xoyotaylor

Hi all,

Last week, I had booked a return ticket in premium economy on LOT for the route BRU - WAW - PEK, outbound on 21/04 and inbound on 27/05 with LO91/92 operating on each of the intercontinental legs.

Since I started to wonder how many miles I might get on these flights, I was on LOT looking up the same routes on the same dates and hope to get the booking class nailed. To my surprise, it says that the flights are no longer available on these days (availability not until June 2024)? No way that these flight were sold out as the fare was still cheap. After checking Flightaware, neither LO91 nor 92 was operated after 15/01???

Should I keep on worrying although I could still access my booking on LOT?

Thx.

Stephan54

According to the LOT website there is flight on 19, 22 and 24 April, but nothing on the 21st. Same goes for the return: 26 and 29 are offered. Best to give them a call.

xoyotaylor

Those are flights operated by AirChina with LOT code share. When I made the booking they were also available but not considered as an option.

bwiadca

I would definitely call them.

hugolover

Like LAX it’s gonna be cancelled. The flights are zeroed. There’s low demand for LOT flights, and the Chinese market is weak.

Usually rebooking policy is you need to fly within 7 days of the route restarting, you fly when it’s convenient for them not when it’s good for you. If the same RBD is there then it’s FOC.

Unlike LAX I don’t remember there being a reaccom policy for PEK.

xoyotaylor

Had them on the call, claiming that there's no cancellation foreseen for now and refusing to provide a refund (or for a hefty fee which is dictated by the fare class). Basically, I'll get a notification whenever they decide to cancel

hugolover

Correct. Flights aren’t yet cancelled.
Welcome to luxury LOT.

xoyotaylor

Would you suggest that I look for the alternative right now? First timer here, sorry if this is too obvious

Are you saying that they will only inform me at earliest 7 day before my planned departure time? Wouldn't EC261 come into play? Or will they just refund me if I refuse any of their rebooking options?

Thx.

hugolover

I got a message from one of our lurkers who works at the transfer desk in WAW.

He reminded me that there was a reprotection agreement with LH via FRA and MUC for flights cancelled from 15 January to the end of March. However the feeders must be on LO. That means you’d have to fly BRU-WAW-FRA/MUC with LO before continuing to PEK on LH. You’ll be able to change your dates +/-7 days.

Unlike the LAX reprotection you don’t need certain RBD and theres no downgrade for Premium pax.

There’s no right to delay your trip (and cost LO less money) and only fly LO because morons made the policy who don’t care about Article 8.

Obviously a refund would be possible if it makes more financial sense though I doubt anything was as cheap as LO?

hugolover

I saw your second part. No it won’t be 7 days before, they will do it very soon because the inventory was recently closed based on the data point of your booking a week ago and now zeroed out. I’d assume they’ll be working on the reaccom options. Maybe Helga/LH doesn’t want their rebook money?

xoyotaylor

Thank you so much for all your help here! The ticket was booked on Friday last week (just to have a precise data point). You're right that it's hard to find a PE fare that beats LOT during those days that I'd like to travel. Pity that I really wanted to test their PE as it seems better than the rest of its M&M peers. As long as they can get me onto another PE within M&M carriers, I'd be just happy as I'm also counting on these flights to elevate my *A status.

Would I need to get the rebooking done with someone over the phone? or Will I be given a code/link to manage the booking myself? In case of former, I'd need to prep myself upfront to see what alternatives I may get?

Btw, I did load some of your response to ChatGPT to help me better digest

hugolover

You’ll get the cancellation email and then you can call. Alternatively they will call you after a while, having a department that deals with this. Obviously irregularity is quite an issue at LOT lately.

xoyotaylor

Some quick update:
Email received today from LOT about flight cancellation -> called them up immediately for rebooking -> LH alternative via MUN/FRA offerred but has to be fed by LOT. Hence the proposal (same PAX):

• Outbound BRU -> WAW -> FRA -> PEK (not the worst)
• Inbound PEK 13:20 (UTC+7) -> MUN 19:00 (UTC+1) (overnight 15h layover) -> WAW (5h layover) -> BRU in total a trip of 35hrs

No offer about accomodation in MUN (If I agree with this rebooking, I'll need to sign off that I take my own responsibility of spending the night)
No chance to have the layover in WAW instead of MUN as no LOT operated to WAW that can meet MTT after arrival from PEK

I am not sure if I'm pissed but it's likely that I'll cancel to avoid all hassles...

xoyotaylor

Btw, the fare I paid was around 1000 EURO which is difficult to beat... Although the agent kept telling me that I should look for alternatives on other airlines while going for a refund

AlicorporateUK

[OT] I hate to be the redactor here but we’re on FT after all, and MUC is possibly amongst the most popular airports here on this forum: as already hinted, it’s MUC, not MUN. [/OT]