larsll

Without digging into the specifics in the MileageRun thread it seems rather logical to have YQ separate; they would like to encourage pax to fly as direct as possible.

Currently pricing is done start-end, and is ignoring the steps inbetween; this meant that you could fly MUC-MAN or MUC-FRA-LHR-MAN, with the ticket actually costing the same. Fees are calculated differently, and segment based calculates is a part of it all: Holding YQ separate, calculated per segment, is a workaround that works.

Now, it had the negative effect that fees were refundable. I don't see it as problematic that YQ is not refundable. (But I do find it problematic that they charge it on awards...)

Back to YQ; as long as they a) only market their total prices and b) their T&Cs are up-to-date I don't see this as being a problem.

Lack

Fares do have their own routing rules to prevent "creative routing".

What's negative about being able to get back the YQ you didn't use?
Second problem is pricing for children for example - which usually get a 25-33% discount on the fare alone, making it usally closer to 10-15% overall since YQ and other cost might be higher then the fare itself.

larsll

Sure. Campaign fares often require direct flights, but most other fares allow for two stops, which nautrally increases the cost for the airline (more flown kilometers and more miles) - and previously did so without increasing revenue.

For me it was good. For the airline it was bad. They run a business - not a charity. My suspicion was that this was becoming too nice a loophole, and like tax authorities and other regulators, they chose to close it.

In a perfect world they would restructure the entire pricing system to have base fares + segment fares + taxes. Given how interwoven these airlines are I suspect we are "stuck" with workarounds for a long time.

AHN

But they are also competing with other airlines that offer direct flights where LH only can offer connections. In those cases passengers sacrifice time and convenience to fly LH, and LH has to make up for that by competitive prices (and miles) if they want to keep that traffic. Calculating YQ by segment makes that more difficult.

NewbieRunner

Has anyone cancelled a non-refundable ticket issued before 8th March and had YQ refunded along with taxes?

I've just tried to cancel such a ticket online and the amount calculated for refund excluded YQ. It's possible that LH's software cannot distinguish between tickets issued before and after 8th March.

Before I call LH to cancel this ticket I'm wondering if anyone had a similar experience.

The text quoted by rcs85551 in the first post seemed to be what was sent to TAs in Germany. Has LH published anything for the general public as well?

Peter_D

Yes, I cancelled many E class tickets issued before march after the change. They always refund YQ surcharge. Issued my tickets thrue expedia, but refund comes from LH directly. So system is allowing it...

NewbieRunner

Thanks for the confirmation. Since online cancellation on lufthansa.com does not seem to be able to cope with this, I think I'll give them a call.

GuckyGucky

Cancelled a very chepo ticket, which had been booked via LH.co.uk and cancelled using UK hotline.
YQ can through without any problems.

Cheers,
G

rcs85551

Sounds like a classical agent error to me - the agent processing the refund did not look at the original date of issue and applied the new rule by mistake...

NewbieRunner

No, I haven't called them yet. I tried to cancel online and the system did not seem to be able to tell that the ticket was issued before 8th March.