Dark Blue

I know this is a pretty strong title, however, this is what LH deserves.

I booked a Swiss F whilst I was a Senator but had to move the date. When it happened, I was downgraded to Frequent Traveller.

I rang the call centre and was told that I could move the date without changing the cabin, so I took it. I did receive the confirmation shortly afterwards.

A week or so later, I got rung by an unpleasant lady and told my flight had been cancelled and said to choose one of two flights which I did not want to take. No apologies, just she spoke very arrogantly forcing me to choose one.

So I said I would not need to fly to ORD as this was booked because of the Swiss F availability. I therefore wanted to fly to my final destination (US west coast) directly. Then the CS said the routing change was not allowed and had to pay for the change fee.

I do not understand this at all, this is LH's fault and I had to pay for the ineligible flight, then why do I need to pay for another fee for the cancellation or a routing change??? I also asked for a refund, as I had to pay for the meaningless change due to their mistake, which was refused. What was the first fee for then?

Then I got rung by an irresponsible rep called "John", he was just a scam. He apologetically pretended to sort out the problem and he promised to call me back. But he never came back of course.

Then today I got an email saying or more like forcing me to choose one of the unwanted flights. Otherwise, they deprive me of the miles spent or charge me another 50 EUR for the redeposit.

I really think if this is legal. I never agreed to the change/cancellation or even did not know, then LH cancelled the confirmed flight. Also, I paid for the ineligible flight by LH's fault, but they refused the refund. I seriously take a legal action, does anyone know a lawyer dealing with this sort of matter? This is a typical German attitude to customers, no customer relations at all.

I am flying to FRA and DUS in a few days, is there any customer relation desk in these airports?

Thanks.

jason8612

Do award tickets fall under DOT protection?
What about EU 261 rule?
since your flying LX and also flying in the USA then I believe at least one of not both should cover you.

totti

Just a few questions for clarification:

Are you speaking about an award ticket (I suppose this is the case) or a regular F ticket?

What does LH have to do with it? As far I understand you booked with LX so LX must have canceled the ticked, not LH? Why would you blame LH?

Dark Blue

Yes & Yes.

To the second question, but LH is responsible for the booking. I was actually told by LX to speak to LH as this is under the control of M&M.

I was OK if they had immediately refunded the change fee and could have rebooked another LH F to SFO. It's been a few months now since the case opened, I might actually have to cancel my trip to the US as I can not fix my departure date.

Dark Blue

Thanks jason8612. In that case, what should I do in the first place? My itinerary was FRA-ZRH-ORD.

Andie007

I assume you booked FRA-ZRH-ORD in I (First award / longhaul leg), right?
What were the alternatives offered by M&M?

Andie007

Yes, ticket desks are available at both airport.

oliver2002

LX F awards are no longer available to anyone but SEN/HON, so LX can't offer the OP an alternative F award. That said M&M should be able to find F award space between FRA and ORD easily on LH or UA and change the ticket for free since LX cancelled the flight the OP was booked on.

sunseeker

Incompetence ? Yes !
Fraud ? Give me a break...

NewbieRunner

It's unfortunate the OP had to deal with less than pleasant agents but putting that aside what happened appears to be:

• The OP booked LX F award to ORD as SEN.
• The OP wanted to change the date of the flight. Despite being FTL the OP managed to book LX F award to ORD on another date by paying a change fee.
• LX cancelled the flight the OP had booked.
• The OP no longer wants to fly to ORD if he cannot fly in LX F.

The OP can argue that he should be able to book on another LX F flight to ORD (if he could do so as FTL the first time) since LX cancelled the flight but a change of destination is unfortunately against M&M rules.

LonLH

But OP should be able to cancel the new flights free of charge and get the miles back if he does not like the new itin- or has this been enhanced away??

jason8612

Thats what I wpuld assume. With significant schedule changes the airline should waive any fees associated with canceling or change fees. Anytime I had a schedule change with UA all canx and change fees were waived.

Regarfing the DOT and the EU I'm not that familiar with filing any claims. OP would have to search on FT and google for the answer. But there should be plenty of threads on how to file.

Dark Blue

This is the point. I did not mind cancelling it and rebooking another route. However, they are demanding for the 50 EUR for the redeposit, which I do not understand it at all. This is in no way my fault, why would I have to pay for it?

Also, they do know they booked me for the ineligible flight, nonetheless they refused to refund it, which is a fraud in my book.

Dark Blue

Thanks, but I meant customer relations can handle this type of issue. Not just a ticket office...

Dark Blue

The alternatives are

1. FRA-MUC-ORD
2. FRA-ORD

but again, I booked the flight to ORD because of the Swiss F availability. If I had been told it's not moved to another date without the cabin change, I would have rather cancelled the booking at that point.