davem4

!!!RESOLVED!!!

Hi,

I have a passenger who was originally traveling on
Yesterday they were informed of an overbooking, and they have been moved to Lufthansa via FRA
LH901 on 26 April
LH728 on 26 April

Since they are traveling to CHINA they need a CPR and Antibody test in transit. The booking information on swiss.com/lufthansa.com is to book here:

https://www.fraport.com/de/geschaeft...ichkeiten.html

No free appointment for Monday, 26/04/2021 available!

Calling FRAPORT and Lufthansa is not working, they dont' have contact details with the testing service and cannot advise if a walk up test is allowed.

I have called Swiss and they cannot accomodate her on the flight on the 25th (which is running).

She is a chinese national, with no shengen visa. She can only transit via the following airports that have airside testing (CPH, AMS, HEL, ZRH have walk up testing service and consular support from China). FRA has a bookable service only (no capacity for 26 April).

Urgent assistance is please needed. Swiss contact centre just offer a refund (this is not acceptable, alternative flights are much more expensive now).

Carpacchio

Isn't there a possibility to get the test in London (assuming she is residing there given the starting point of the trip) prior to the flight ?

davem4

Chinese requirement is test before each flight.

Double test in London
+ Double test in Transit.

Chinese consulate is supporting the named airports (with staff on site). FRA is not supported due to limited testing availability.

She picked Swiss for a reason, as ZRH has the best setup for flights to china. However they changed her due to overbooking.

airoli

There is no Swiss Lurker active here. Do not expect any help from LX based on this post. You must find another solution.
The LX call center should be able to offer another travel date via ZRH, or possibly a routing via ZRH and another Asian hub (HKG? SIN?) if that is permissible based on testing rules / availability.

davem4

"We can only book you on LH group flights, there are non in April / May / June in Y"

There is Finnair flights in Y on 28 April, however at a cost of 2,700 pounds (which the passenger cannot afford).

Rebooking on this should be possible as it is the earliest possible flight?
https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizen...t-overbooked-1

Nick Art

LX will most likely refuse to rebook you on AY.

I would keep pushing and escalating while one the phone while still explaining the situation. Make it their problem to solve. Don't accept the rebooking as this would then make it your problem again.

Often1

"I have a passenger" suggests that you are a TA. Are you? If so, it would be helpful to know as that may open some other channels.

If not, fixing this involves a series of difficult conversations with LX. This is no different than the pre-pandemic situation where a potential reroute involves a transit for which the passenger cannot be documented, e.g. requires a visa. LX, on the other hand, is handling mass rebookings and simply looks at the booking engine.

You will need the help of a manager and I use the word "help" loosely. Have in front of you the alternatives, including flight numbers, which work from both a scheduling logistics and entry requirements perspective, as well as your notes as to why other alternatives do not work.

Nick Art

It might be worth mentioning that T-48 hours before the flight, if the ticket is still in limbo agent will be much more likely to rebook you on to non LH Group airlines.
It might be worth checking what kind of reprotection agreements LX has with which airlines that include travel to your area.

Nick Art

As for rebooking options:
There is a KLM flight on the 26th that may work. But again, LX will hardly rebook to it.

There are also LH flights on the 28th which is an option as there are testing slots available to be booked online then.

davem4

I'm a friend, I didn't know how else to write that.

TY for all the advice here, I feel LX were about to rebook on AY. We had a hour long discussion and had the supervisor follow the Swiss.com advice + links to the booking service showing it was full.

They then went to get approval.

Whilst that was occuring I got an email from the medical centre that they will open more appointments. They did so quickly and she is now booked for testing IN Frankfurt.

Simple option wins! LH flight VIA FRA with confirmed testing slot now done.

Thank you so much for everyones advice here. It was a stressfull 18 hours (i've got over 40 different calls to different offices / airports trying to get an answer/resolution).

The South African based contact centre for Swiss is fantastic BTW. Super great agents.

SK AAR

Good to hear that flying LH via FRA will work.

Strange that LX rebook a pax due to overbooking several days before the flight. Many things can happen before Sunday and often some pax will cancel on short notice or no-show. Normally/pre-covid this is handled on the day of departure/even as late as the gate. Also if the pax is confirmed on the flight, LX can't just remove the pax and rebook to LH. Often an offer will be made for the pax to accept the rebooking without fuss. It made me think, was your friend on waitlist for the LX flight, rather than confirmed? Did LX offer cash or voucher for your friend to accept rebooking to LH a day later?

airoli

This is speculation on my part, but I understand that China has a very particular system in place where airlines are only allocated a certain number of passengers that they can transport to the country in a given period of time. This number changes as a function of how many of the previous passengers ended up testing positive for Covid - a means of punishment for the foreign airline.

It is possible that LX has seen their quota lowered and therefore needed to rebook pax. I think "overbooking" in this context doesn't refer to the number of seats physically available on the aircraft.

oliver2002

Since it is in LH's interest to have all pax tested in due time, the capacities in the in transit facility will always match the booked number of pax. So even if you don't have an appointment the test will be possible.

SK AAR

OK - thank you for the explanation. It certainly possible - then it will have little to do with "overbooking" and the term is misleading.