Technical Help Forum

I've never flown Germanwings though, to be fair, their website has been fine when I've made various dummy bookings (when researching for myself). Perhaps it's having a glitchy day? Easyjet fly to Koeln from Gatwick (and gives a cheaper quote for my random dates than Germanwings from Stansted). Might be worth exploring?.

I've flown various times with Germanwings and never had a problem with booking. I've never encountered the problems you mention. Very strange indeed.

Used the website without difficulty (from Australia) couple of years ago for flight Stuttgart-Krakow for vt meet. My only whinge was re the check-in servic. When we turned up at Stuttgart Airport we expected that “German efficiency” would see us through the check-in stage very quickly. Wrong! It was a sham-ozzle! We only had carry on luggage ( outside dimensions and weight under the specified Germanwings criteria) and we had seat allocation already done. Several check-in desks were marked specifically for people with luggage to check-in which was the majority of those in the line. However, everyone had to join the same line to reach the counters some of which were for passengers with no check-in luggage. Attendants were sitting doing nothing these desks while the mellee took place. I made an attempt to by-pass the situation but some one with a German "sergeant mentality" soon had me back in the pack. What should have been, at most, 10 minutes took over an hour.

I never had a problem with their website either. I booked three flights with them in January and there was no problem at all. Strange!

We've never had problems with it in the past either (although it's a few years since we've flown with them), which is why this is such a surprise. This is the fourth day running that we have encountered this problem. Last night, in desperation, we range their 'customer service' function,to be bluntly told that there was nothing wrong with the website (so we're imagining it?) and then they put the phone down! Think it's going to be Ryanair from Frankfurt (Hahn) for us ... one of the few advantages of this airport being miles from Frankfurt is that it's closer to where we're coming from!

Did you check the train fares? This might be another option, but if you're going in June I think it must be too expensive right now.

Yes, Mirjam, that's a good thought and I did check, but being summer (and with the Olympics pending), they're pretty high at present. So much though I dislike Mr O'Reilly, it looks looks like he's getting my custom this time around.

Yes, I supposed so... The train is only 49€ if you get a saving ticket or whatever it's called... Ticket sale starts 92 days before the date, but even in January prices had already risen to 75€ two days later! Pretty crazy. I hope you can sort things out and will have a good flight!

Hi Mirjam I finally managed to talk to a person on the Germanwings help desk, to find out that they share some luggage restrictions as Ryanir (ie. hold baggage needs to be paid for extra to the flight and no bag can exceed 20kg). So, a total of 220 Euros with a checked case each, plus the fact that we would have had to buy a couple of new cases (rather than the current system where we travel with two larger cases which could exceed 20kg and two smaller ones). Bearing your advice in mind, I then revisited DBahn and have managed to find a special rail fare which comes to a total of 268 Euros (with a single change in Brussels) which gives us time to seek out a genuine Belgian waffle and some beer! I have managed to book in a parent and child carriage and rather than landing at a far flung airport, this takes us right into central London and indulges my passion for rail travel (as well as letting the kids experience the Eurostar, which we'd wanted to do at some time in the future). Absolutely no contest!!! Thanks so much for your help, and you deserve multiple gold stars!!! Regards Cathy

I am very glad to hear it!!! I took the train there and back when I did my UK trip earlier this year, and will take it again in July. I think it is so convenient, and the connection to Cologne is fantastic with just one change in Brussels. And as you said, you are right in the centre of things when you arrive, and no need for shuttles or bus connections or whatever... :-) I am so happy that you were able to sort it out so quickly now, and that I was of help!