(Expedia) Outbound Flights cancelled, Inbound Flights have not; where do I stand?

BelfastHighlander

Hello folks; I'd appreciate some advice on my situation (not unlike a lot of others, but I guess each and every one has a little bit of a difference)
I live in Northern Ireland (the UK). On February 10th, I booked flights with Lufthansa, using Expedia, flying out of Dublin (Rep. of Ireland) for a family (of 6) holiday. As we were going to attend a EuroCamp, south of Salzburg, for 7 days, we decided to do some extra sightseeing and fly into Vienna and back out of Salzburg. Itinerary;

Outbound on Monday 29th June
Dublin to Vienna (Austria), via Frankfurt
Inbound on Friday 10th July
Salzburg (Austria) to Dublin, via Frankfurt
 
The full amount was paid with credit card, with 7 transactions showing on my credit card: 1 for Expedia (some kind of booking fee I presume), 6 for Lufthansa (1 for each passenger). I took out travel insurance on February 11th.
On 30th May, I received an email from Expedia headed; "You airline has cancelled your flight". The contents were as such;

"You’re receiving this email because your airline has canceled your flight <bookingRefNum>. Due to low availability, there are no offered options to rebook you onto a comparable flight. Based on your airline’s policy for cancellations, you will receive either a refund or flight credit, so keep an eye out for another email with all the details. Please note, your Itinerary may not immediately show the most up to date details. The most up-to-date itinerary can be seen on the Airline website.

While refund eligibility is determined by the airline, rest assured that we are working incredibly hard to pursue a refund from the airline on your behalf. We'll be in touch via email as soon as we have more information regarding your eligibility."

I had assumed that everything would be in hand, and I would get a full refund, until I did a little bit of digging on the Lufthansa website itself. Now I have discovered that Lufthansa have cancelled the outbounds flights from Dublin to Vienna (offering on alternative) but the inbound flights from Salzburg to Dublin are still scheduled (albeit, their website does say that the flight times have changed).

I am now unsure what to do now and who to contact. Because the outbound was cancelled, am I covered for a full refund for the inbound flights to? Are the return flights considered as a separate booking to Lufthansa since they're coming back through a different route (they were booked in one transaction and I have one Lufthansa booking reference that covers all flights) Do I go to Expedia (and I've read it's hard to get through to them), or to Lufthansa (their site states that this was booked through a 3rd party). Do I wait to get a refund, or do I press the issue with a charge back through my credit card company? I was also wondering if there is any law that states that companies have to refund within X amount of days (my Dad seemed to think there is a 14 day rule?)

Note that I have dealt with everything else that was not booked with the flights; Eurocamp have moved our booking to 2021 and all hotels that I booked had free cancellation.

Many thanks for all advice given.

Alan_Bowen

You need to contact Expedia unfortunately! As an on line agent, they appear ill equipped to cope in a crisis, and Lufthansa as an airline has, up to now at least, refused to offer refunds to anyone. This is despite the fact they were bailed out by the German government to the tune of 9 billion Euros, good luck as I think you may need it. You can claim for outbound and inbound flights, they are cancelled week by week so your return flight will be cancelled shortly

lhsecons

Hi,
if the flights were booked and paid for in one transaction and you have one flight number for the outward and return then you are entitled to a full refund if the outward leg is cancelled.
I booked my flights through Expedia and they are relatively easy to contact by phone, I rang the number on their website and got through quite quickly.
The way Expedia do they bookings is quite interesting. They told me that they just charged £3 booking fee and I had been billed by BA my airline. I then rang BA who didn’t question this and agreed to refund me which arrived fairly quickly. 
I don’t know whether Lufthansa are as accommodating but as you say it is them who charged your credit card. I didn’t bother pursuing Expedia for the £3!!!!.
Your dad is correct that they should refund within 14 days but most airlines are well outside that with the current exceptional circumstances.
I would try ringing Lufthansa to request a refund (if you have your booking reference I wouldn’t even mention Expedia unless they do).
If all else fails try for a chargeback on your credit card.
Good Luck

BelfastHighlander

Just a quick follow up to this.
After initially calling Expedia, they suggested I would need to call Lufthansa. After calling Lufthansa, they said I'd need to request the refund via Expedia as they were the booking agency. After a couple of more calls to Expedia, they agreed that they would initiate a full cash refund and request this from Lufthansa.
Today, 10th August, I received the refund; basically 8 weeks later. If you're in the same boat, persist.
Note, that I received the refund from Lufthansa, as that's who charged me on the original credit card. I have not yet received the original Expedia booking fee (£38). I have not requested that back, but that's my next target.

Caz3121

Lufthansa have been really slow on refunds. My mid-April cancelled flight was refunded last Wednesday (over 16 weeks with no third party in the mix)