By way of explanation....i appended Part 1 yesterday to an older Thread that was started by Oliver and dealt with input for an LH management meeting.... As my saga continued today, i thought i create a new thread, hoping that some LH Lurkers around read and take note...I know this is an old subject and maybe i am beating a dying horse here, but i hope it isn´t dead yet and LH might find a good "Vet". In fact, i encourage others to share their experiences if you feel similarly that this subject needs some attention again.

Part 1:
i have always been a patient, nice boy, as far as i can correctly judge my own behaviour. and i have kept quiet on the deterioation of standards at th call centers when Kassel closed.
but now, becoming victim of incompetence and stubbornness, when the rules clearly say differently, being "shopped" around from agent to agent to supervisor and still not being able to find someone who calls a spade a spade....
.... LH, read, listen, whatever but wake up and ensure quality staff throughout at your call centers and most certainly at the HON line.
I just scares the crap out of me imagining (or rather: explains!) how frustrated non status pax with no fare rule backgrounds must get when dealing with their airline of choice. This ordeal has cost me 2 hours of my day today
i feel better now. only a little.

Part 2:
i might have to give some more background to my saga on day 1....my itinerary originally was a Z Class longhaul from XXX-FRA-AAA and back. I needed to change the inbound but ended up with a waitlist situation for Z Class longhaul which seemed hopeless. I checked alternative airports and found that under the Z (and D) Class fare rules the routing did allow to fly XXX-FRA-BBB-AAA and return. Since the longhaul from BBB to FRA was open in D i asked to be rerouted on the return on my date of choice, now being routed AAA-BBB-FRA-XXX. The rules stipulate that AAA-BBB can be flown on pretty much any airline operating that sector nonstop, even if non star/non codeshare.
That was the debate and the argument i had yesterday that went on for 2 hours, where everybody argued this was wrong, until it eventually was right. Yay.

Now, Part 2 of today: Resulting from additional airport taxes and upgrading Z to D, I had an additional collection of approx 250€ . Today, Z class opened up again. My obvious request: Change it back to Z and refund the fare difference (approx 200€). My first call landed in IST. Sorry this is not possible to be refunded. Uhm, why, when they rules tell otherwise? Upon checking with the supervisor, the explanation was that the original fare rule of Z class was to be applied. i strongly doubt this is correct as this is nowhere mentioned. I challenged her and she reconfirmed it again with the supervisor. Then, i found the Z rules as follows and asked her to check again. (before anybody screams, here is an excerpt of the underlying fare rules which are the SAME for D and Z (!)):
" AFTER DEPARTURE
CHANGES PERMITTED FOR REISSUE/REVALIDATION.
NOTE - TEXT BELOW NOT VALIDATED FOR AUTOPRICING.
NO CHANGE FEE APPLIES.
--------
THE FOLLOWING RULES APPLY PER FARE COMPONENT
/DIRECTION.
--------
CHANGES PERMITTED FOR REROUTING/REBOOKING.
REROUTING/REBOOKING PERMITTED PROVIDED ALL
CONDITIONS OF THE NEW FARE EXCEPT ADVANCE
PURCHASE ARE COMPLIED WITH.
WHEN THE NEW ITINERARY RESULTS IN A HIGHER
FARE THE DIFFERENCE WILL BE COLLECTED.
WHEN THE NEW ITINERAY RESULTS IN A LOWER FARE
A CREDIT OF THE RESIDUAL AMOUNT WILL BE MADE. "
I got disconnected....
Next attempt, this time not the IST call center. "Thanks Mr yapak2, and let me at least hold that last seat for you"...Phew....
She checks with the supervisor and the fares experts...and calls back to tell me that all is sorted, and my ticket was already reissued yesterday and the rebooking fee already debited, there would be no more charges.
yapak2 takes a deeeep breath...and kindly advises that this is not quite the point for today´s conversation, rather, that yapak2 wants the addl collection reimbursed or at least given a proper reason why it is not possible.
while checking with the supervisor i got disconnected.
I shall see how this evolves. (2 hours again today so far)

I feel royally sorry for making you all read this, and even more sorry for pax who probably get brushed off with nonsense explanations every day. Granted my case may require a little more solid expertise but one would expect such expertise at least with the supervisors.

And if any LH lurkers are around....guys....this is not the kind of image you would want your employees to portrait to your clients.