Flight Delay Compensation, Lufthansa Only

Emily_Joy

tiptoptommy wrote: »

I was away in Germany with my family for a birthday celebration of a relative, we flew from Manchester, to Frankfurt and then to Hanover.

Whilst at the party (in the middle of nowhere with no WiFi) I received a text at 4.30pm saying that our flights for the following day were cancelled. The flight was due to depart at 2.30pm the next day. I needed to get back for work so I booked us on a flight on the same day of the cancelled on, spending around £550.

I also paid around £50 on an extension to the hire car.

The total price of the original flights was around £850.

If I contact Lufhansa for a refund for the original flights, will I be able to put a claim in for the difference in the flight costs and hire car after that? Or will the refund mean that I am no longer able to pursue for any further monies?

Thanks in advance.

No - you are not eligible for a compensation based on what you say.

How did you make the new booking?

Have you called Lufthansa customer service and asked about new arrangements?

Emily_Joy

JPears wrote: »

What will help us help you is if you give us all the detials of your delay- times, dates flight number, start and finish airport.

Sorry if it is long and boring.

Booked:

18 March: LH953 BHX - FRA 09:05am - 11:40am + LH6792 FRA - YYC 01:30pm - 03:55pm

Travelled:

18 March: LH953 BHX - FRA (delayed) 11:41am - 01:57pm +
18 March: LH922 FRA - LHR (delayed) 10:00pm - 10:12pm +
19 March: BA 103 LHR - YYC (delayed) 02:11pm - 04:27pm (on time) + 1 day

Here is the story.

07:10am arrived to BHX. On approach I observed planes departing.
07:20am sms from Lufthansa advising on 30 minutes delay, with a note that check-in time is the same
07:25am checked-in and processed through security
08:19am sms from Lufthansa advising new departure time 10:40
08:30am airport departure board displayed 11:00am as a new departure time
09:00am realising that I am about to miss the connection I went to the Swiss port joint airlines service desk - the only service desk past security. Explained that I am about to miss the connection and asked for help. I was told that the airport is closed as pilot are refusing to fly. I observed delayed LH959 flight to Frankfurt at the gate just outside and asked to be connected to Lufthansa service centre. Service centre advised me that the incoming flight hasn't left Frankfurt yet, it is not clear when (and if) it is likely to go. I was told to go to Frankfurt despite the fact I am likely to miss the connection. I was also told it's impossible for me to board the delayed LH959.
09:30am Lufthansa representative (in the airline's uniform) handed out refreshment vouchers and advised me to go to Frankfurt. She also explained that there is a hotel in transit zone where I would be able to stay.
09:45am sms from Lufthansa advising new departure time 11:45am
09:55am delayed LH959 left the gate
11:00am boarding LH953 started
02:05pm arrived to the terminal and was told to proceed to the service centre next to gates B.
02:15pm arrived at the service centre. There was a few hundreds people queueing and 5 desks open out of 12 total. Joined the queue.
04:45pm passengers who could be rerouted automatically were re-routed by service centre kiosks. Those who were travelling within Schengen area were told to go to Schengen area as there are more service desks open. Bottled water and chocolate bars were provided, but there was no meal vouchers and no directions as to where one can buy meals. There were about 100-150 passengers in the queue (at about 5pm).
08:15pm there were about 30 passengers in front of me. The only sensible option at that time was to catch LH922 9:30pm to London and to fly to Calgary the following day. A senior customer service personnel came around monitoring the crowd looking for people with urgent problems. I explained my situation. She kindly rebooked me on 9:30pm flight to London (I wasn't present - I simply asked for a specific flight option).
08:50pm cleared security to UK departures. The food court was closing down at that time.
09:50pm LH922 departed.
10:35pm arrived to LHR, terminal 2. No Lufthansa representative was to be seen in transit zone. The hotel was arranged by a Swiss agent who was arranging accommodation for passengers of the cancelled Swiss flight to Zurich.
00:20am arrived to the hotel. Kitchen was already closed and no meal option was available.
11:00am + 1 day arrived to LHR to be told that my baggage is missing.
04:30pm + 1 day arrived to YYC.
06:00am + 3 days the missing baggage arrived.

This was about 3 weeks ago. Taxi + necessities receipts + delay claim submitted to Lufthansa, no reply.

Emily_Joy

Received a letter from Lufthansa offering to cover the cost of taxi to the hotel as a goodwill gesture. They don't address the issue of inadequate care at all.

jpsartre

Couldn't you simply have bought a sandwich at some point? Why do people suddenly lose the ability to provide for themselves just because they don't get a refreshment voucher.

Emily_Joy

jpsartre wrote: »

Couldn't you simply have bought a sandwich at some point? Why do people suddenly lose the ability to provide for themselves just because they don't get a refreshment voucher.

There are no places to buy a sandwich in the transit zone in question.

jpsartre

In that case a meal voucher wouldn't have been any good either.

Emily_Joy

jpsartre wrote: »

In that case a meal voucher wouldn't have been any good either.

Not having directions/advice as to where one can get a hot meal was irksome, but unimportant, after spending dozens of hours on airfields waiting to be airborne I don't fly from a UK airport without a Boots meal deal. It is great in terms price/quality ratio.

What is important is that due to Lufthansa carelessness I've missed 24 hours of the business meeting which was the purpose of the trip and a day of work. Even then, I wouldn't be complaining if I was sent home from BHX in order to catch a flight from LHR the next day, or if I got to spend the waiting time in the business lounge (to which I have access to) rather then in the queue at the Service Centre.

I agree weather was not perfect that day, but the snowstorm was predicted by meteorologists at least a week in advance. It was certainly possible to get more staff at their service centres.

PawelK

Good evening.

I am not sure if anyone had similar situation. I recently recalled that back when we had a very harsh winter around Decmber 2013 or 2014 (unlikely but possibly in 2012) when most of the flights were cancelled just before Christmas, I had a connecting flight from Heathrow that was one of few not cancelled but we did not take off for about three hours resulting in me missing connecting flight, spendind few hours at the airport and being booked for a flight to another airport from which I had another flight to my destination. As I cannot be certain of the year, I already contacted Lufthansa on two separate occasions with my ticket number for each of two years 2013 and 2014. Unfortunately they advised they could not see any irregularity to my flight and I would need boarding passes to show my flight was redirected. Obviously I would not keep boarding passes for several years so dont have them and wondering if there is any way around it or if the airline is obliged to check and have in the system when I was rebooked and had a three legged journey home instead of two?

jpsartre

Sounds to me like they already checked the ticket numbers you provided? If the delay was due to the bad weather it is unlikely you are due any compensation anyway (I'm assuming this is what you're after).

wendyt1974

I had a missed cancellation in Frankfurt on my way back from holiday from Orlando to Birmingham. Lufthansa only allowed 1 hour to transfer between flights... anyone who knows Frankfurt airport will understand that if you land at one end of the airport and have to connect at the other end you have no chance in an hour! The first flight was 15 minutes late at the gate so we had even less time to connect. The next flight available wasn't until 10 hours later.

I submitted my complaint/claim via their online 'feedback form'. Had an immediate automated response and another 2 weeks later advising they were still looking into it due to volumes.

2 further weeks and I received an email agreeing the claim and paying back £525 each (there were 4 of us on one booking and 1 further). Emailed them my bank details and the money was in my account 1 week later.

Very straight forward, didn't need to speak to anyone, you could say typical German efficiency. I've flown with Lufthansa many times and whilst they are always good I would recommend even more now that they have dealt with a problem so well.

PS I did spend an hour on MSE before I wrote the complaint and included all flight numbers, scheduled and delayed times.