[Lufthansasucks]

I booked a flight from Munich to Heathrow on the 26th of April and a flight from Heathrow to Munich on the 29th of April. Due to the death of a close friend I did not use the first flight as I had to travel earlier to the funeral. On trying to check in for the return flight i found that my reservation for the second flight had been cancelled by Lufthansa. I telephoned their reservations department and was told that as I had not used the first flight they were entitled according to the terms and conditions to cancel my second flight. I had to use all flights booked as they were booked or lose them all. I was of course very angry that they cancelled my second flight just because I had booked it with an earlier unused flight. The Lufthansa representative was totally unhelpful. As they hadn´t informed me that they had canceled the booking I had to rebook another flight home on the same plane. They made me pay a rebooking fee in addition to the seat (218 euros).

In my opinion they are just cynically exploiting any necessary changes in plans even when they should have no effect on the service that has been paid for. I complained again at the airport and they just shrugged it off and gave me the address of their customer relations department.

I looked at the terms and conditions and could not find any clear indication that my flight could be cancelled under these circumstances. I will not book with Lufthansa again. Their attitude to their customers is appalling.

I intend to complain to Lufthansa with a copy to the regulator. I doubt this will be successful- anyone got any tips about what can be done otherwise?

The flight was booked in Germany- is there a small claims court type of procedure here that could work?

[jimworcs]

This practice is common. There is little you can do sadly, but there is hope on the horizon. The EU is consulting on changes to EU 261, and one of the proposals is to ban this abuse by airlines.

[Lufthansasucks]

Hi Jimworcs- thanks for the comment- I just looked though EU 2004/261 and didn´t see any clear indication that this abuse was foreseen- do you know what is the exact basis that Lufthansa is relying on for it?

they have also referred to their terms and conditions but I also cannot find anything really relevant there.

It is only 218 euros but I just hate being ripped off like this.

[jimworcs]

3.3.1. The travel data (flight date, flight number, point of departure and destination, passenger name) recorded on the Ticket are binding and may not be changed at all or, in some circumstances, only upon payment of a change of booking fee.

3.3.2. Should you wish to change any aspect of your carriage, you must contact us in advance. We would especially like to point out that while certain changes may involve increases to the flight price, others may not.

3.3.3. Should you have selected a Tariff which provides for compliance with a fixed Ticket sequence, please note: if carriage is not used on all individual legs or not used in the sequence anticipated on the Ticket with otherwise unchanged travel data, we will recalculate the fare according to your altered routing. The fare will thereby be determined which you would have had to pay for your actual routing in your price group on the day of your reservation. This fare may be higher than the fare you originally paid.
If the price group you originally booked was not available for the altered routing on the day of the booking, the cheapest available former price group for your altered routing will be taken as the basis for the recalculation.
If on the day of the booking for your altered routing, a higher fare would have been determined, we will subsequently recover the difference taking into account the fare already paid. Please note that we can make carriage dependent on whether you have paid this difference in price.

This is the relevant section from Lufthansa's Terms-(which you agreed to on purchase ) currently 261 does not address this problem, but there are proposals to revise it, which includes banning this practise. I think some countries also ban it, including Austria

[Lufthansasucks]

thanks again that is very helpful.

doesn´t what Lufthansa did go way beyond their terms and conditions? they didn´t just do a fare recalculation they actually cancelled my booking and made my rebook it with a new booking fee? also it states that the fare recalculation is based on what the fare would have been at the time or reservation- Clearly the fare for only one flight would have been less that the cost of both flights at the time of reservation.

Even with their one-sided terms and conditions I dont think it would have been possible to have predicted this cancellation.

[jimworcs]

To be honest, my reading of that does suggest they went beyond the terms of your Conditions of Carriage. However, return tickets are often cheaper than single tickets, so I wouldn't bet the house on the recalculation being advantageous to you. However, if you wish to pursue it in small claims, you can do it online in the UK very cheaply, if you want to make a point.

[stonecold_1981]

Originally Posted by Lufthansasucks

thanks again that is very helpful.

doesn´t what Lufthansa did go way beyond their terms and conditions? they didn´t just do a fare recalculation they actually cancelled my booking and made my rebook it with a new booking fee? also it states that the fare recalculation is based on what the fare would have been at the time or reservation- Clearly the fare for only one flight would have been less that the cost of both flights at the time of reservation.

Even with their one-sided terms and conditions I dont think it would have been possible to have predicted this cancellation.

Actually it is 'within' their terms and conditions. See 3.3.2 from Jim's post. You need to call them to change "any" aspect of the carriage, in advance of the flight time.
This is not just Lufthansa policy. It's pretty much the standard for all airlines. They apply the "No-Show" rules if you skip even one leg of the journey, effectively cancelling the rest of your itinerary.
Also, "cost of one-way flight < cost of return flight" is not always true (although logically they should be).

Not that I agree with any of the above rules, but it's the sad reality for now (unless govts do something about it).

[Lufthansasucks]

Ok thanks for the responses. That is all very helpful.

Unfortunately I am in Germany and as far as I know there is no small claims court like in the UK where you can chase up small amounts. German law and attitudes tends to favour the big and powerful (with legal departments) and I don´t have much hope here. Also German companies do not tend to be very concerned about customer satisfaction so I don´t hold out much hope for any complaining letters.

I suppose it is lucky to find these things out with relatively cheap flights rather than with a round the world trip for example. Government really needs to get these airlines under control.

It is shame they decide to rip of their customers as otherwise i find lufthansa to be quite good. Now it is a lose-lose as I will avoid Lufthansa (at inconvenience to myself) and loss to them. Also it seems the airlines are probably as bad as each other in reality.

[jimworcs]

I think Stonecold may be right...if you had notified them in advance, the method of calculating the revised fare may have applied, but the failure to show was a breach in itself.

If you were inclined, I think there is a small claims system in Germany. This website might help:

https://www.online-mahnantrag.de/oma...&Command=start

[J23A]

Similar experience with Cancellation of return after outbound no show,except I did notify before I even booked. The rep didn't explain the consequence just said it was my choice. What a joke.

It cost me 2000 Eur. Under the TOC they have to at least refund my canceled leg. But you can't do this through telephone or online. You have to write a letter or send a fax (haha) to

Lufthansa Kundendialog in: Deutschland

Name
Deutsche Lufthansa AG

Customer Feedback
Stadt
Frankfurt
PLZ
60492
Adresse/Postfach
710234
Adresse
Germany
Telefax


What a joke. The truth is they misrepresented the contract and that's a legal breech. So I wrote to their ombundsman.

You guessed it he referred me to the address above. I know where not to book next time.