Even if this is probably a publicity stunt on some level, I think it’s something that every airline CEO should do…
In this post:
Lufthansa CEO Jens Ritter works flight to Riyadh & Bahrain
Lufthansa CEO Jens Ritter (not to be confused with Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr) took to LinkedIn to share a cool experience he had last week.
Specifically Ritter accompanied a Lufthansa crew on the carrier’s service from Frankfurt (FRA) to Riyadh (RUH) to Bahrain (BAH) and back. He worked as an additional crew member on the Airbus A330, accompanying the standard number of crew members.
On the outbound journey, Ritter assisted in business class, while on the return he assisted in economy class. Ritter is actually no stranger to working on the front lines at Lufthansa, though not as a flight attendant. He spent nearly 12 years working as a pilot at Lufthansa, primarily flying the A330 and A340. That’s actually something he and Spohr have in common, as Spohr also has his commercial pilot license, but didn’t spend as much time working in the cockpit.
Here’s how Ritter describes his experience working as a flight attendant:
I have been working for the Lufthansa Group for many years. But I have never had the opportunity to work as part of the cabin crew. And honestly, that was so interesting and also challenging! I was amazed by how much there is to organize, especially, if something doesn’t go as planned – for example the meals offered on the menu cards were not exactly the meals loaded on board.
It was so interesting to address the guests’ wishes individually, to deal with the different energy everyone has. I used to fly as a pilot and so I thought I knew about the challenges a flight during the night entails. But to be present and attentive and charming – when the biological clock just tells you to sleep – was something entirely different.
The crew was terrific and welcomed me into their team right away. And honestly: I enjoyed every moment! I was astonished how much I learned in these few hours. Deciding things in the office will be different after really feeling the decisions on board. Thank you to the amazing crew, the lovely guests and everyone involved for making this experience possible!
This is something all airline CEOs should do
Ritter isn’t the first airline CEO to do something like this, but it’s definitely the exception rather than the norm. On some level this is probably motivated by wanting to generate good publicity and appearing relatable, and I think that’s fair enough.
However, I still believe there’s huge value to this as well, and seeing firsthand what various departments at the airline deal with on a daily basis. As much as people like to give flight attendants a hard time, I can honestly say that I wouldn’t last a week as a flight attendant, and dealing with the public in the way that they have to.
Wouldn’t it be fascinating to see someone like American CEO Robert Isom spend a day working as a flight attendant, and seeing what his impression is, both of what flight attendants deal with, and the product that’s offered to customers? Goodness, I can only imagine. In fairness, Isom doesn’t seem to be much of a product guy — for example, in late 2022 he mentioned how he didn’t know a whole lot about JetBlue’s Mint business class.
Bottom line
Lufthansa’s CEO hit the skies last week, flying from Frankfurt to Bahrain via Riyadh as a flight attendant. He worked in business class in one direction and economy class in the other direction. It’s cool to see his observations, and I hope we see a lot more airline CEOs try their hand at being a flight attendant (or any of a number of other functions).
Lovely. I hope he respected female passengers more than some of his business class flight attendants who were unashamed and undeterred by management when called out for blatant, inappropriate sexual harassment. Email to his boss went nowhere, disgraceful.
I doubt you will ever see a United Airlines CEO do this!
NEXT TIME GO AS A PASSANGER WHO CANT EVEN GET A BAG ON AFTER PAYING SO MUCH FOR THE FARE, WHO HAS TO PAY SO MUCH TO TAKE LUGGAGE ON BASED ON A LIE ABOUT OIL WHICH IS HISTORY!!!
GO AS A PASSANGER WHOSE KNEES GET SQUISHED IN THE SEAT BECAUSE THEYRE SO CLOSE TOGETHER!!!
I want to be a pilot. I don't have money no support am from zambia Africa
Ooohhhh he should had been in my flight, last October, from Frankfurt to Mexico City, was a dreadful flight! Terrible! No more Lufthansa greatnesses. Of course I am talking about “economy class” not enough nothing! Food awfully and almost nothing, wine? 2/3 glasses fir a 11+ hours flight, the flight attendants hate that you ask for more (don’t you dare to ring the bell! Is a useless expensive system) not enough water, and so on....
Ooohhhh he should had been in my flight, last October, from Frankfurt to Mexico City, was a dreadful flight! Terrible! No more Lufthansa greatnesses. Of course I am talking about “economy class” not enough nothing! Food awfully and almost nothing, wine? 2/3 glasses fir a 11+ hours flight, the flight attendants hate that you ask for more (don’t you dare to ring the bell! Is a useless expensive system) not enough water, and so on. The seat distance was the worst thing in the flight, on the 747… We travelers for years, knows that this not fancy economy passengers are the one that pays the flight, the payrolls and payload and everything, not business class or First class, really was terrible as It can be in a full plane. Lufthansa is dealing with the money they received as a kind of loan avoiding bankruptcy. And this “political attitude “ of the CEO is expensive in promoting an images that don’t help much and really could be expensive. The people is getting rude onboard with everybody.
Such activities MUST be listed as a part of every CEO job description .. to know what others suffer.
With my great respect to Lufthansa CEO
He needs to work for a day (or week) in the Refund department. 15 months ago I filed a claim …. Every 2 or 3 months I send an email inquiring where it stands. I get a very polite note stating “We apologize in advance for the fact that due to the extraordinarily high number of refund requests”.
Extraordinarily high - their words. Wow!
And we flew 1st class.
Most airlines would not allow this for security reason. Even if you are not replacing you need to be qualified. Unions would not allow it. But at Lufthansa things are often more lax. I hope he saw what the FAs have to put up with given the outdated product
Just try to read! Additional crew member!
Bless your heart Mr. Ritter. Having worked 38 years in the airline industry myself with three legacy airlines in four different countries and in different departments, I really appreciate I when people in corporate go down to grassroots and see and experience what we have to deal with on daily basis. I personally see it as an attribute of a true leader.
Very impressive.
Great idea, down in the trenches with the workers who make it possible for those in the office to keep their jobs.
Agree with you 100%. Most airline CEOs are numbers people, not customer people and it shows.
Bargain basement Bob (Isom) wouldn’t
Last 25 minutes on a AA flight.
I have over 40 years in this industry. I give the LH CEO huge props for doing this. You need to know all aspects of the company to make te best decisions.
Would have much to do with all that crew on a 330
when Gordon Bethune was CEO at Continental, he did this kind of thing all the time. That's one of the reasons he had such great leadership skills.
„Undercover“ Stunt that then gets publicized everywhere? Just another sign that this was not done to „better understand the service“ but simply a PR gag
He should work in baggage handling and customer service. My bag was recently not boarded from MUC>AMS. I have an AirTag in it and can see exactly where it is in MUC, yet Lufthansa has been unresponsive. Their system says they’re still try to locate the bag. It’s been five days and no update whatsoever!
Maybe he ought to go on duty in Customer Services and explain why they are so crap at responding and behaving in a way which doesn’t care about the customers?
Lufthansa Customer Service has gone down in my opinion. Either no response, or a bot and they certainly don’t abide by the EU travel regulations or their own ticket terms and conditions.
Worst airline in the world- avoid
Frankly, it his not his role to perform such actions. Great publicity stunt but unnecessary if he has an organization with the correct staff. The management in charge of in-flight ops should be doing such studies. In the chemical industry, we call this walking the process. One cannot implement positive changes if they don't understand every single nuance of the existing process.
Richard Branson used to do this on Virgin Atlantic in the '90s. I was on, when he was on, LAX- LHR. First, he came around to everyone in Upper Class and introduced himself individually. Later, he served meals and drinks from the cart in Economy. Many didn't recognize him but those who didn't were immediately warmed by that smile. When we pulled up to T-3 at LHR, he got on the PA and thanked all...
Richard Branson used to do this on Virgin Atlantic in the '90s. I was on, when he was on, LAX- LHR. First, he came around to everyone in Upper Class and introduced himself individually. Later, he served meals and drinks from the cart in Economy. Many didn't recognize him but those who didn't were immediately warmed by that smile. When we pulled up to T-3 at LHR, he got on the PA and thanked all of us for the business and asked us for the opportunity for VA to provide the service again "the next time we crossed the Atlantic". To the point of the article, I doubt many more CEOs will ever serve as flight attendance in the cabin. Their communications people will recommend against this. Corporate culture meets social media. Branson would have never have listened to them...
EXCELLENT !
SHOULD BE DONE ON A REGULAR BASIS : INCOGNITO.
PRIMA !
SOLL REGELMÄßIG GEMACHT WERDEN : INCOGNITO.
HEEL GOED !
MOET REGELMATIG GEBEUREN : INCOGNITO.
Lol. Better he should spend an 8 hour flight in sardine-class, middle seat, with someone's knees lodged in his kidneys and his shoulders squished to 17".
At Delta IFS management including the VP is certified
Wow!!! What a handsome man. Koodos to him for ( hopefully flying a crappy couple of flights. Most would choose an easy line to fly and want to only do the easy jobs). As a Flight Attendant, I hope he picked up the trash bag and went up and down the aisle picking up trash, saw how sweet most customers are and how some can be self centered and I hope the crew didn’t treat him with kid gloves.
I appreciate a CEO that would do this.
Gerhard Neumann started at GE Aircraft Engines in 1948 and eventually led the entire plant in Lynn, MA. He management philosophy, which was instilled into the rest of managers: "Manage By Wandering Around" -- get out on the floor and talk with the workers, don't just hold meetings with other managers.
I applaud the initiative on this venture and his gained appreciation of the fatigue factor.
A better experience would be to be on the trouble desk, for example in DOHA !, where passengers who are tired and have been treated poorly will come for assistance. Before hand, he should read the manual that says "no way". Perhaps then some improvements would be made. (This is addressed to you Akbar Al Baker)
I want to see michael o'leary operating the ryanair from manchester to magalauf :D
Excellent article. I would like to suggest that airline management sit in the middle seat of the economy section for a 4+ hour flight once a month. Working with the crew was nice and he deserves credit for that, but experiencing a flight as a typical passenger would be even better (or worse)!
Totally agree!
Not quite as interesting as when Howard Hughes used an alias and decided to fly to Texas in order to accept a job as baggage handler for American Airlines. Only weeks after he got the job, he was promoted to a co-pilot and continued working for American Airlines until his real identity was found out.
Next time he should try Frankfurt to Hong Kong in an economy seat
Wayyy back in the day, Herb Kelleher and the rest of the gang at Southwest HQ in Dallas would sometimes man the gates or help sling luggage. It helped them to stay connected with their employees and really understand what was going on. More CEOs could learn from that.
He could be at Office speeding the business class update at planes, planning the supply chain and optimizing the deployment schedule... Are we in Karneval jetzt?
More "Undercover Boss" assignments for airline execs. I doubt except for the CEO that cabin crew would recognize any other C suite exec. How about the VP of Loyalty programs working the gate or top tier call centers?
Maybe Isom. Could take a coach seat in one now the 737’s for 6.5 hrs and see what this like.
Have them fly economy as a passenger to any flight going from Europe and USa to India. Not as a crew but as a passenger and see how they are treated by thier crew.
Would have been amusing if the KLM CEO worked as a flight attendant when the King happened to be at the controls.
These tend to be dog and pony shows. Cabin crew of course will be on their best behavior. The job of flight attendants isn't easy and part of the recruiting process should be to get that point across and hopefully weed out those that don't have the work ethic. I'm not sure having the CEO work a flight does much to change that fact.
KLM’s CEO did this incognito, and there was no publicity. It only came to light when a customer recognised her. In addition there are many senior managers who fly on business or even private trips which their companies and do file reports of inflight service and issues.
Lufthansa executive team members need to spend time in the call centres and with the customer care teams.
Inflight experiences are generally good. Where Lufthansa 100% fails is with its pre and post customer service.
Plus he could fly to Paris where his checked baggage is delayed and he needs to get it back through their incredibly "efficient" agent ASO Tournee! Or at least read these comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/Lufthansa/comments/wo6ckc/delayed_luggage_delivery_from_paris_cdg/
In the US, the union would have immediately filed a complaint. How dare the CEO take away their opportunity to not do their job?
I feel he may learn a lot more about his airline if he was to base himself at FRA for the day...Absolute mess last week at FRA and out of a party of 5 passenger (I was one of them) 4 missed onward connections over 2 different days. Mine was due to weather and luckily I was in the Senator Lounge when our flight was cancelled so the lounge assistant was fantastic at rebooking and...
I feel he may learn a lot more about his airline if he was to base himself at FRA for the day...Absolute mess last week at FRA and out of a party of 5 passenger (I was one of them) 4 missed onward connections over 2 different days. Mine was due to weather and luckily I was in the Senator Lounge when our flight was cancelled so the lounge assistant was fantastic at rebooking and a hotel, however the next day was a different story. No manned check in desks, literary thousands of passengers sleeping everywhere our LHR bound flight was at 7am but we had to check a bag due to having liquids, but no check in desks were open and they finally manned the 1st Class check in desk at 6.20am. You can imagine how much shouting was going on! No front line staff in sight for the thousands of passengers needing help. Very poor. Perhaps he would benefit from working the airport check in to see exactly where the airline falls down.
My other family members flying on to the US were left to fend for themselves despite service centre desks being open and staff saying it wasn't LH's fault, even though it was their flights that arrived in to FRA late!
It was a shambles...
I am still waiting 3 months later for a refund after being bumped out of business class to economy on a Lufthansa flight. They gave me just 7 days to make the claim, but here I am still being told to ‘be patient’ after 3 months. Will never fly Lufthansa again
MR ISSOM, CEO OF AA, PLEASE COME ABOARD AS A FLIGHT ATTENDANT AND
DISCOVER "WE KNOW WHY YOU FLY"
THAN, YOU WILL REALIZE YOUR PASSENGERS NEEDS AND APPRECIATE YOUR HARD WORKING FLIGHT ATTENDANTS!
APPLAUD LUFTHANSA CEO!
In the twilight years of Eastern Airlines, Frank Borman (CEO) tossed luggage on the baggage carousel.
I remember when we had a crew pattern that always generated a bunch of fatigue reports, despite being perfectly legal on paper. The crew management reviewed and did nothing. The managers involved were qualified crew, but they never flew the "crap pairings" like this was.
One day, after seeing probably the 8th or 9th report for that same pairing in just a few months, I decided to test it out. I got the cabin crew...
I remember when we had a crew pattern that always generated a bunch of fatigue reports, despite being perfectly legal on paper. The crew management reviewed and did nothing. The managers involved were qualified crew, but they never flew the "crap pairings" like this was.
One day, after seeing probably the 8th or 9th report for that same pairing in just a few months, I decided to test it out. I got the cabin crew management, flight ops management, ground ops management and myself to accompany the crew on their trip. It was a 4 sector trip with a split duty overnight in Nigeria, followed by multiple sectors into the rising sun the next day. Legal, but brutal. I felt myself flagging after sector 3, so I can only imagine what the captain was feeling like.
I promise you, I wasn't even back in the office before I saw the change to the following week's pattern. No more fatigue reports.
So yeah, something that every manager needs to do more often, not just at C-suite level. You see a lot more stuff when you are out on the line yourself, than just waiting for the reports to reach you.
Is he certified to be a FA? Would this be allowed on an American carrier?
He wasn’t replacing an FA. He was “assisting” the cabin crew - no need to be certified. He was serving food and drinks.
Isom should defenitly come along some other high level in-flight management to work and see all the challenges the fãs have to go through after they blatantly reduced staffing on long haul flights.
You actually made an article justifying the staff reduction during the pandemic, since service was reduced and flights were almost empty. You forget to write another article on how the service came back, flights are full and the staffing level never...
Isom should defenitly come along some other high level in-flight management to work and see all the challenges the fãs have to go through after they blatantly reduced staffing on long haul flights.
You actually made an article justifying the staff reduction during the pandemic, since service was reduced and flights were almost empty. You forget to write another article on how the service came back, flights are full and the staffing level never came back. Add to all the criticisms the fãs have to endure, that they are lazy, entitled, and how they are blamed about the poor service level provided in-flight. SMH.
KLM ceo Marjan Rintel did the same thing in May this year, however no public statement was made about this nor were there photographers accompanying here. This only came in the news after one of the passengers recognized her and posted a photo on LinkedIn. Here is the Simply Flying article: https://simpleflying.com/undercover-boss-klm-ceo-spotted/
basically he did a job for which he doesn't have the qualification , yeah, maybe he was a pilot but is not the same thing, If I could, I would fine the airline. People are so easily impressed by cheap BS is incredible
Fine the airline? The airline didn't break any rules! He was additional to the existing complement, so there was never a shortage of trained safety personnel on board.
Qualifications for flight attendants are to ensure a minimum number are on board, having extra people, who aren't trained, is no problem as long as there are seats for them.
There was a fully trained and qualified crew on board. He was an additional crew member to the normal amount of crew. Also, as a pilot he himself is qualified in the event of an emergency. That is why pilots are often allowed to fly in open jump seats to get to where they're going.
Green1 and Anthony said it all....but I just wanted to add....you're such a bitter person!
Sitting around in a lounge is not comparable to working a flight.
Talking to customers in a rarified environment wouldn't be very productive.
Chats at the departure gate lounge would be though.
He brought with him a photographer to take pictures of him working on the plane? It sounds like what a politician would do.
C-suite execs are politicians.
Looking at the quality of the photos, this was not done by a professional photographer...
If it was a professional, not a good one for sure.
It just seems to me that the airline industry could benefit from a kaizen or Six Sigma Lean applied to the on board operations. A number of years ago I consulted to improve the productivity for the in flight service model for a major Asian airline. It quickly became apparent that although the industry is highly optimised, the on board movements and organisation are not. Mostly things are cramped wherever possible instead of understanding a...
It just seems to me that the airline industry could benefit from a kaizen or Six Sigma Lean applied to the on board operations. A number of years ago I consulted to improve the productivity for the in flight service model for a major Asian airline. It quickly became apparent that although the industry is highly optimised, the on board movements and organisation are not. Mostly things are cramped wherever possible instead of understanding a detailed work flow and material & can movement. It just irks me to see FAs scrambling around in their tight spaces potentially getting injured and even inadvertently placing a passenger at harm by allowing allergens to spill over.
After a few months of observation and inclusion as a cabin crew, a majority of my suggestions included better work space utilisation, arrangement and designating clear roles during the service. Surprised that a consultant is required to address such a basic issue.
Lufthansa is also a victim to this and hopefully Ritter instils some of his process oriented pilot’s training here.
Last week on a Emirates flight DXB-LGW, I noticed similar things. It took the crew close to 3.5 hours to do a full meal service in economy on a flight where the flying time was only 6.5-7 hours or so.
The crew started by walking up and down and moving around special meals between the galleys.
Then they served all the special meals first, for a cabin of 426 passengers already 75-100 passengers...
Last week on a Emirates flight DXB-LGW, I noticed similar things. It took the crew close to 3.5 hours to do a full meal service in economy on a flight where the flying time was only 6.5-7 hours or so.
The crew started by walking up and down and moving around special meals between the galleys.
Then they served all the special meals first, for a cabin of 426 passengers already 75-100 passengers had special meals, this added 45mins and those with special meals didn't get their drinks.
It's so easy to fix, given they get so many special meals they just serve them from the main cart, with the other meals and pull oth the special meals when they arrive at the assigned seat.
All airline executive leadership should do this regularly.
I’d like to see him work the service desk at FRA where 200 holiday-goers and their little kids are standing in line to get rebooked after their flights were cancelled at the very last minute.
They should all get out of the ivory tower and do this!
I am sure Alan Joyce will do the same at Qantas.
I read that Joyce left Qantas...no doubt with a lifetime pass
I'm sure some employees are rejoicing!!
rejoicing ..
What's with the preoccupation with Lufthansa? Seems to be more than just this recent trip.
One thing I've observed, in businesses large and small, in every sector: When the people making decisions are disconnected from the impacts of those decisions, it shows - and tends to lead to failure. So, yes, even CEOs should, maybe once or twice a year, work the cabin. Or as a gate agent. So that they never forget the practical implications of taking that olive off the salad.
Not nearly as challenging as working a flight as an FA, but being based in ATL I've met Ed Bastian and Richard Anderson several times in Delta SkyClubs. Anderson in particular seemed to like to visit the airline's passengers in the lounges where he could engage in real conversations. I remember one interaction where he asked me what flight I'd last used my SkyMiles for and then had several follow-up questions.
Sitting around in a lounge is not comparable to working a flight.
Talking to customers in a rarified environment wouldn't be very productive.
Chats at the departure gate lounge would be though.
"for example the meals offered on the menu cards were not exactly the meals loaded on board"
Lol, you'd think on the one flight that Ritter was supposed to work, they'd try harder.
Except that he is CEO of Lufthansa, not LSG Sky Chefs (which isn't owned by LH Group anymore, although the FRA location is part of a joint venture).
If he wanted a true impression, he wouldn't have warned the crew in advance.
The catering would have been done by Gate Gourmet, not LSG Sky Chefs.
Someone should make Alan Joyce do this over at Qantas.
I read that Joyce left Qantas...
I'm sure some employees are rejoicing!!