Like many others, I am stuck with a few of the infamous LH Group "flight vouchers" which the carriers gave out instead of refunds for flights cancelled due to Covid-19.
Now, with some flights starting to operate again from June, I want to use one of these vouchers for a new booking. Of course, the voucher's status is still "under review", despite the fact that I got it on the
website well over 2 weeks ago. That same website also says that currently, it is only possible to redeem the vouchers via the call center, although they are working on a way to use them online "at full speed".
So I called LX today, and after 2 dropped calls and a long wait, managed to speak to an agent. I provided her with my new flight details. However, the price the agent quoted for the new flights was
43% above what swiss.com quotes for those flights at the same time. Naturally, that massive price difference more than eats up the CHF50 "courtesy credit" that comes with my voucher.
When pressed, the agent said that "oh yes, the website has lower fares to which we have no access, and yes, in order to use the voucher you have to book through us."
What does a good Flyertalker do? HUCA.
The next agent magically was able to quote the exact same fare as the website. And because that fare was lower than the value of my voucher (+CHF50), he said that the small difference would actually be refunded to my credit card.
We'll see if that is true, but in any case: Buyer beware.