Lufthansa’s ‘rude’ reply to angry customer goes viral with 13 million views: ‘The response isn’t going to magically change’

A customer complaint aimed at Lufthansa has turned into a social media talking point after the airline’s response was labelled rude by several users on X.The exchange began when a frustrated passenger asked the German airline why an approved payment had still not been credited to his account. Tagging Lufthansa, he asked the airline to “process Case C-999983-G1X8 IMMEDIATELY!”But the response he received wasn’t the usual customer service apology.A Lufthansa representative named Flo pointed out that the airline had already responded to him through direct messages on other social media platforms.“We’ve already responded to you numerous times via DM on different social media platforms. The response isn’t going to magically change just because you’re asking the same question on X now,” the representative wrote.

The blunt reply quickly caught people’s attention. It reportedly received 13.5 million views within 12 hours, with users divided over whether the airline employee had crossed a line.

Lufthansa apologises for the reply

Lufthansa later apologised to the customer for the tone of the response.“We sincerely apologize for our last reply to you – this is not the way we treat our passengers. We understand your frustration in this matter and are doing everything we can to speed up the process. We will get back to you as soon as possible,” the airline said in a follow-up post.The apology came after several X users criticised the original response as arrogant and unprofessional.“Regardless of the scenario, regardless of how much passengers can be a pain to deal with, this is NOT how a multi-billion-dollar airline group should handle customer service, no matter how right they are,” one user wrote.Another called it a “poor & unprofessional response”, arguing that the situation should have been handled differently even if the passenger had repeatedly raised the same issue.“This is how most unprofessional interactions in customer support go. An employee thinking this is their moment to humble the customer,” another person commented.

Not everyone thought Lufthansa was wrong

There was also a section of X users who sided with the Lufthansa representative.One person argued that customer service needs to change and that employees shouldn’t always have to “pander” to customers they believe are being unreasonable.So while the airline has apologised for the wording, the viral exchange has opened up a familiar debate online: how far can a customer service representative go when a frustrated customer keeps asking the same question?