Bereavement: what can LH do for me?
 

Here's the story:
My son and I were going SFO-FMO in a couple of weeks, for him to visit his Oma and Opa. We have Z class tickets.

It turns out that my mother-in-law passed away yesterday, so obviously no vacation for my son.
Now what I need is:
- Cancel my son's ticket. Would a reimbursement be possible in this special case?
- Re-book my ticket for this weekend. Can I do it without paying "an arm and a leg"?
- Is there any specific office or phone number I could call?
- What kind of proof would they ask for?

Thanks

Sad for your loss. For Z tickets you can cancel them for 300 Euros penalty.
As for rebooking Z on short notice, I've been standing at the ticket desk in tears when my first daughter died (as a HON) and LH still charged me full price. I wouldn't expect much.
The regular numbers apply. If your story is really true (no doubt) PM me and I'll call the HON line for you.

Pokeshot

Hi Maria,

Very sorry for your family's loss (and particularly for your son). What can be done with your tickets depends all on the fare rules. Normally our call center can advise you, they can be reached at 800 645 3880. If you booked with a TA they may send you back there since your trip didn't start yet and any refunds have to be done by the issuing office for accounting reasons, even with cancellation fee.

If you haven't already rearranged your plans, please do PM me your booking code(s) and I will look at it for you tonight or tomorrow morning. You can PM or email me anytime but for urgent things PM is usually better since I don't get my FT email when I am out of the office, like now.


My condolences during this difficult time,
Michelle

Rebooking in death/bereavement/sick cases is usually no issue with LH.

These are the penalties listed by expertflyer for LH fare basis ZSPECE (is that what you booked?) for SFO-FMO:

FOR Z-PECE TYPE FARES CANCELLATIONS ANY TIME TICKET IS NON-REFUNDABLE. NOTE - A. DEATH/ILLNESS PROVISION -- TICKET MAY BE REFUNDED OR USED TOWARD PURCHASE OF ANOTHER TICKET DUE TO ILLNESS OR DEATH OF PASSENGER OR TRAVELLING COMPANION. VALID MEDICAL / DEATH CERTIFICATE REQUIRED. -- -- B. EXCHANGE - CHANGE TO 1ST TICKETED FLIGHT / WHOLLY UNUSED TICKET -- UPON PAYMENT OF CHANGE FEE - FULL VALUE MAY BE APPLIED TOWARD PURCHASE OF NEW TICKET PRICED AT EQUAL TO OR HIGHER CURRENT FARE LEVELS - CHANGE FEE/DIFFERENCE IN FARE/TAX TO BE COLLECTED AT TIME OF EXCHANGE. -- THE NON-REFUNDABLE AMOUNT REMAINS NON-REFUNDABLE CARRIED FORWARD TO THE ENDORSEMENT BOX OF NEW TICKET. AFTER DEPARTURE TICKET IS NON-REFUNDABLE. NOTE - IF ANY PORTION OF THE TICKET HAS BEEN USED THE PASSENGER IS NOT ENTITLED TO ANY REFUND. -- NON-REFUNDABLE REMAINS NON-REFUNDABLE-- CHANGES ANY TIME CHARGE USD 300.00 FOR REISSUE/REVALIDATION. WAIVED FOR DEATH OF PASSENGER OR FAMILY MEMBER. NOTE - A. CHANGES MADE TO OTHER THAN THE FIRST TICKETED FLIGHT -- THE FARE LEVELS IN EFFECT AT THE TIME OF ORIGINAL TICKET ISSUE WILL APPLY - ALL PROVISIONS OF ORIGINALLY TICKETED FARE APPLY. IF THE NEW ITINERARY QUALIFIES FOR THE ORIGINAL TICKETED FARE BUT RESULTS IN A HIGHER FARE - COLLECT THE CHANGE FEE AND FARE DIFFERENCE /OR/ RESULTS IN A LOWER FARE -COLLECT THE CHANGE FEE AND REFUND THE DIFFERENCE TO A NON-REFUNDABLE VOUCHER VALID ON LH ONLY AT TIME OF REISSUE. THIS APPLICATION APPLIES - BEFORE TRAVEL BEGINS. ONCE TRAVEL BEGINS - TICKET IS NON-REFUNDABLE. -- CHANGE MADE TO OTHER THAN THE FIRST TICKETED FLIGHT RESULT IN THE NEW ITINERARY NO LONGER QUALIFYING FOR THE ORIGINAL TICKETED FARE - THE FULL VALUE MAY BE APPLIED TOWARD AN EQUAL OR HIGHER QUALIFYING FARE - USING FARES IN EFFECT OF THE ORIGINAL TICKET DATE UPON PAYMENT OF FARE/TAX DIFFERANCE AND CHANGE FEE.

Interesting. So ZSPECE allows a free refund only if pax dies/gets sick. Death of family member only allows free rebooking.

Michelle,

I want to thank you publicly for all your help.
Everything has been sorted out.
Thank you!

Maria

Discounts for family emergencies?
 

I just flew from Toronto to Tehran through Frankfurt (arrived in Tehran yesterday). However, my grandfather in L.A. is now in the process of going through his last days :(

I'm just wondering that in the event of a family death, do airlines (and Lufthansa specifically) give away special discounted fares? I'm just looking to go to L.A. from Tehran and stay there for no longer than 3 days (almost a 24 hour journey to get there, so it's going to be exhausting).

Thanks.

When my stepfather passed away few years ago, I remember asking LH about 'bereavement' fares [remembered reading somewhere about those] and was told they weren't having anything like that.

I don't think there are any bereavement fares available on LH.
I think US based airlines do have them but I have no details.
Perhaps best to try and book an award. They are quite flexible.
(Hope your grandpa isn't suffering too much!)

Bereavement fares?
 

I called Lufthansa to check their bereavement fares for a departure date of today, tomorrow or the day after, coming back the same week any day on Friday to Sunday. Going from Toronto to Barcelona or Madrid. The bereavement fares were the same as regular fares :/ I checked Toronto to Frankfurt and London as well. Nada.

Is there a trick to this that I'm missing??

Call AC, they have a policy and can book you on the next AC coded flight...

Really? That would be awesome.

https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...ent-fares.html

https://www.aircanada.com/content/da...ent_policy.pdf

I don't see uncles in there... Called AC and on the hold with their call centre for over 30 minutes now.

This has be cross posted in the AC forum. As cross posting is not allowed on FT and this topic is about AC I’ll close the thread here.

Have a nice day
totti
M&M moderator