Originally Posted by
SK AAR
It wasn't less than 14 days before departure. The OP wrote to be informed of the rebooking on 17 Nov and the flight took place 11 Dec.
Your advice is very optimistic - sorry, but I see no chance for partial refund, credit card dispute etc. Once confirmed on the new flight the OP has no right of automatically being rebooked back to the original flight when it became reinstated - except if the OP had requested being rebooked to the original flight in time and LH had accepted. This will simply not fly...
EC 261 is clear that "re
-routing
, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at the earliest opportunity" must be provided. Ultimately, the OP accepted to be re-routed at the earliest opportunity, and the precise flight details are, in my view, not so relevant.
I also don't think it's obvious that "earliest opportunity" is determined solely based on the flight options available at the time of cancellation or at the time of rebooking. Could it potentially include opportunities that arise later? Maybe it's optimistic, but I think the answer should be yes - LHs obligation to re-route is on-going and remains in place until the OP has arrived at their destination - and when a better option arises they should rebook onto that.
Edit: as the OP is London-based, they might want to look at the Consumer Rights 2015, which provides, "Every contract to supply a service is to be treated as including a term that the trader must perform the service with reasonable care and skill." Has LH met this threshold?