Travel Agent and Airline not Giving me a Refund?

Schwade

If anyone can point me to the right direction, I would be greatly appreciated.

1. Brought returned flight with Lufthansa with interconnecting stop at Frankfurt to go to a wedding.
2. Due to snow, denied boarding on flight from London to Frankfurt because I would have missed connecting flight from Frankfurt.
3. Lufthansa offered other flight later that week but would have missed wedding and so rejected offer.
4. Asked ground staff if I can cancel flight and get refund and they said should be ok.
5. In the end, no flights out of London to attend wedding.
6. Called Lufthansa and was reassured will get refund but I need to contact travel agent.
7. Travel agent said yes. I filled in refund application form.
8. Travel agent then said no because Lufthansa told them they won't be providing refunds. I.e. conflicting messages.
9. I have been calling both travel agent and Lufthansa but these conflicting messages are not helpful.

Does someone have advice on the quickest to get my money back? Who should I go against?

Already very disappointed I can't go to the wedding.

Alan_Bowen

If the flights were booked through the travel agent you need to ask them to request a refund from the airline. The airline will refund providing the flight did not operate at all or was delayed by more than 5 hours. As you will imagine there are hundreds of thousands of applications, travel agents will put the request in on 17th January, the next date payments are made too and from airlines so you may have to wait. Insist the agent process the refund request through the BSP system, they'll know what it means

Heliflyguy

This is from the Lufthansa advisory sent to agents for weather disrupted flights, it was sent 20 and 21/12.
You might want to check the LH website as well.

You dont say were you were travelling on to from Frankfurt but if it was not in Europe then that could be the problem.

Refund guidelines for all flights :
Unused and half-return refunds:

· On passenger request, full or partial refunds can be made free of charge on Lufhansa tickets with
original commencement of travel between 19.12. and 22.12. .2010 this applies to tickets for German
domestic or European flights only and applies whether the originally booked flight was cancelled or
not. Intercontinental flights can be refunded free of charge only when the flight was cancelled.

· Tickets with the original commencement of travel before the 19.12.2010 can only be refunded when
the flight was cancelled.

· Partially used tickets where the outbound or return flight was not used between 19.12 – 22.12.2010
can be directly refunded free of charge on a half-return basis. This also applies tp refunds of tariff
combinations where the refund amount is clearly stated – e.g, E/Cl outbound flown, T Class return
unused, the T/Cl portion of ticket will be refunded including unused taxes and charges.

· For these refunds you do not need approval of the Lufthansa Serviceteams

Schwade

Thanks both. The final destination was outside of Europe...

I don't understand why there would be difference between European and non-European flights? It just seems a bit unfair I will not be refunded because of this.

I will need to check the website again...

Takecareofthepennies

Hang on a sec - If LH denied you boarding for the first segment, that would have rendered the whole journey redundant since you could not make it to the wedding on time. If you are denied boarding through no fault of your own, it should be your choice of re-booking or refund, no matter where in the world your final destination was.

You will have to go through the TA for this, but don't allow them to fob you off. Just because LH SAY they don't refund, that doesn't mean they are actually entitled to do so in your particular case. Persevere and let us know the outcome.

Schwade

Thanks for your help. I had to simplfy the facts but effectively, due to snow the flight from London to Frankfurt was delayed. I was then denied boarding that flight after it resumed as the connecting flight in Frankfurt would have left by the time I arrived in Frankfurt.

They couldn't find another flight that would allow me to reach my destination on time for the wedding. And so I just want my refund back which they have said was fine.

Thanks for your encouragement!

Schwade

Actually, Takecareofthepennies, what does TA mean?

Schwade

Many thanks for your help. That is very very useful. My final destination was to the Far East (Hong Kong) as one of my best friends from the States is having a wedding there. I have never been there before and it was something I was really looking forward to.

Cityboy - should I be claiming against the airline or the travel agent? I would presume it should be the airline given Article 4.

It seems like the end result should be:
1. I should get my refund from the travel agent.
2. I should claim for denied boarding from the airline.

Schwade

One additional question, I have brought travel insurance. Should I claim on that or just ignore that and go for 1 and 2 above?

Thank you so much for all everyone's help!

Schwade

Thanks for your help Cityboy!

Lois2011

I have had a very similar experience. My partner and I had a flight booked to madrid from london heathrow 20/12/2010. This flight was a connection flight to bring us to Equador to commence a Tucan Travel tour leaving on Christmas day.

19/12/2010- tried to check in online and website failed. rang Iberia- no answer- rang travel agent and told to check in the next day

20/12/2010- tried again and failed. rang iberia and travel agent and told to go to airport and check in there

got to Heathrow and wasnt able to get into airport to check in. then flight was cancelled (even though the one an hour before and hour after to madrid wasnt)

In the following days Iberia offered us a flight that would have left to Madrid on the 26/12/2010 (after our tour had left and was heading to the jungle)

we turned down this flight- but arranged a new connection with no extra cost to arrive on Christmas day. we then arranged our own way to Madrid through Easy Jet leaving from liverpool at an additional cost of £368 (not including the ridiculous phone bill). We also missed 4 days of pre paid for accommodation in Quito and a transfer. Luckily, I have family in London so we didnt incur any additional costs for accommodation.

We then sort a refund from Iberia for that one flight to help us cover our additional costs. They refused saying that it was up to our travel agent. If they refunded the one flight they would have to refund all of our flights meaning our trip would have to be canceled...they said they had done their job by offering an alternative flight and therefore also refused to offer us any compensation. Even if we had accepted the flight and missed our tour.

Iberia were very hard to get hold of and when we did very rude on the phone, refusing to send me an email documenting our conversation- I was very upset and wanted a record of our conversations so I could remember them, as well as starting a paper trail.

Our travel agent said it was up to Iberia to provide a refund and our insurance company said it was also Iberia's responsibility.

We are not able to claim through our insurance company as we didnt check in and therefore were not abandoned...although we are still trying this avenue.

I have now just returned to the country and am now in dept due to these additional costs and am finding this very stressful.

Finding it difficult to contact Iberia via email as I cant find a suitable address and cant afford to call them until the end of the month when I get paid...

Any help would be much appreciated. I have never had to deal with anything like this before and feel completely over whelmed by it all

Thank you!