tomdor

I had a flight booked with Lufthansa 15/8/2020 LHR-FRA-HER returning Saturday 29/8/2020 HER-GVA-LHR with Swiss. On 26/8/2020 I called Lufthansa UK call center and re-booked the return flight to HER-HAM-LHR (operated by Eurowings) departing on Thursday 27/8/2020. The details of my credit card were taken and I received confirmation email of the changed itinerary with new Ticket Numbers for each person travelling as a family (four in total).

Upon arrival (well before the cut-off time) at the check-in desk I was told our names/reservation are not on passenger manifest. Having spoken to Eurowings supervisors who investigated further she said that they could find 3 open seats for our booking but Lufthansa needs to re-issue one more ticket. I quickly called Lufthansa UK call center and for the next 30 min the consultant was trying to fix the problem to the point when I was told that all had been processed and I needed to wait "just 5 more minutes" for systems to refresh. After 15 minutes even though Eurowings could then see my names in the system it turned out there was still pending payment which never cleared. As we well passed gate closing I was denied boarding.

Lufthansa consultant stayed on the phone for the entire time - they even talked directly to Eurowings supervisor during "system refreshing". After I was not allowed on the plane the only offer Lufthansa made was to re-book me for the flight three days later (Sunday) via Geneva. The main reason for me to cut trip short was to not travel via Switzerland so it was not acceptable. I requested for Lufthansa to arrange the flight outside their group - at least within Star Alliance which I was refused and told to contact their Complains department. The only subsequent offer made was to receive a refund of 50% of the cost of ticket I paid given I already used half of it on the way to HER.

I never received any notification the new reservation was not valid or there was an issue with the payment. When asked what I did wrong or how I could have anticipated problem there the consultant was unable to clarify. My family was left stranded at the airport without any further support from Lufthansa.

As a result I arranged a flight back to LHR with Aegean (which btw is Star Alliance member) for the next day. I incurred costs of new flight, accommodation, food and transfers to/from hotel. In addition to invoices for these expenses I have also receipts and confirmation for the flight I could not board issued by Lufthansa.

I am drafting an official case to Lufthansa but since the IDB was not due to overbooking I am uncertain EU regulation 261 can be used. It is clear Lufthansa made an error but is there any T&C I could quote to support the case except for not fulfilling its obligation to passengers.

Thanks in advance for any advice