In the world of airline travel one does not expect much today. Not getting dragged from a flight with bloody nose is considered to be the new normal. I do have several positive things to say about Delta and Alaska though they do not belong in this post. The post summarizes my negative experience with Lufthansa. Fortunately this is the last such experience because I will pay extra not to fly with them ever again.

On January 30, 2017 I booked a round-trip ticket for my family from Milan, IT to Lviv, Ukraine with online travel agency Tripsta.com. The ticket was issued by Lufthansa for travel from Milan on May 9, 2017 and returning on May 16, 2017. On May 8 my flight with Delta from Seattle to Milan was rescheduled to next day due to circumstances beyond my control. As such I would not be able to make Lufthansa flight the next day. Immediately I called Lufthansa and inquired about changing my Milan to Lviv flight to next day. The customer service agent was most unhelpful and told me that no changes were permitted for that type of ticket and suggested to contact the online agency I booked the ticket with. I called the online agency only to be told that I need to call Luftansa because they make the rules. I called Luftansa back and got another unhepful representative who informed me that not only my outgoing ticket would be lost but also my return ticket would be canceled because it would be considered out of sequence. She said I could try calling the online travel agency and ask them to convert the ticket into one-way so that it would not be considered out of sequence. I called Tripsta.com back and was told that the airline makes the rules and does not permit such changes. At this point I am out $590 USD for three tickets with airline canceling my return ticket that I was perfectly able to use.