Pricey Travel TROUBLESHOOTER: Lufthansa canceled a flight for my wife and me from Orlando, Florida, to Budapest, Hungary, by way of Frankfurt, Germany, last yr. The airline promised a complete refund. 4 months later, I gained a refund for one of the tickets.
I’ve been seeking to get a refund for the 2nd ticket. I have manufactured numerous cellular phone calls and despatched email messages. I have tried out to converse to a top-quality and maintain obtaining cut off. Lufthansa owes me $1,583. A consultant told me the circumstance had been “archived,” and I’ve listened to almost nothing even further. Can you assist?
— Raymond Menna, The Villages, Florida
Respond to: I’m sorry Lufthansa canceled your flight. Beneath Department of Transportation principles, you should really have gained a refund to the unique form of payment in just a week — not four months afterwards. I need to note the timeline on this case. Lufthansa canceled your flight in April 2021, and you gained your to start with refund in August. So, this is not 1 of those people early pandemic scenarios exactly where the total world was turned upside down.
By the way, “archiving” a complaint is just a polite way of expressing they are done with you, and no one will respond to your queries.
But your scenario is a very little far more complicated. It seems like you booked these flights by means of Orbitz. Lufthansa did not cancel your original flights it manufactured a schedule adjust. Below EU customer safety rules, you could have received a refund or a credit rating. You selected a credit history. Lufthansa then canceled your upcoming flight.
That usually means Lufthansa required to refund your ticket credit alternatively than difficulty a comprehensive refund. Alternatively, it seems Lufthansa refunded one of your tickets, but not the other. As I said, it is a tiny puzzling.
A circumstance like yours is an essential reminder to usually read through the relevant principles and client protections — and also, to remain off the cellular phone. Based on your data, Lufthansa just kept hanging up on you or putting you on a lengthy maintain. As a substitute, retain your conversation to e-mail so that there’s a paper path.
Keep in mind, I list the appropriate executive contacts for corporations like Lufthansa on my client advocacy web site at www.elliott.org/corporation-contacts/lufthansa-airlines/. A quick, polite electronic mail to a person of them could have helped, whilst, as I noted previously this month, Lufthansa has been rather unresponsive these days.
But not this time. I reviewed the paperwork on your scenario and achieved out to the airline. A agent contacted you and provided to refund your 2nd ticket, which you acknowledged.
Christopher Elliott is the chief advocacy officer of Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit group that aids buyers take care of their complications. Elliott’s most up-to-date book is “How To Be The World’s Smartest Traveler” (National Geographic). Make contact with him at elliott.org/assistance or [email protected].
