Award cancelation dead line
 

Sorry for opening a new thread, but couldn't find one that would fit.

My girlfriend and I were planning on flying to MIA this Saturday (LH 462) on a F award. Unfortunately my girlfriend had an accident and we aren't sure whether we can actually fly.

My question: what is the dead line for canceling an award with LH?

In the T&C I could only find "vor Reiseantritt", but not sure whether there is a strict deadline (e.g. 24h before the flight). Ideally I would like to wait until tomorrow afternoon or even Friday before rebooking, just in case she get's better. Flying in F on the A380 would be real morale boost for her and not sure if I will have a chance to get another two awards later next week...

Thanks for any insight or personal experience!

I remember being told you can even no-show and the ticket is still valid. I have booked 28hrs out (even offered within 5hrs of departure ex-US), I have not cancelled short notice, neither have I no-showed.

You could give them a call tomorrow morning and - if you find someone who knows how to do it - just look for award availability on the big bird for next week. I guess it'll involve the special A380 award waitlist/queue function.

I don't know if you have access to the loads, but here they are: 8/20:F0A0, 8/21:F4A4, 8/22:F8A8, 8/23:F8A8, 8/24:F8A8, 8/25:F2A2, 8/26:F7A6, 8/27:F2A1.

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Same here. Will have to cancel LX40 in F in a very few days. My company will cover for the costs. Not sure though if I should postpone instead of canceling as I booked the trip under the old rules were it still was 140k miles. But then again I no longer have a purpose to go to LAX. Oh well..

Award tix are extremely flexible, you can change/cancel till the day of departure. Just costs 50€.

What about a no show? I have an F trip booked with the old chart that I won't use but have no idea if it may come in handy within the next 12 months. I could of course change it to later date, but I'd rather do one change then two.

AFAIR you can no-show and have the award miles redeposited and taxes refunded but they give you a tough time about it. Changes within 12 months of the original date of issue should be possible.

I believe the €50 change fee covers up to 3 changes to a booking, so you can change now to some future date and change again when you know the dates you actually want to travel.

I recently changed an F award (booked in December 2010) twice, once before the trip started and the second time after the first leg was flown and was only charged €50.

Thanks for the info NewbieRunner.
I had no idea and it is quite interesting when you want to book tickets pre-devaluation.

Thank you all for the quick help!

@dre_techie: Thanks for the loads! I only looked on the LH page and saw that they were still selling 8 seats on Wednesday (8/24/2011).

I called the SEN line and the agent told me there was no availability. When I asked him about the waitlist, he seemed confused and told me that this is what he checked and that there's no availability.

I called back, got a very friendly lady that told me the waitlist only works for flights that are at least 7 days out, but was willing to give her best and voilà: 2 seats opened up on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday...

I am very happy now and can't stress enough how important a competent agent is for thinks like this... If I would have believed the first agent I wouldn't get to see the A380 in F :D

So thanks again to my fellow FT members, who really make reading this board a very educating activity!

German-FLyer

That's good news on that front German-FLyer, thanks for posting the feedback into the community. Speedy recovery to your girlfriend so she can feel better in time the trip.

NewbierRunner, doesn't that have to do with your status? I've been told that as HON the €50 change fee is waived only charged once (which is not documented anywhere). I've heard this from multiple agents in multiple instances regarding 2 distinct awards.

But if you booked the trip in Dec 2010 I believe you were already HON, so if what I was told is true, then it doesn't make sense that you'd be charged in the first place.

So far I have only had awards issued in 2010 when I was SEN and they said they could not waive the initial €50 fee, however subsequent changes would be free - which actually coincides with what you've described.

The award ticket is fully refundable. So even no show is ok for a mileage refund.

Interesting!

The award was for the A380 in F but the HON service agent I spoke to after several attempts and who knew how to waitlist for an F award back in December told me I couldn't book more than 6 months in advance. So I picked a date knowing I would have to change.

I called the German HON service number to change my booking and was charged €50. For the second change I called a number in Tokyo which turned out to be the HON service number (I don't think they have separate HON service agents there but have a separate phone number). The agent who sounded very efficient as you might expect said "you have already made one change - in that case there's no (further) charge".

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I just calles LX SEN line in BSL and was told every change will be charged 70chf :confused:. He also advised me not to do a no-show. Also if I call the SEN line in Germany will I be charged in EUR? You know, the EUR/CHF... :p.

charged by residence... US is still some us$ which is less than 50e

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So basically even if I call the SEN line in the US I'll be charged hard Swissies? It used not to be the case in the past but then again it's been a while since I booked my last M&M award.