Lufthansa upgrade problems
Jul 7, 2004, 7:36 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 3
Lufthansa upgrade problems
I just got back from Italy on Lufthansa Firenze to Munich to SFO. Round trip service was excellent. The problem lies with upgraded tickets. At SFO I was able to upgrade my son and I to Business class roundtrip. The ticket agent told us repeatedly that the total upgrade cost would be $ 5370.00 for BOTH Tickets roundtrip. I paid for the upgrade on a MC. The day after we arrived my wife called as said MC called her about a $ 5370.00 ticket purchase at SFO. She explained that this was not a problem as she was there when we purchased the upgrade. A week later she receives our MC statement for $ 10,740.00 for the tickets which were entered twice. I did not approve the $ 10,740.00 cost, but I did approve the $5370.00. We called Lufthansa office in Germany about this and asked to have my signed MC receipt faxed to our home. LH office said they do not have to fax any receipt as my receipt was given to me at SFO. The problem is somewhere between Frankfurt and Firenze my copy was misplaced and as of today I can not locate the copy. We spoke with MC and they have been helpful and have allowed us to file a protest letter stating we will not pay the extra amount.
Has anyone had a similar situation and if so can you offer any suggestions. I is clear to me that LH in SFO ran our MC through not once but twice the second time without my approval.
Thanks,
Paul C.
Has anyone had a similar situation and if so can you offer any suggestions. I is clear to me that LH in SFO ran our MC through not once but twice the second time without my approval.
Thanks,
Paul C.
Jul 7, 2004, 8:49 am
#2
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: JNB, STR
Posts: 110
No a problem. Tell you bank that you have not authorised the amount. Your bank has to get the receipt to prove you signed it. If they can not provide the prove, it is not your problem anymore. If you singed for the 10 grand theyll play the ball back to you.
Jul 7, 2004, 11:49 am
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 1999
Posts: 12,375
LH must have a signed copy of the MCO, similar to the one you lost? In the lower, right-hand corner is the total amount.
I would:
- contact LH in the U.S. and revalidate that the cost of the upgrade for two people round-trip is really $5,370.
- ask LH in the U.S. to provide a duplicate MCO, you should be able to get this when you return to SFO.
Either you got double-charged, or you and the agent mid-understood one another and the real cost was $5,370 per person?
Have you checked with your credit card company to see if you already got a credit? Sometimes you get a double-charge and a short time later the credit appears?
I would:
- contact LH in the U.S. and revalidate that the cost of the upgrade for two people round-trip is really $5,370.
- ask LH in the U.S. to provide a duplicate MCO, you should be able to get this when you return to SFO.
Either you got double-charged, or you and the agent mid-understood one another and the real cost was $5,370 per person?
Have you checked with your credit card company to see if you already got a credit? Sometimes you get a double-charge and a short time later the credit appears?
Jul 7, 2004, 12:56 pm
#4
Moderator: GLBT travelers, India-based Airlines and India; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Asia
Programs: Yes!
Posts: 15,512
Welcome to FT, Paul C
Maybe if you post the booking class / fare basis of your original ticket and the class after the upgrade, as shown on your boarding pass stubs (C/D/Z etc) then maybe someone could hazard a guess about the fare difference between economy and business.
As an example, I just searched fares on LH for a 10 day stay in August booked as: SFO-MUC/x-FLR-MUC/x-SFO.
The fares I got
CHEAPEST ECONOMY:
V class outbound & H class rtn for 1 adult
€ 1205.57
FLEXIBLE ECONOMY:
Y class Total for 1 adult
€ 2638.57
FULL FARE BUSINESS:
C class Total for 1 adult
€ 7379.57
(There was no restrictive business class available.)
So even assuming you had a close to full-fare economy Y / M / B class ticket, then to upgrade to C round trip would cost roughly € 4700 = US$ 5700 approx. So I would assume that LH charged the amount per person for the round trip....
Maybe if you post the booking class / fare basis of your original ticket and the class after the upgrade, as shown on your boarding pass stubs (C/D/Z etc) then maybe someone could hazard a guess about the fare difference between economy and business.
As an example, I just searched fares on LH for a 10 day stay in August booked as: SFO-MUC/x-FLR-MUC/x-SFO.
The fares I got
CHEAPEST ECONOMY:
V class outbound & H class rtn for 1 adult
€ 1205.57
FLEXIBLE ECONOMY:
Y class Total for 1 adult
€ 2638.57
FULL FARE BUSINESS:
C class Total for 1 adult
€ 7379.57
(There was no restrictive business class available.)
So even assuming you had a close to full-fare economy Y / M / B class ticket, then to upgrade to C round trip would cost roughly € 4700 = US$ 5700 approx. So I would assume that LH charged the amount per person for the round trip....
Jul 13, 2004, 5:54 am
#5
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Eurozone
Programs: LH SEN, HH Gold
Posts: 3,002
If you clearly approved $5370.00, then I have to agree with hardhat.
LH is right that they don't have to fax the receipt. And, what a wonderful standpoint for a company employee to take when someone is willing to resolve an issue directly with them, rather than contesting a charge.
And, IMO, hardhat's right, just solve it through MC. Trying to resolve improper charges with LH is not a relaxing nor necessarily rewarding experience. Too many forces at work which can undo your solution.
In working with LH, we thought we had everything worked out, only to see the same charge errors repeated a month later and having to play the whole game over again. After quite some time of halfheartedly contesting (well, more like dragging out payment) thru VISA (a LH VISA, no less) while trying to solve thru Lufthansa, VISA finally wanted their money. That led to a full dispute, that I could've/should've made in the first place. Not a pretty experience at all.
Dispute the charge and have MC play ball for you.
LH is right that they don't have to fax the receipt. And, what a wonderful standpoint for a company employee to take when someone is willing to resolve an issue directly with them, rather than contesting a charge.
And, IMO, hardhat's right, just solve it through MC. Trying to resolve improper charges with LH is not a relaxing nor necessarily rewarding experience. Too many forces at work which can undo your solution.
In working with LH, we thought we had everything worked out, only to see the same charge errors repeated a month later and having to play the whole game over again. After quite some time of halfheartedly contesting (well, more like dragging out payment) thru VISA (a LH VISA, no less) while trying to solve thru Lufthansa, VISA finally wanted their money. That led to a full dispute, that I could've/should've made in the first place. Not a pretty experience at all.
Dispute the charge and have MC play ball for you.
Last edited by Grog; Jul 13, 2004 at 5:58 am