Moderator: Asiana & Qantas Frequent Flyer
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: STR/SYD/SMF
Programs: QF Lifetime SG, LH HON, OZ Lifetime Diamond +, HH Diamond, Marriott Lifetime Platinum
Posts: 14,372
Welcome to FT station1, and thanks for sharing your (sad) experience.
This type of problem is typical for many credit card deal. And it usually is not the airlines fault. Barclays has negotiated a deal with LH. That they advertise this deal in a strange way and for a card which doesn't even offer the benefit is the fault of Barclays, not LH.
With this sort of advertising you would have the right to compensation. So depending on how certain you are and on your energy level you could take them to a tribunal or small claims court to get your $59 back and to force them to offer you this "deal". The taxes seem to be quite high by the way and I would ask for a breakdown. 30% of a full fare ticket price is high.
There are many similar experiences here on FT for other cards and programs. Some Amex cards have Companion Ticket deals for C & F and they also require full fare tickets. Now back in 2007 when many tickets were close to full fare anyway, this still delivered some deals. But nowadays it is cheaper to buy two discounted tickets.
There was one other Asian carrier (Asiana) offering a Pay Y, Fly C deal. The catch was that you had to buy a Y class ticket which is about the same price as a discounted business ticket. Some people might have gotten some savings out of it but it was certainly a much worse deal that it initially appeared to be.