Dave Sen

I logged in today and got a message my flight was canceled so I called LH and asked for the rebooking to 5th of september. They told me it would be a extra 600 euro total. I told the woman that my flight was canceled and i wanted to rebook free of charge. She told me that it was only possible for the same month. I asked where I could find that information online so I can check. She could not send it because it was internal documentation. I asked to refund completely and that was fine only would take 10 days. She wanted to verify the email adres but then I thought ill try my luck one more time to ask how should I know it was only the same month the free rebooking if they canceled the flight. So she went to ask a manager and finally they approved the rebooking.

It only took 40 minutes but I got my flights rebooked.

oliver2002

Cool. That is good news. Was the new date still within one year of buying the ticket?

hugolover

Don't worry. It's a total lottery. None of them have a clue what they're talking about and the FT policy is just to call until you get the answer you want.

Polish call centre told me today that to change my ticket (I had dates in mind) now requires a minimum fare on BOTH fares of 50 EUR. I read out what was on LH.com and told that was "incorrect".

I really should recall all these calls and stick them on YouTube because every call has a different outcome!

Also told that new trip length must be exactly the same as old to rebook by invol policy on RBD....

Dave Sen

Yeah bought them in December 2019. I was apparently calling whit the Philippines as i asked what the language was in the background and she said Filipino.

pedrin

It is quite obvious even to a blind person that the "Lufthansa group" is not acting in good faith.
I am short on a few hundred CHF so far, so no big deal. But I am more and more tending to apply for 3 chargebacks.
I also am starting to feel quite unease with this situation. I called the M&M phone line this week only to be told that the law experts at Swiss say that hey don't have to refund. They have decided to cancel, or suspend the application of a law. Just like that.
Once the pandora box of not following the law is open, you can't close it. What other laws don't/won't they comply to? Aircraft maintenance? Airport operation? Will they carry explosives on the belly of the planes? I know it is illegal, but LX experts may decide to suspend that law as well...
And may I decide which laws are still in force when dealing with LX?

I don't know what kind of masterminds are mismanaging this situation at LH/LX. But if they think they will make money out of distrust, well, they can think again.

fassy

They might decide not to honor the law. You can decide to sue them which should remind them, they can't unilaterally conclude that current laws and regulations don't apply to them.

Same for other things like maintenance and handling. Of course LH group can decide not to follow the laws and regulation. But it won't take very long until civil authorities and governmental bodies will shut them down until they again stick to the laws. There have been more than enough companies over the years which ignored e.g. maintenance rules or "fixed" the records. Some for a surprisingly long time... but over the years the civil authorities and governmental bodies become pretty good at finding those rogue companies and shut them down for good. I guess the risk, that a major carrier will go down that road is slim.

djjaguar64

This is worrisome, each call center has a different answer. Not good.

Dave_C

Just to add, this is my experience too.

Called the +49 number on the back of my SEN card to rebook a flight from May to December and got through to an agent in the US. Computer said no, has to be within +/- 3 days or you have to pay the fare difference. HUACA with the UK number to LX (it's a 724 ticket). No problem sir, when do you want to travel? Please hold. I'll queue it off to get re-ticketed. It was a P fare booked into C on the outbound and J on the way back.

Interestingly, I had no wait on either line; both had agents answer almost immediately.

djjaguar64

So flights which are cancelled, you can rebook up to April 30, 2021 nor fare difference and you can change your destination as well, thats my understanding. I received this email for one of my flights, FRA to PMI. I am now waiting for AMS to BKK booked in P and A (LH to BKK and LX from BKK).


In light of the current situation, Lufthansa is offering flexible rebooking options for all ticket fares:
You may rebook your ticket until August 31, 2020, to any new departure date until April 30, 2021. You may also change the destination of your ticket.

Tickets may be rebooked directly via our service center or your travel agency. There is no need to have contacted our service center prior to your original flight date – you ticket remains valid and may be rebooked at any time. Rebooking is still possible even past the originally planned date of flight. In addition, Lufthansa is offering a discount of 50 Euro for your rebooking with a departure date within the year 2020. Even if you do not yet know when you would like to rebook your flight, you may already secure your discount here: go to flight voucher.

fassy

Hmm, not sure that makes sense for me. If you can rebook the ticket without a fare difference, why bother about the 50 EUR? Shouldn't make any difference then. And what are the limitations in "change of destination"? Can I e.g. use a MUC-AMS ticket to go to CPH instead? Fair enough. But Can I also use a FRA-BKK ticket to rebook to FRA-LAX? Or even use HAM-FRA ticket to rebook to HAM-FRA-EWR? Without clear rules, this opens up just another source of confusion. All of that is very vague and doesn't make much sense.

The only thing which would make sense to me is:
- Free rebooking on the same route in the same booking class at a different date for free.
- Rebooking on the same route in a higher booking class at a different date paying the fare difference minus the 50 EUR voucher discount
- Rebooking on a different route and different date which can be paid with the residual value of the original ticket plus 50 EUR voucher discount.

djjaguar64

I was told by the Canadian lufthansa call agent to wait for cancellation and then no fees or fare difference to rebook. You are right if you change your destination I think you may have to pay the fare difference. But as others are saying the call centers are making their own rules as on a daily basis. So I will report back when my other flight is cancelled as I need to rebook for 2021 Apr. I am trying to see if she will rebook to SIN instead of BKK.

behuman

I tried with several browsers but was unable to generate an evoucher. Happily the call center in Basel could rebook for different routes accepting the value of the canceled ticket as a discount and adding the bonus of EUR 50 manually.

djjaguar64

I finally received a cancellation for my AMS-BKK flight just now. I looked online for Apr30, 2021 return from BKK but the system calendar does not go out that far, will the agent have access to book for next April?

The 50 Euros discount applies only if you rebook your flights in 2020.

oliver2002

The systems are open for bookings about 330 days out.

mrefkyk

Thanks for sharing this number, montezume

I was supposed to fly next week KBP-ZRH-SIN in J/ A respectively. Earlier this month both flights got cancelled and automatically rebooked to KBP-VIE-ZRH-SIN in J/ J/ F. When the flight was still scheduled, they quoted me 3x amount I paid when I inquired about changing dates to December. Now that itinerary got cancelled and I tried my luck to reschedule to December travel.

No hold time as I got connected to an agent directly. Told the agent my preferred date and was also asked preferred seat. He mentioned that my new itinerary will be forwarded to ticketing department then I ended the call. In less than 10 minutes later, I received the new itinerary KBP-ZRH-SIN in J/ F. Frankly I was pleasantly surprised how seamless it was.