Mario Lee Blog

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Introduction

Our trip to Singapore was full of wonderful experiences, but the last days turned into a nightmare we will not forget any time soon. What began as a relaxed holiday ended in a desperate fight to get back to Germany, overshadowed by the terrible news of the outbreak of war in the Middle East between the USA, Israel and Iran. We want to tell our story to show how quickly a situation can escalate, and what barriers people with disabilities face in times of crisis. The behaviour of the travel portal fluege.de in particular left us speechless.

Growing unease

Days before our planned flight home on 6 March 2026, we were anxiously following the news. Tensions in the Middle East were escalating, and the closure of the airspace over Iran and neighbouring countries seemed unavoidable. Every day we nervously checked the status of our flight EY 499 with Etihad Airways via Abu Dhabi. The uncertainty was exhausting. We saw flights being cancelled on 2, 3 and 4 March. A short glimmer of hope appeared when a flight did operate on 5 March, but it was only for local passengers from Abu Dhabi, not for tourists. The disappointment was huge.

The first contact with fluege.de – no problems

Because we had no Wi-Fi where we were staying, we went to Starbucks on Tuesday, 3 March, to get a stable connection. I contacted fluege.de through the TESS service to get information about our flight home on 6 March. As I am deaf, I use TESS to make phone calls through a sign language interpreter.

On that day the call went completely smoothly. The TESS interpreter translated, and the fluege.de employee gave us information. There were no objections at all to the interpreter as a „third person“, and no power of attorney was requested. The employee explained that Etihad would be responsible for the next flight home if the 6 March flight was cancelled. She explained everything carefully so that we would not have any unnecessary costs. I felt well informed, and we assumed that communication would also work in an emergency. How naive we were.

The bad news

I kept watching flight EY 499. It was cancelled on 4 March too. Then, on 6 March at around 2 am, I received the message from Etihad: our flight had been cancelled. Not only for the 6th, but also for 7 March. Etihad automatically rebooked us for 7 March, but just a few hours later this flight was also cancelled until further notice. We were devastated and full of fear.

Discrimination, harassment and frustration on 6 March

In this acute emergency we went to McDonald’s again to use the Wi-Fi. My Telekom travel SIM card did not give a reliable connection and kept dropping out. I tried again to reach fluege.de through TESS. What happened next still leaves me shocked and angry.

Suddenly, on 6 March, in a situation of real existential fear, everything was different. The fluege.de employee refused to talk to me. The reason: the TESS interpreter was a „third person“. She demanded a power of attorney. I was speechless. The same service, the same way of communicating that had been accepted without any problem three days earlier, was now suddenly a problem.

Through the interpreter, I explained to her that we were in an emergency, stranded and in urgent need of help. She did not care. She stubbornly and without any empathy referred to data protection laws. That was pure harassment in a crisis situation.

I was desperate and confused. I quickly wrote a digital power of attorney on my iPad mini and sent it. When I called again, the employee claimed that something was still missing from it. I was completely confused and at the end of my strength. I wrote the power of attorney again and sent it again. Further attempts to reach fluege.de failed. The waiting times at TESS are long (up to half an hour), and if you get disconnected, you end up at the bottom of the list again. It was useless.

I felt deeply discriminated against and harassed. A hearing person could simply have called and solved the problem. I, on the other hand, was blocked by sudden bureaucratic hurdles and a lack of understanding that had not existed three days earlier. All sign language interpreters are state-certified. Why is communication made so difficult for us in an emergency? I am seriously considering filing a complaint with the anti-discrimination office against fluege.de.

A desperate search for help at Changi Airport

We did not give up. We took a taxi to Changi Airport to ask for help directly at the counter. I had prepared a text in English to explain our problem:

URGENT: DEAF PASSENGERS

Our flights for March 6th and 7th were CANCELLED.

The Etihad App shows the WRONG direction (MUC to SIN).

We need a flight FROM Singapore (SIN) TO Munich (MUC).

Booking Code: [removed]

Names: Mario Lee & wife

Please help us rebook to Munich manually. Thank you!

At the information counter we met an incredibly friendly Singaporean employee. She took care of us and contacted Etihad. The waiting seemed endless. First it was 2 hours, then 3 hours, and so on. In total we waited 17 hours at the airport! It was a miserable sight. People were sleeping on the floor everywhere, and I also lay down for a few hours. Etihad offered no compensation at all – no meal vouchers, no hotel. Their reason: their hands were tied because it was a war situation. We were hungry and desperately looked for something cheap to eat. My wife stayed awake for the full 17 hours. We were completely exhausted; our bodies could not take any more.

The Singaporean employee at the information counter advised us to go home briefly to rest.

We only had 2 hours, then we had to be back at the airport, at 4:25 pm sharp. When we returned, this wonderful woman took us straight to Etihad to finally sort out the situation. Another 5 hours of hard struggle followed. We could not communicate directly with the Etihad staff. The friendly employee from the information counter did that for us: she spoke with Etihad and wrote everything down for us. The Etihad staff could not tell us clearly when a flight home via Abu Dhabi would be possible again. Everything was uncertain.

The rescue and its high price

The Singaporean employee at the information counter suggested rebooking us on another airline, Lufthansa. I agreed immediately. We just wanted to go home. The Etihad employee gave us a note for a partial refund. Then the Singaporean employee started the rebooking. It was a race against time. A flight on 16 March was gone within seconds. In the end she found a connection on 22 March from Singapore via Munich to Berlin. I said yes immediately. We finally wanted to feel German soil under our feet.

The employee completed everything. Unfortunately, the price for the rebooking was astronomical: 4,932.20 Singapore dollars for the two of us (about 3,329 euros). I had no other choice and paid the amount in instalments via PayPal. When we finally held our tickets for 22 March in our hands, we were simply exhausted. Around us we saw crying families with children who were also stranded and had to pay extra for hotels and food. We were lucky in our misfortune that we could stay with my parents-in-law.

A heartfelt thank you

I want to thank the Singaporean employee at Changi Airport from the bottom of my heart. Without her help we would have been helpless. She has a wonderful, kind heart. I left her this feedback:

Thank you so much for your help. We have been here for 15 hours and were completely exhausted. You were the only one who finally found a solution for us with Lufthansa. We truly appreciate your kindness and professionalism. You saved us today.

Conclusion and outlook

This experience has marked us deeply. It showed us how fragile our travel plans can be, and how important human kindness and professionalism are in times of crisis. At the same time, it showed us the glaring shortcomings and arbitrary harassment in the communication of travel portals like fluege.de, which discriminate against people with disabilities. I will look into legal steps against fluege.de. Our ticket clearly states that we are deaf passengers. Such treatment – especially the striking difference in behaviour between 3 and 6 March – is unacceptable. We are glad to be back home, but the memory of these hard days will stay with us for a long time.

The reply from fluege.de (translated from German):

Dear Mr Lee,

Thank you for your message about your flight booking [booking number removed]. We are happy to inform you about authorising third parties.

So that a third person can make changes to your flight booking on your behalf, please fill in the attached form completely. Please use only our template – we cannot accept a power of attorney you have written yourself.

As soon as you have sent us the completed form, the authorised person can make the changes you have specified.

If you have any further questions, we are happy to help.

Kind regards,
Your customer service (name removed)
Invia Flights Germany GmbH, Leipzig

Do I have to write a power of attorney?

This is exactly the point that makes the discrimination so clear: no, it is not right.

A sign language interpreter is not a „third party“ in the sense of a person who makes decisions or gets information for me. The interpreter is a communication assistant – in a way, my „technical aid“ in human form.

• Do hearing people need this? No. A hearing person can simply call. Nobody asks them on the phone whether they are „really“ themselves, or whether their ears and voice count as „third parties“.
• Is the interpreter an authorised representative? No. The interpreter only translates 1:1 what I say. They do not act in their own name; they are my voice. Demanding a power of attorney for a state-recognised interpreting service like TESS is an unnecessary barrier.
• Emergency vs. helplessness: The fact that I was in an emergency and only wanted to rebook makes fluege.de’s behaviour even worse. By refusing to communicate, they artificially made me „helpless“, even though I wanted to act completely independently.