flyerduck

I purchased a Lufthansa return flight ticket, and flew to the destination. When I had to return, because of seat unavailability I had to purchase a one-way ticket with another airline and used that instead. I called up the ticketing agent and asked for a refund, but she said that the ticket is of no value (I assume it was a promo ticket or something), therefore there would be no refunds.

My question is, what can I do with this return ticket? Is there any way I can get at least some money back? Or at least salvage it in any way?

oliver2002

Welcome to FT!

Could you elaborate what you mean by 'seat unavailability'?

If you had to cancel or not take your return flight without any fault of the airline (ie you made a 'voluntary change') the airline usually doesn't refund the remaining value of the ticket. The way they explain it is that they recalculate your ticket as if it was a one way (OW) fare and if any value is left you get your cash back. Sadly OW fares are usually far higher than discounted return fares and the customer doesn't get any cash back.

vbroucek

and, IMHO, sometimes the customer can even be asked to pay the difference...

aster

Isn't this a bit of an urban myth?

There is no way I would pay extra just because I forfeited the return leg of my ticket...

vbroucek

I personally do not know anyone who would pay and I personally do not know anyone who would be silly enough to go to LH (or any other airline) and ask for refund of unused return leg.

While I would believe that it could be legally enforceable I do not see LH going to the court to sue someone for that. Having said that, however, imagine that I would buy return F class ticket and used only half of it, because it would be cheaper than one way… Just imagine. For some destinations, this could mean significant loss for LH. Just play with imaginary numbers and imagine that the return ticket was 5000 and one way 7000 (easily possible even more). It would seem that LH’s loss was only 2000, however, if I was their lawyer, I would argue that the loss was actually 7000-5000/2=4500. Why? First of all, there are 2000 difference and there is one empty seat that could be sold for at least half of the return fare, i.e. 2500.

So, while it might be just urban myth only, I could see good reasons for enforcing it in some cases.

oliver2002

No, LH doesn't enforce the additional charge. Just like they don't chase you if you do a hidden city.

supermasterphil

Isn't the OP entitled to at least get the taxes back?

abhilife2001

I have a similar situation wherein I had booked a red ticket with OS .. Had to return back earlier due to personal situation and OS wanted to charge me about Eur 400 for the change !! Got a OW ticket from another airline for Eur 190..
hence the return red ticket is unused and would happily take anything they give me back ..

demue

I think with all this it depends on your ticket / fare purchased. If I was on the odd full fare itinerary then maybe only travelling the outbound and not the return could yield a refund with no issue even when repriced to a one way.

However, I would argue that this will only apply to very few tickets where one way is really 50% of the RT. I also used plenty of OS redtickets for example for VIE-CPH-VIE for like ridiculously low 60Euro RT and never used the return as I only wanted to go one way to CPH which would have been some insane amount of 780 Euro or so.

So basically with any discounted tickets I would not call the airline and ask for a refund. You are inviting trouble. At best you get the answer the OP got and are not asked to pay the fare difference. In a worst case they could try to get you to pay.

Of course if the situation the OP described involved an IDB or so then it would change the picture, but there is not enough info to determine that.

LonLH

Not really- I was told not to do this (buy a R/T and use only o/w) by a TA (who happens to be on FT) who was scared that the airline will send him a debit note for the difference fare on a personal trip.
He said that if I book the ticket myself, I might get away with it, but the airlines go after TAs and send them debit notes if it is a blatant abuse.

aster

I don't think I'd have trouble winning this one in court, I wouldn't even be concerned at all.

First of all when I buy a ticket I buy the right to a seat, to be transported somewhere, etc. They are offering me services, not the other way around. I can pay and not use them if I please, just like going to a restaurant, ordering a meal, and then changing my mind... paying off the bill... and walking out before even seeing the meal. The restaurant can't sue me for not staying and eating the meal that I ordered if I have actually paid the full amount for it.

Secondly, you could have felt ill and thus decided to forfeit the return journey, at a "loss" to you of course.

Thirdly, not getting on board for the return leg has not caused the airline any harm. If anything they have benefited as they have not had to transport me, my luggage, etc. so over 100kgs in total. No need to feed me, no need to give me drinks, no need to pay for my lounge access. And on top of that if the flight was overbooked, then they could have sold my seat a second time without giving me a penny.

Now if they argue that they lost out "because two 1-way tickets cost more" then that is just their mistake, a problem with their approach to setting prices. Is it logical to ask more for a 1-way than a RT where the first part of the journey is identical to that of the 1-way?

Key8

Well if the airline wanted to charge you directly they could just try to charge your credit card - couldn't they? After all, you have accepted their Terms & Conditions as well as the fare rules. You would have to proof that they are wrong in order to get back the money. (And the Credit Card Companies would rather be on the airline's side wouldn't they...)

abhilife2001

+1.. would be interesting to know any court rulings in this.. I have seen this mostly in Europe where a OW is priced much more higher than a RT on the same airline and flight..

oliver2002

Shouldn't bother the TA, he can argue that he cannot influence what the customer does.

vbroucek

I understand that there indeed were few cases all around the world - unfortunately, it seems that most of them have been settled out of court, with confidentiality agreements and as such are worthless.

All of this would go into contractual law. I have read and heard about cases where people were accused of fraud (and by the pure definition buying RT ticket for OW can be considered fraud), their TA's were charged and FF memberships were cancelled. However, I do not have any proofs of anything like that.

Being IT forensic expert, I deal with legal issues often so I have more than basic understanding of law and can see cases like this easily going both ways...