canopus27

In Sept 2017 I flew to & from Cape Town via Frankfurt on Lufthansa (on my way home to Canada). The return flight was significantly (8+ hours) delayed due to a mechanical issue on the outbound flight.

I submitted an EU 261 claim directly to Lufthansa in mid Jan (Jan 23, to be precise), 2018. I actually sent all the claim information to [email protected], and received an automated response that the claim would take some time to process. In May 2018 I sent them another email, asking for a status report - and heard nothing in response. I sent another email in September 2018, and again I heard nothing.

In early December 2018 I forwarded all my information to the international body ([email protected]) - and the very next day, Lufthansa responded to my original email, from Jan 23, 2018 (it's a miracle! )

The reply from Lufthansa acknowledged my claim, and included the statement that "we sent the check payment amounting to CAD 883 to your home address". I waited for a month, but nothing arrived - so I contacted Lufthansa again to confirm the situation. The reply from Lufthansa was received just last week, and states (in part):

In other words, Lufthansa are saying that they proactively mailed me a check over a year ago, and three weeks before I even submitted my first claim to them.

Meanwhile, I have no recollection of receiving a check from Lufthansa - and a comprehensive review of my bank account shows that no deposits of that amount were made.

I really have two questions that I'd appreciate input on, here.

1. Is it likely or common that Lufthansa would proactively mail me EU261 compensation, before I even submitted a claim to them? Do they do that? They say they mailed it to my home address, but I'm not even sure if Lufthansa had my home address then (the ticket was purchased by my company's travel agent, so it had my company's address associated with it). The date also seems really odd ... that they waited four months after my flight, and then spontaneously mailed me a check (without me asking) on Jan 1st? Does this pass the smell test to people here?
   
2. Assuming that Lufthansa sticks with their claim, that they really did mail me a check out of the blue, and over a year ago ... is there anything I can do now? As I wrote above, I have no recollection of receiving mail from Lufthansa. Should I re-engage with the international body ([email protected]) and ask them to help arbitrate? Any other suggestions for what I could & should do next?

Thanks in advance.

8420PR

I would give them a call and see if they really mean 2018 or 2019. Personally, I've made that mistake many times already this year...

cas_de

AFAIK, LH does do bank transfers rather than checks - since checks are hardly used anymore in Germany.

Often1

I presume that LH meant January 2018 and that the check will arrive in due course. While LH and most businesses would use a bank transfer in Europe, for a Canada or US payment, a check would be the norm, given that bank transfers are not the norm.

If the check does not arrive in 10 days, follow up with LH and ask them to stop payment and reissue the check or, presuming that you are willing, offer to supply bank transfer details.

canopus27

Thanks. I have sent them an email asking that question ... no response yet.

I'll post here when (if?) they do reply.

canopus27

You may have made the same mistake ... because I think you meant Jan 2019?

I have followed up with LH, and will post here with their response.

Explorer789

This. I filed a claim for a Christmas Eve IRROP recently just before the new year. First email got no response. Sent a follow up email a couple of days later asking them to acknowledge, which they did the next day and asked for bank transfer info. Received the transfer two business days later. Whole thing took 10 days from initial claim.

Even if they claim to have sent a check, I would ask them for proof the check was cashed. I think even if they mailed to your travel agent, the check should still in your name and could not have been cashed by any respectable bank. If it is not cashed, then it seems pretty simple that LH can cancel the check and send the money via wire transfer.

Flying Lawyer

Often1

LH has significant business operations in New York. More than likely if it issued a US$ check, it was issued and mailed from there. Given that US banks no longer return transacted items so long as they provide an electronic copy (online) , it is actually easier these days for LH to pull the check if it was cashed and to provide proof that it was or was not deposited and if it was, where and to whom it was deposited.

Similarly, if it is outstanding, LH can stop payment and reissue the check. None of this is particularly hard or out of the ordinary.

Most likely way too early to worry about lost or stolen if it was indeed mailed on January 1 (which strikes me as odd as that is a holiday - not that one can't send mail on a holiday).

canopus27

That's if the check was mailed (or at least cut) on Jan 1, 2019. And if that's the case, then I'm happy to wait a little longer for it.

The Lufthansa email I received claimed that the check was sent on Jan 1, 2018 .... or ~380 days ago. If that's really the case, then it will be tougher to track down ...

KLouis

There are two things that I find strange with LH's answer to the OP:

1) January 1, ('18 or '19, it doesn't matter) is a public holiday in Germany and hardly anybody is working. As a matter of fact, December 31 is a "half" holiday and all companies in Germany work till noon. This time, these days were preceded by a weekend. It is hard for me to believe that they did indeed send the check on January 1...

2) Isn't it up to LH to actually prove that they did sent the check? If they sent the check by registered mail (Einschreiben), which is a common practice for transactions involving the Bundespost or US MAil or any overnight courier company, they should immediately be able to find out who signed the receipt of the envelope.

Has OP thought about escalating it, threatening to sue them? So far it is only blabla excuses that come after months and months and, alternatively, the experience could also be a good bait for a journalist in need for a story...

Flying Lawyer

I would not expect that such business is dealt with from Germany, so the date is no surprise.

And once again: Sending a cheque does not mean fulfilling your payment obligation. In the days we still used cheques, I would have never ever sent a cheque for peanuts amounts by registered mail. Why should I? In the more than 40 years of my career I have - as said earlier - never seen a cheque in this country not issued to order or to the bearer and - more important - I have never seen anything else but crossed cheques (or in German: Verrechnungsscheck) which is the common instruction for the cheque to be deposited directly to an account with a bank and not to be immediately cashed. Cheques in Germany were (when we still used them) used totally different from the way they are used in the US: In our world, more or less everybody has a bank account and funds are transferred directly from one account to another. We do not use cheques as payment vehicles or credit cards as credit vehicles but money transferred from one account to another and bank accounts with an overdraft (which I personally hardly ever use).

Often1

It is way too early to start threatening to sue. Checks are lost in the mail, misdelivered and the like. They are also easily traced. If the check was not deposited to an account, it can easily be "stopped" and a new one issued. If it has been deposited, it is easily traced to determine whether it was to OP's account, in which case there is a different issue.

For better or worse, this is the system. It is not difficult. Commercial businesses manage to function and if indeed LH issued the check and it has been lost, it can be reissued,.

KLouis

September 2017 to January 2019, that's 16 months. Given the limited life expectancy of the numan race (even if it is now longest than ever before), I would not call waiting for longer than 1.6% of a life time "too early"!

Flying Lawyer

Given the history of Greece, 16 months is close to nothing.