Originally Posted by
oliver2002
If you initiate a chargeback without even communicating with the merchant (LH) and its agent (Expedia) the chargeback can be contested by the merchant. The advice Citi gave was wrong. The chargeback always has to show that you tried your best to resolve the issue with the merchant and they did not perform their end of the contract.
You can debate how the airlines are justifying themselves, but essentially they are showing that the consumer didn't attempt a resolution and that is all the payment processor needs to decline the chargeback.
Although playing devil's advocate, the LH Group have essentially confirmed that they're not refunding within the 7 days mandated by law in 261/2004. IAG / BA are managing to do this, so it's clearly possible to do for an organisation of this size, they're just choosing not to.