While checking in I find out Lufthansa cancelled my flight: any recourses?
I booked a ticket with Lufthansa (through their website) about a month ago. This was a roundtrip with the outbound trip consisting of 3 flights, and the return trip consisting of 3 flights. When I booked, Lufthansa accepted my credit card and showed a CONFIRMED page where they confirmed my payment and my flight. I got an email with my booking information. All 6 flights are listed as CONFIRMED in the e-mail.
Yesterday I tried to check in to my flight, and I suddenly see that the very first leg of my flight is cancelled. There is an error message at the top of my booking page and it says I should contact the call center. The other flights are still listed as CONFIRMED. I have not been assigned Electronic ticket numbers for any flight. Under my booking it says PAID and it lists the last 4 digits of my credit card. I am unable to check in to the flight.
After many - many - hours trying to get hold of Lufthansa through various means, I am now finding out that my first flight is operated by Copa, and when Lufthansa tried using my card to pay Copa for that flight, Copa rejected this payment due to my bank's currency vs the currencies that are accepted by them. Turns out that for this reason, Lufthansa never charged me for this flight. Despite it still showing as PAID on their own website, I was never charged (I have just confirmed this with the bank and indeed I was never charged). They e-mailed me about this issue a day after my booking, but this e-mail went to my spam folder and I was not aware of this whole issue until I was about to check in.
According to one Lufthansa employee, if I can pay Copa the outstanding amount in the right currency then they can take the remaining payment and my flight can be confirmed. According to Copa, they have no information in their system about their flight because Lufthansa only sent them a booking reference number without any flight information. According to other Lufthansa employees, I must book a whole new flight (currently at unaffordable prices given that my flight is today). My flight is supposed to be in 7 hours and I am at a loss as to what to do.
- In my view, the internal payment arrangements between Lufthansa and Copa are not for me to sort out. In fact it seems an impossible task to sort this out.
- I wonder if I have any rights to this flight at this price given that Lufthansa offered this to me and they accepted my payment method. They also confirmed price and flight by e-mail, and they told me that I had successfully paid for this ticket. They now seem to push for me to buy a completely new ticket at exorbitant prices but that seems wrong.
Any thoughts?
Best Answer
We can only guess, but the reasoning you listed that they gave you seem rather fishy. Lufthansa would never use your credit card to buy a Copa flight; maybe you booked from an associate of Lufthansa (like eDreams or gotogate or whatever), or from some scammer to begin with - again, we can only guess. Not having any electronic ticket number also heavily points to scam. You should never never never accept a missing e-ticket as ok; you must get a ticket number after booking, or it's a scam or another problem that must be addressed.
It is your duty to enter an email address that you monitor; what else can they do if there is a problem than email you? So you can hardly blame them for the email being in your spam folder, and you probably will end up losing the whole trip, or having to re-buy the copa leg - always assuming there is a real booking...
For this, go to www.lufthansa.com, and not any link anyone emailed you, and check with your booking code there. If it is there, you can probably save your trip by either moving or rebooking the Copa leg. If they have never heard of it, you fell for a cheater... try to get your money back through your credit card company.
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What happens if flight Cancelled after check in?
If your flight is cancelled. You have the legal right to either: a full refund - including other flights from the airline that you won't use in the same booking such as onward or return flights. a replacement flight to get you to your destination.What happens when Lufthansa flight is Cancelled?
Your flight booking will now be cancelled and you will receive an automatic confirmation email. If you purchased your ticket online at lufthansa.com or at a Lufthansa Office, the refund will be made automatically and there is no need for any further action.Will I be notified if my flight is Cancelled?
Usually, air carriers notify their passengers about flight cancellations. So, you don't have to wonder how do I know if my flight is cancelled. They would usually send you an email or text message in case of cancellation.What is an airlines obligation if they cancel your flight?
But in a routine cancellation, you have two basic contractual rights on any airline, subject to minor variations: either (1) a seat on your original airline's next available flight, or (2) a refund for the unused portion of your ticket. Some airlines go beyond those bare-bones rights.How to – Online Check-in | Lufthansa
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Answer 2
0> Contact directly Lufthansa's customer service by phone and try to figure out with them what actually happened, they may be willing to help you to resolve your issue.
1> Call your credit card, explain them what happened (you never recived any tickets even if it seems you got a confirmation) and that you want to have the transaction reimbursed. You'll have to file a so called fast-claim form with some information and attach some proof of you being scammed. Usually the credit card will reimburs you.
1b >If you paid with SEPA Direct Debit less than 8 weeks ago you're still able to ask your bank to withdraw the payment (without any need of proof)
2> If they ask you for an email address, provide one that you ckeck (and also giving a look to the spam often is not a bad idea)
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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