Aelx2k

Hi,

I have tickets to go to Russia tomorrow. Unfortunately, the consulate here in Rome (Italy) refused to issue me a visa because my passport is not in pristine conditions (is this just a lame excuse or what?).

Anyway, the point is that tomorrow I cannot fly. I have my ticket booked with lufthansa in W (fare basis: WABASE18). What do you think I can/should do? Ask for a partial monetary refund? Ask for credit? or move my ticket to a date a few months from now and then change it once again after I will have obtained my tourist visa?

thanks a lot!

PS the total value fo the ticket is E239 + tax. The ticket is an open-jaw (FCO-FRA FRA-LED SVO-FRA FRA-FCO).

sentom

just looked up the fare rules on EF and it looks like you cant get a refund!

szg

If you don´t get a visa, LH is not responsible to refund you the ticket.

Aelx2k

Of course it's not! I was not trying to use that as an excuse. And yes, I jsut called Lufthansa in Canada and they told me that the ticket canot be refunded or changed. It looks like I'll only get the airport taxes back...

bau31888

As sentom & szg have said, there is no normal way to refund the ticket.

The only thing you could hope for is that your flight is overbooked and that you can volunteer for a denied boarding and thereafter cancel your flight. I don't know, whether this really works (acutally w/o a valid visa you shouldn't be able to check in at all). In addition, none of the flights FCO-FRA-SVO is heavily booked tomorrow. The "fullest" one is LH 3853 (click):
btw, interesting booking class constellation... B0 and W2

With regard to the visa: I had never serious problems applying for a Russian visa (except once but that was a mistake of Ministry of the Interior issueing me an invitation with wrong dates...). However, my passport is always in "pristine conditions".

mapu

at least it is not that big a loss

Flying Lawyer

It appears that they are right. Here are the relevant fare rules as they can be checked on Expedia:

PENALTIES
FOR WABASE18 FARES
CANCELLATIONS
ANY TIME
TICKET IS NON-REFUNDABLE.
WAIVED FOR DEATH OF PASSENGER OR FAMILY MEMBER.
NOTE -
REFUND THE DIFFERENCE IF ANY BETWEEN THE FARE PAID
AND THE APPLICABLE NORMAL FARE FOR THE SECTORS
ACTUALLY FLOWN WITHOUT CANCELLATION FEE.
------------
WAIVERS MUST BE EVIDENCED BY DEATH CERTIFICATE.
CHANGES
ANY TIME
CHANGES NOT PERMITTED.
NOTE -
CHANGE TO OW TRAVEL-
IF A TOTALLY UNUSED RETURN TICKET SHALL BE USED
FOR ONE WAY TRAVEL -EITHER INBOUND OR OUTBOUND-
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE RETURN FARE AND THE
APPLICABLE HIGHER ONE WAY FARE HAS TO BE
COLLECTED.
---
IF THE RETURN FARE IS HIGHER THAN THE ONE WAY FARE
THE RETURN TICKET MAY BE USED FOR ONE WAY TRAVEL
WITHOUT REFUND IN CASE OF NON REFUNDABLE FARES.
---
UPGRADE TO ONE WAY IS ONLY POSSIBLE IF ORIGIN/
DESTINATION OF THE ORIGINAL TICKET REMAIN
UNCHANGED. UPGRADE TO ONE WAY TICKET MUST BE MADE-
- FOR OUTBOUND TRAVEL BEFORE DEPARTURE OF ORIGINAL
OUTBOUND FLIGHT
- FOR INBOUND TRAVEL BEFORE DEPARTURE OF ORIGINAL
INBOUND FLIGHT
IN CASE OF UPGRADE TO ONE WAY FARE REBOOKING FEE
DOES NOT APPLY.
---
IN CASE OF TICKET UPGRADE THE ORIGINAL
NON-REFUNDABLE AMOUNT REMAINS NON-REFUNDABLE.

szg

Had the same last day and I tried to book the cheap W fare, but LH told me, that the W is not available. Very interesting indeed, because the expensive booking classes are not available, but the cheap one, which are not bookable.

rorschi

I just got a similar very abasing phone-call from the Russian Embassy in Berlin, that they will not issue my tourist-visa because my passprt is slightly damaged on the first page

After I had troubles this week because of my health-insurance (it's a swiss insurance, but I'm leaving in Germany - everything is official, of course), they finally accepted this matter and called me today with the other excuse.

So my chapter for trying a trip to Russia is closed - no chance to get another passport and a visa for flying there on Aug. 17th. I told them also that even the North Korean embassy didn't make problems because of my passport (stamps visible inside...). Honestly, I'm no more unhappy for not expensing any money in Russia under these circumstances.

For my LH-flight to SVX, of course the rules for cancelling my award-ticket apply. So my expenses were 40€ for the flight-cancelling, 50€ for getting the invitation from VOSTOK-travel in Berlin and about 30€ for sending my passport all around Germany by mail (the abasement from the Russian embassy was priceless )...

andre1970

That ain't nothing compared to what the actual trip would cost to you:

According to a very recent study, the average price of a cup of coffee in Moscow is EUR 4.64 (resp. EUR 2.30 in Paris using the same measure). My guess is that they had their infos about you and tried to save you from financial distress!

f0zzyNUE

funniest thing i had with issuing a russian visa - during application at a russian travel agency in NUE i forgot to sign the application. that came to my mind a few days later and as i wasnot near NUE during these days so i called them and they told me "we saw that it was not signed - so we signed it for you - no problem " - russian mentality :-)

just a small sidenote - when applying a russian visa at a russian travel agency - they usually provide the "russian invitation" for free - even when you don't book anything with them- so no costs are involved for getting the invitation. they just bill the fee for issuing the visa + a service fee for the postage. 50€ for an official invitation seems to be daylight robbery ...

p.s. sorry for being OT

bau31888

No need to excuse here, the OP's question has been answered anyway...

That's definitely the way to go! My Russian travel agent takes 40 € + usual visa fees. All I have to do is to give him my travel dates and sign the application fee (no invitation, no insurance proof, no caring about postage, ...).

Moranguinho

I always have this problem with booking class T a few days before the flight. It is shown as available, but can not be booked.

f0zzyNUE

that's probably because these cheap fare classes usually have advance booking restrictions, but as T can be rebooked, available T seats would allow you to reschedule your flight when buying a new T class ticket is no longer possible ...
just my 2ct...

sentom

rebooking such a ticket usually comes with the same advance purchase rules. i have a D VIE-SZG (3 day advance) booked, if i want to rebook it right now the first possible day of travel would be aug 6th...