyone decided to do nothing. It boggles the mind, really.
It’s now 6 airplanes and 600 passengers that were stranded at MUC.
Lufthansa „sincerely apologize[d] for this unacceptable situation“ (initially, LH issued an apology for the „inconvenience“…which was not well received). Lufthansa says they are pro-actively offering compensation to affected passengers.
„Vereinigung Cockpit“ (Pilots union) says that this incident is „not acceptable“ and claims that „Pilots and cabin crew were largely left to deal with this situation on their own“.
Lawyers consider a direct claim for damages against the airport to be promising.
„Lufthansa (5 Planes) and Air Arabia (1 plane) Trap Passengers On Plane All Night After Flight Cancels, Airport Closes“
Just saying 😉
Well being 'stuck' on a domestic A320 overnight with no food or pillows happens every night on redeyes from the U.S. West Coast to East Coast - wink
It turns out that there were actually 5 flights where pax were trapped in their plans overnight, but for some reason the media is only reporting the CPH one.
It's starting to look like Bavarian authorities may file criminal charges as a result of this. I think the pax have been offered risible compensation equivalent to about 5 seconds of Carlsten Spohr's wage rate.
This is a uniquely German scenario (and I can say this as a German citizen, who has lived abroad for nearly 40 years). It's a lack of flexibility, unwillingness to improvise, inability to think outside the box, adhering to arcane rules and regulations, etc. Forget a customer-comes-first mindset. Where there's a will, I believe, there's a way to fix this s%#t. The pilot could have contacted LH headquarters and run this situation up the chain of command. The airline could have contacted top management at MUC airport. There are many things that could have and should have been done.
Many years ago, I landed at Frankfurt Airport and rented a car from a major German rental agency. There was a problem with the key after we had placed our luggage in the trunk. At the counter—at their busiest airport location—we were told it would take three days to get assistance, "because it's a Saturday and the technical personnel is off, and Monday is a holiday!" You should have seen the look on my face. Incredulous. They actually forced me to rent–and pay for–a second car for three days, until their techs could change the key fob of the original rental. (I fought it, and won.)
It's so typical. To properly compete in the service sector, something has to change in Germany. (Also, thank you for reading my rant. I feel better now. Haha. This LH/MUC thing has really opened my eyes to something that always bothered me about my homeland...)
I don’t find this shocking. I flew to Munich a year ago December after a snowstorm and there was no one there to remove our bags. We waited at baggage claim for an hour before learning that. I didn’t get my bag for a week and all they did was pay for 50% of the clothes I had to buy.