miegapele

Hello,
I don't fly much and never had to deal with customer service and such before, please move thread if there is more appropriate place.
Here is the story:
1. I booked the flight with Lufthansa through OTA (expedia us)
2. I had to change flight, and did that via Lufthansa website, paid them some more money
3. Lufthansa cancelled one of the flights and itinerary was changed to the unflyable sequence. (it involves waiting -1 hour for the next flight)
4. I tried to call Lufthansa to fix it, but they said contact OTA, which I would like to avoid as there is notice on the web that there will be long wait, and I don't have easy way to call US numbers cheaply.

So now I'm wondering few things:
1. How can I check if my tickets are issued for these flights (Lufthansa shows confirmed, but no travel class is shown for those). I have read here that if you don't have tickets issued that will spell more trouble.
2. Would Lufthansa be willing to change flights later (like 1 day before travel?)
3. Can they be changed in person in Frankfurt (there is quite long layover in the middle of this messy sequence). Is there any Lufthansa agents there these days?

Regards,
Giedrius

oliver2002

Changes need to be accepted by the customer and confirmed by the issuing office (the OTA in your case). Then the ticket is reissued. You need to call your OTA and have it fixed. Yes the ticket can be moved around since its an invol change, see the irreg rules here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/31999729-post56.html

SK AAR

I agree. Most likely your ticket has not been reissued; it shouldn't be possible with an invalid/impossible itinerary like this. You can check the current ticket issue on Lufthansa webpage under "Passenger Receipt".

I would leave it as it is. Most likely LH IT systems will pick it up at some stage and suggest rebooking/message Exp about the need for invol. rebooking. If it is not resolved in advance you can ask at tickets counters in FRA to have it resolved (assuming that the issue is with your return flights: if outbound flights you will not get to FRA with an invalid intinerary like this).

Yes, LH will rebook you for free (1 time) as this is invol rebooking due to flight cancellation, so you should research to which (LH Group) flights you prefer rebooked.

oliver2002

If the TA doesn't accept the sked change within 14 days the booking is cancelled and very difficult to revive. So make sure to contact expedia.

fassy

What I find very interesting.... LH allowed to rebook/change the flights on their website even though it was booked via Expedia?

Anyway, cheap way to call Expedia US... they have a toll-free 877 number, so you can use Skype to call them without paying a single cent.

miegapele

I guess I'll wait for the night time in US, install skype and try....

I did get confirmation email from expedia that lufthansa changed my flight (which was me). I confirmed that. No further emails after involuntary change. I accidentally noticed the change yesterday.

oliver2002

Some agents change the OTA booking (not the ticket!) for you if you call in. But the TA/OTA has to reissue the ticket in any case. If LH changes/reissues the underlying ticket, the ticket and the PNR go into LH's control and the agent can't touch it anymore.

fassy

Well, yes with agent via phone sometimes work, but OP said the flights were changed via the LH website and actually paid LH for doing so... that for sure must be a glitch... no?

miegapele

One thing I did not mention, the change was done like 4 hours before flight. I was already checked-in, cancelled check-in (Lufthansa allows that), and then changed flights. Maybe that is why I was allowed to do it via website?

oliver2002

About 48h before departure the ticket goes into 'airport control' and the operating airline takes over. At that point they can do whatever they want with the ticket, but the overall control stays with the TA/OTA ie the issuing office.

SK AAR

OK it makes more sense now. You were able to change your outbound flights (during LH online check-in?) because it was immediately/a few hours before departure? As already stated by that time, LH is in control of the ticket and can rebook the flights if neccessary and accepted by LH. What was the reason for this rebooking?

That means that the recent schedule change you noticed was for the return flights/it is for the return flights that you will misconnect? You mention that you have been notified about an invol. schedule change by Exp and you accepted it. Is this the same schedule change we are talking about / the schedule change that will lead you to misconnect, or a previous invol. schedule change (and now immaterial)?

miegapele

I changed the flights for personal reasons and it is allowed under current terms, if fare difference is paid. Both outbound and return were changed. As I said this was done through lufthansa website. Sometime after I got email from Expedia that stated Lufthansa changed my flights and asking to accept (I did that, so everything was fine for me at that time). Sometime later Lufthansa cancelled one of the return flights ((Brussels airlines was an operator of cancelled flight) and added new ones which are not in sequence. I did not get any notification from either Lufthansa or Expedia for that. Just I can see the change in Lufthansa website if I check booking reference.
I guess Expedia software doesn't like such change. Also If I try to check 'Passenger Receipt' in the Lufthansa website it crashes with 500 error. I guess Lufthansa doesn't like it either

SK AAR

OK - noted. So the email you received from Exp was actually about the rebooking that you managed to do on LH webpage for the outbound and return flights. OK/I got it. It makes sense, because what appears to have happend is that whilst LH changed your flights, Exp was notified of this and once you confirmed the changes (the changes that you had already made yourself) Exp reissued the ticket.

I'm quite confident that at some stage you will be notified by Exp of the issue for the return flights. It may take LH IT system some time to identify the issue and notify Exp. to take action/contact you. If it was me I wouldn't spend much time on it now; is likely to be solved by others later. Secondly, if Exp. hasn't been notified by LH of the cancellation, Exp may very well claim during your call to Exp that nothing has happened/there is no issue (Exp can't see the cancellation) - and if you wan't to change flights it will be a voluntary rebooking, i.e. you need to pay for it.

oliver2002

The moment a schedule change happens LH will notify expedia and but it on their action queue. With that their end of the deal is done. Expedia needs to contact the customer and find a solution and rebook/reissue the ticket. If they don't do that LH won't do anything on the day of departure. If you want to get the ticket fixed to fly, you better call expedia.

miegapele

Call OTA they said :/
Called expedia this morning, wait time two hours, no thank you, tried twitter no response, finally now got quickly connected later. Expedia was helpful, "ok we will change, that's fine", they tried to change and apparently reservation is "under airline control" I need to call Lufthansa
Oh the wonderful world of airline ticketing

EDIT: finally got hold of Lufthansa and this time they changed it.