cas_de

Had a ticket for the Mrs. and myself that I needed to cx because of sickness (not Covid). We had a cancelation a week earlier and got rebooked (original itin: str-muc-lys-fra-str with fra-str cx'ed and automatically rebooked to airrail. rebooked to str-muc-lys-muc-str). I was able to cx the tickets and get a full refund, though the €€€ have not yet hit my CC account yet. I was worried that I will not be eligible to cx because I rebooked the flight, but two agents said that I am eligible for a full refund.

bobhope2

Looks like LX ticketing are now also re-issuing 724 tickets in their original booking class - i.e. no K/L uplift to B/M/Y.

I believe this has been the case for LH 220 for some time?

SFO777

I purchased a reasonably priced $2700 one way LH (220) ARN-FRA-SIN F ticket on May 18, 2022 for travel in January 2023. Can't use it now so I want to use the value towards another LH ticket. What is the current LH policy as to when I would have to rebook and reuse the ticket? Would I have to use it by May 18, 2023 or rebook by that date. Can I use it towards an LX flight or would it have to be LH or LH codeshare? Also, 1st AmexTravel agent I spoke with claimed that I can only use my credit for flights ex-Sweden. Does that sound correct? Thanks.

chris63

Since it’s an AMEX owned ticket you might be stuck with what they tell you.

Since it’s a F ticket call the F hotline, they usually try to help, if they can

SFO777

Thanks very much chris63 for the excellent suggestion. I just got off the phone with a helpful agent at the F hotline. She looked at the ticket and confirmed that...

1. I can use the credit until 12 months from the flight date... so that would be until January 2024.
2. I can use the credit on any LH flight departing from anywhere, not just ex-Sweden.
3. I can use the credit on any LH Group flight (LX) on their flight numbers and metal. The flights do not have to be LH codeshares.

hugolover

Might be worth waiting to see if there’s any IRREG, though I appreciate it’s probably unlikely with LH having cleaned up W22 recently.

hugolover

I was able to rebook a number of LH tickets today without any issue. LH have by far the most passenger friendly rebooking policy in the industry right now. Wiping the floor with BArb, Basia, AF-KLM any many others.

To clarify for anyone wishing to rebook cancelled flights. You must give the new dates within one year from the outbound departure and you can rebook to any date that is for sale, on any LH Group flight. Ticket validity is irrelevant.

For example, you had a ticket issued 01 February 2021 for travel October 29 2021. You need to give the new dates by October 28 2022 and you can fly on whatever dates are for sale. As far as October 2023 if you wanted. There will be no recalculation if origin and destination are kept the same.

You can change to another airport on origin or destination within 200 miles if the dates you choose have no available flights from the original airports.

As an aside. I've been reading quite a few cases that LH are fighting in the Courts in Cologne and what shocks me is how many pax are suing because they were charged a fare difference and LH's defence is that this is the procedure...when we all know what the procedure is, its not a secret. It wasn't even an issue of very old tickets which has worried some here on FT. A very interesting case is making its way to the Federal Constitutional Court on this very issue which could have quite significant consequences for Article 8 "later date" if a question is referred to the CJEU. Previous decisions are here if anyone is interested.

bobhope2

I am very confused why LH are being so accommodating - it's very unusual.

Also confused that hugolover is saying something positive about them too

gojko88

My guess is they want to clear the backlog of COVID tickets ASAP.

HarbourGent

I'm not sure if anyone can point me the best thread/post to understand my options? In February 2020 I booked directly through Lufty an economy class U.K. - China return for April 2020. I called once or twice during the pandemic to enquire about it but got disconnected once and hung up due to the wait on another occasion.
Now China has reopened for tourism I would like to rebook the dates if possible but am unclear what exactly the policy is at this point? As it was a great deal I'm keen to rebook the dates on the original ticketif possible rather than get a refund.

hugolover

It might be possible but you'll need to call many many times before someone will rebook it. Give the ticket number instead of the PNR in every case, as it will surely be archived and that will get their backs up.

SK AAR

I would expect some resistance against rebooking a ticket from 2020 now. At some stage last year, I believe a deadline for rebooking these old tickets "on hold" was communicated, but I really can't recall the details.
OP: did you check the earlier posts in this thread?

bobhope2

LH have held onto your money for the past three years. Does that mean they would just keep it if you did not contact them?

athome

Yes. An airline also keeps your money, when you are a no-show (with some exceptions for ultra expensive and flexible tickets).

HarbourGent

Thanks for the answers. SK AAR, I did read through some of the earlier posts but was struggling to ascertain whether there was a hard end to covid-related rebooking (similarly to what you mention) and if so whether that applied to countries (inc. China) that were still effectively closed to general travel at the time of that rebooking.