Flight LH 9471 / EN8221 on July 12th, 24 at 6 p.m.
Operated by Air Dolomiti

If you were also booked on the flight that was cancelled, here are the instructions on how to get the compensation of EUR250 per person that is guaranteed by the EU passenger rights law.

Air Dolomiti first refused and claimed it was cancelled due to bad weather, however there was no bad weather on this day as no other flight was cancelled and since the incoming flight of the same airplane arrived late already, the gate desk had actually told me that they will have scheduling issues with the crew, as they would have reached the limit of their flight hours.

1. Even if you had booked with Lufthansa, you have to file the claim to Air Dolomiti because the airline is the operator of the flight.
2. Request an official explanation from the airline, which confirms the flight cancellation and more importantly, indicates the reason for the cancellation. (Send an email to [email protected]) and open a claim to the airline that you request compensation (provide all booking info, airlines tickets, invoices for hotel and taxi if you had to stay another night, and other documents they ask for)
3. Air Dolimiti will reply that the flight was canceled due to bad weather ("Cause of the Cancellation: Bad Weather Conditions")
4. As I said above, there was no bad weather and the airline claims that in order to avoid paying any compensation (as it would be outside of their responsibility). No other flight that went in the same direction (over the Alps) was cancelled on that day. In addition, after a delay of 1hr, I had asked what was going on and I was told that they needed a new crew because they had reached the limit of their allowed flight hours.
5. So again, send an email to Air Dolomiti, dispute the cancellation reason. According to EU law, the airline must then prove its reason for cancellation, e.g. they need to show specifically where the bad weather was.
6. At the same time, file a request to the arbitration board disputing the cancellation reason: In the case of Air Dolimiti (part of Lufthansa Group), the arbitration board is SRV Schlichtungsstelle für den öffentlichen Personenverkehr (schlichtung-reise-und-verkehr.de) The application can be done online and is free of charge.
7. Finally, 1.5 months after I filed the complaint, I received a positive message that Air Dolimiti will refund me EUR250 per person + all charges I incurred spending another night in Bari (hotel costs, taxi).

Happy to help if someone was on the same flight or is in the same situations! EU law is great but some airlines try to talk their way out of it, so it is good to be persistent and stand your rights.