chris63

If you transit, your touching another region

squawk

I've got an Economy Classic fare (i.e. non-refundable) for a flight that I am no longer going to be able to take. While I know that rebooking is possible for the fare difference, I'm not sure when I'll be travelling on this route, so don't want to do that.

According to the Extended Rebooking Options page, I think I should be able to exchange my ticket for a "Flight Value Voucher":

However, the link below this ("To the Lufthansa Flight Value Voucher") is dead and takes you to an error page - as, in fact, do most of the other links in that section. Don't get me started on how frustrating Lufthansa's IT systems are...

How, exactly, is one supposed to obtain a Flight Value Voucher - is this possible online? I've tried calling the contact centre but gave up after half an hour waiting because I had a clashing meeting.

And if one obtains it, how does one go about using it? More generally is there any information on these vouchers in the Lufthansa forum? I'm more familiar with the BA equivalent, the Future Travel Voucher.

flyingrohit

I have the same question as above^^^. I was flying from Geneva to Munich to Berlin but over fears of Switzerland throwing Quarantine at US due to Omicron I changed my inbound flight to Munich. So now I want to use the value of my GVA-MUC-BER (separate PNR from inbound United flight) to only fly MUC-BER which the system now won't let me do. Is it possible to get a voucher to use towards the MUC-BER itinerary? Thanks!

cas_de

https://www.lufthansa.com/de/en/flightvoucher

https://www.lufthansa.com/de/en/book...Selection=true

Vouchers can only be created for tickets booked BEFORE 15MAY2020:

flyingrohit

So in other words I can only get a refund for a significantly reduced amount and can't use value of my ticket towards the new journey?

dingchak

Hey guys, need help with a concern:
My mother has a valid USA B2 Visa. Recently she got her Indian passport renewed along with a name change.
B2 visa is stamped on Old passport as per the name in old passport.
New passport has reference of old passport number.
She has all the supporting documents for the name change.

Will she be allowed to travel to the US with below supporting documents?
1) New passport
2) Old passport containing valid B2 visa
3) Supporting documents of name change

Will she face any problems while boarding the flight as well as immigration in the US due to the above situation?

RhysD

Hi guys,

Just wondering if it’s possible to request a refund of taxes and charges relating to a non-refundable Economy Classic booking, knowing of course that the fare itself will not be refunded?

Below are the taxes and charges breakdown related to the ticket:

The German Aviation Security Charge is refundable if you are a transfer passenger arriving from the USA, Canada or Montenegro in Frankfurt without undergoing an additional security check by the Federal Police. For refund of this fee please contact the Service center
9,93 EUR
International/Domestic Surcharge
18,00 EUR
Air Transport Tax
12,88 EUR
Passenger Charge
7,83 EUR
Passenger Service Charge - Intl
22,46 EUR

Would appreciate your advice based on previous experience. Many thanks in advance!

ISTFlyer

Yes, a relative of mine had a similar situation on a Economy Light ticket where he was correctly denied boarding. We asked for the refund of these unused taxes and got them back in 2-3 weeks.

squawk

Thank you cas_de . I hadn't seen those pages - the page I linked to in my earlier post was the one I arrived at (from clicking through on the email I got, I think). Clearly that is out of date and it really should not have been left as a live page!

This means that Lufthansa's policy is significantly less flexible than the British Airways equivalent, which is frustrating because BA keep cancelling flights I would like to go on and I'm left booking LH instead...

For your specific situation as described above, I think you are correct: you can't reuse the value towards your new flights.

However I don't think this is quite correct as a general principle: if you have anything except an Economy Light/European Business Saver bought after 1st Aug 2021, you can rebook the same journey for a date sometime in the future - see the info on the 'flexible rebooking options' page cas_de linked to:

It is worth noting that those dates may well be on sale for less than the price you paid (in my case, they almost certainly will be) and as far as I can tell you won't get a refund; on the other hand, Lufthansa will charge you the difference if the price is higher. As gamblers should know, the house always wins...

In my case I will have to pick some random dates in the future that I might be travelling and rebook for them, and hope for the best. This is not ideal and if I need to change them again, I'm not sure what happens. For example, say I spent €500 on the current flights, I rebook to a date when the same flights are available for €200, and then I need to change again - which you are entitled to do 'as often as you ant without a change fee' - would I only have €200 towards the value of the new fare, or the original €500? If the former, this could be like a nice little earner for LH...

This kind of thing is what gives airlines a bad reputation amongst the general public. Yes, this is more flexible than the usual policies for non-flexible tickets, but the added flexibility comes with a lot of loopholes/traps for the unwary. In this respect, British Airways' current policies (a Future Travel Voucher for the value of your flight which can be used towards any new flight - even if you have to rebook on a slightly different route) are much more consumer friendly. This will likely push me towards booking with them in future rather than LH even though LH have been more reliable (in terms of not cancelling flights) and serve my main route directly and usually more cheaply rather than having to change in London.

Edited to add: the webpage linked above says 'Please go to "My Bookings" to change your travel online'. But as far as I can tell, there is no option change the dates via My Bookings - I can see options to Cancel/refund, Upgrade, Add/change seats, and provide entry data (right menu). For clarity, this was booked direct on the LH website, not via a travel agent.

In the "Fare Conditions and Baggage Information" section there are tabs for "Rebook (outbound) and "Rebook (inbound)" - but they only have the confirmation that it is an Economy Classic and can be rebooked with certain conditions. No buttons or options to actually do this. How is one supposed to actually rebook to other dates online? Or is this a case of having to ring up the Contact Centre?

flyingrohit

Quoting just the last part to save space, but to provide an update, so I checked the price and of course Munich to Berlin was 100 euros more expensive than GVA-MUC-BER. So I called the call center to see what could be done.

After an hour of waiting, an agent picked up the phone, I described my situation, and said that she will try and drop the first segment as a part of an "out of sequence ticket reissue". Now she said the total cost for this would be $43.10 per person. That worked wonderfully. The system wasn't letting her do it so she said she had to call a global center and would call me back. Im not used to this of course as I mainly deal with United phone lines and if they can't figure something out they put me on hold while they wait for a supervisor.

Anyways, roughly 6 hours after hanging up, she calls back and says the out of sequence ticket was processed and that they'll have to just collect $86.20. Works for me and I gave CC info and was all set. All in all a positive experience and to add icing to the cake, this was 3 days ago and my CC still only shows 2 LH charges of $0.01 and nothing more. Not sure if this was what they decided to charge or how this works but besides the long phone wait, very happy with my agent experience

Dennis88

Booked a flight ticketed by UA for my parents, AMS-FRA-SFO; SFO-ZHR-AMS for September of next year in business.

Have only been able to select seats for the UA flight SFO-ZUR, not for the intra-Europe flights (which I don't care about), nor for FRA-SFO on LH. Checking their booking on the LH website it shows that seat selection is not eligible until 23 hours before the flight. Surely this can't be correct? I tried calling LH but can not get through. UA told me they can't select seats for me.

Any suggestions? I know we have plenty of time but I want to give my parents decent seats together since it is their first time flying trans-atlantic.

59Impala

LH/LX system (Amadeus) do have issues with seating. Experienced something similar multiple times especially on award flights. Tried to change seats, got confirmation that new seats confirmed, but still the old seats showed up. Only option is to call LH/LX. They fixed it.


P.S. I presume you mean ZRH not ZUR.

Dennis88

Yes, ZRH. I'll try again to call. It's not an award flight, which is what really got me confused.

oliver2002

Seat assignments in economy on regular tickets cost $$$ on lufthansa flights: ASR Fees for All Economy and Premium Economy Fares on Long Haul

bellerophontes

Is it possible to change a M&M award booking online? I can't find any option on the booking page. And if I have to call, is there a fee to make the change? It is a Business Flex fare. The booking rules state: