Lack

To a limited degree sometimes. My TA is afraid to issue tickets I can force UA.com to display for example. Between POS restrictions and marries segment shenanigans, it's really a pain in the ... to deal with LH now.

Doc Savage

Fat chance. LH is among the most anal retentive with respect to rules.

volta

It is always worth asking. Last time I was on Z fare and they changed me to earlier flight. If the flights are overbooked, it is worth asking

htb

+1. Happened to me once when I wanted to rebook: "you're lucky, we have instructions to move everyone forward free of charge". I told him: "Great! But today, of all times, I'm on a flexible ticket".

HTB.

Zeehe

+1 for a friendly request. Worst that happens is a 'no' back, and then you'll simply go into the city and enjoy some Breze and Obazda. I'd go to the gate of the earlier flight to ask, customer service will not accomodate you. It worked for me sometimes, but not always, and more frequently at outstations than at the hubs. It seemed to me to be helpful to mention that your luggage is easy to find due to the priority tag (which means it's single load, not container, and has a bright red tag on it, that is, assuming it is tagged) and to describe a very obvious feature (non of my bags are black). Staff tends to be mostly worried about the luggage issue, from my experience.

red star

LH has 3 nonstop flights out of MUC to MOW. I wouldn't call that really "numerous". Chances are that your next direct flight actually is 8 hours later. For rebooking on a connecting flight I guess your chances are zero indeed, not to mention the checked luggage.

TRAVELSIG

Yes- excellent point- if the OP is checking any luggage at all the chance will indeed be ZERO. Even if the OP is not checking any luggage- the only hope will be in the case that there is such severe overbooking that it is recognized eight hours in advance (very very unlikely) and that the person looking at the OP ticket is both empowered to do something about it and notices the overall situation (very good luck needed here).

OP if you are going to go for the cheap fare- you may want to consider a day room at the Kempinski which is right at the airport terminal or alternatively decide to head into Munich on the S-Bahn which takes less than 1 hour and have a walk around Munich. Personally I find Munich to be a very pleasant city with a lot to see and do- good for a walk around and in the event of poor weather just head to one of the many excellent museums or galleries.

warakorn

Haha, this was a good one.

If the OP is a non-flexible ticket, there must a reason for this long layover. Let me guess: hmmm, maybe this 8 hour connection was way cheaper.
From a yield mgmt. perspective LH would be very dumb to rebook passengers for free - Where would be the incentive to pay more for a 2 hour connection?

txl

No need to guess. You will often find, though, that more comfortable connections are simply not offered on the airlines' websites but can easily be booked through a TA. So, more often than not, it is simply a question of how hard you look and how much you care.

txl

Ah, the dangers of limited perspectives...

RTW1

Not really... you are over exaggerating things quite a bit. Normally what's available will be bookable through either the airline or an OTA, and they are a TA in name only.

A good TA, and there aren't that many, might get you a better flight but that is hardly the rule. Especially if your route is a straightforward one.

htb

So true... I admit the situation is the reverse (had short connection, wanted a longer one), but the mindset behind the refusal to let me fly earlier shares the same basis of limited perspective.

I had a connection FRA-MUC-GOA with a 50 minute connection today. During checkin at FRA I asked if they would like me to fly on the earlier flight. The lady said I would have to pay for that.

After "enjoying" lunch in the lounge I wander off to the gate to arrive about 20 minutes before departure. Just when I arrive my phone beeps and I am being informed that my flight was delayed by 45 minutes. I arrive in MUC just when my connecting flight is leaving. The pilot was speculating that the delay was due to weather in Frankfurt, but wasn't sure.

Since there are only two flights daily to GOA, I'm getting rebooked on MUC-FCO with LH and FCO-GOA on Alitalia, arriving more than 4 hours late.

The passenger receipt for the MUC-FCO-GOA shows the following:

Fare: 122€ / PDYQ: 156€ / PDOY: 7.50€ / PDXT: 82.99€ / Total: NO ADC. I assume these numbers have to be added up.

To add insult to injury when I got my boarding pass in FCO I was made to pay an additional 55€ for my second bag that I had checked through to GOA. "LH should have issued a different ticket if you have two bags." I guess that amount will come out of LH coffers as well.

This outcome could have been avoided by allowing check-in agents to use common sense. "Mr htb, I see you only have 50 minutes in MUC. Since you are early, wouldn't you like to take the next flight reducing the chance for a misconnect?"

I know -- in a little while someone will claim that I am to blame for the misconnect because I had chosen the less expensive short connection. But I will not accept that responsibility. It's LH's responsibility to make sure they can fulfil their part of the contract. I was there (checkin/gate) in time.

HTB.

txl

Granted. But it happens quite a lot that you will find better connecting flights that don't show up on an airlines' website - and a TA can usually sort that out for you.
If you think about booking a l/h Y ticket, though, you hardly get offered a good booking class from LH's website - and then you need a TA.

seawolf

How so? First off you need someone who is avail 24/7 and aren't they are still limited to what the airline allows them to reroute?

NewbieRunner

Indeed! Has anyone actually looked at the timetable? Assuming the OP is flying on LH from ORD to MUC then to MOW, there is only onedaily flight ORD-MUC which arrives in MUC at 13:20 (winter timetable) and the three MUC-DME flights are at 07:00, 11:10 and 21:55. There isn't any earllier LH flight the OP could be accommodated on however nicely he/she asks.