Cruise cancelled - separate flight booking refusing refund

jonnno

In April 2021 we made a booking to go on a Far East cruise sailing in April/May 2022 which was to be a once in a lifetime holiday paid for from savings of not having holidays for over two years.  The flights were only available to book 11 months in advance and so we booked return flights with Lufthansa in May 2021 when they were released and we paid in full £1666.  At the end of June, the cruise line informed us that the cruise would no longer be running due to coronavirus.  We got options regarding the deposit we had paid which we were happy with and that was that.

However, we have tried to contact Lufthansa by telephone and email to no avail.  We then went online and requested a cancellation and refund via the website.  We heard nothing for weeks but continued to try ringing and emailing.  Eventually we had £366 paid into our bank account with no explanation and no communication from Lufthansa.  We tried to ring them again and finally got through to be told that we should have contacted Customer Services rather than request a refund on the web and they would have been able to help ... we explained we had been trying for weeks.  Anyway they said they would look into our situation.

A week later and we have received a very brief email saying "With regards to this ticket number ticket is correctly refunded already as per fare rule so this RA rejected".

So that's it ... we lose £1300 through no fault of our own.  We will try the travel insurance route but was wondering if anybody had any similar experiences or any advice that can be offered.

Thanks in advance

Pollycat

What type of flight ticket did you book?
Flexible?
Non-refundable?

Caz3121

info from the Lufthansa site https://www.lufthansa.com/de/en/extended-rebooking-options
If the flights were still scheduled to operate then this would apply

Your itinerary contains no cancelled flights

Refunds are possible according to your fare conditions. The restrictions regarding refundability of the purchased fare apply. Depending on fare conditions and used flights, the refund value of fare, taxes and fees will be calculated and refunded to the original means of payment.

It is likely that the refunded amount is the refundable taxes. Too late now (sorry it doesn't help) but since the flights were not for another 8 months the advice would have been to no do anything and hold out till nearer the time in case of schedule changes, cancellation etc that would have allowed you to receive a refund. 

jonnno

Pollycat said:

What type of flight ticket did you book?
Flexible?
Non-refundable?

It doesn’t say on the booking confirmation but presumably they’re non-refundable. Maybe we’re being naive but thought with giving them 10 months notice where they have the opportunity to resell the seats they would have been more sympathetic. 

jonnno

Caz3121 said:

info from the Lufthansa site https://www.lufthansa.com/de/en/extended-rebooking-options
If the flights were still scheduled to operate then this would apply

Your itinerary contains no cancelled flights

Refunds are possible according to your fare conditions. The restrictions regarding refundability of the purchased fare apply. Depending on fare conditions and used flights, the refund value of fare, taxes and fees will be calculated and refunded to the original means of payment.

It is likely that the refunded amount is the refundable taxes. Too late now (sorry it doesn't help) but since the flights were not for another 8 months the advice would have been to no do anything and hold out till nearer the time in case of schedule changes, cancellation etc that would have allowed you to receive a refund. 

Thanks. We did wonder why the random amount but thr taxes would explain it. Unfortunately it was too much money to not request it back. We had hoped to rebook for the following year but that’s unlikely now. 

The_Fat_Controller

What were the ticket conditions ?

That will tell you exactly what you were entitled to, probably just the taxes.

Your OP is misleading, a refund WAS paid, not refused !

Caz3121

jonnno said:

It doesn’t say on the booking confirmation but presumably they’re non-refundable. Maybe we’re being naive but thought with giving them 10 months notice where they have the opportunity to resell the seats they would have been more sympathetic. 

It is not how airline tickets work
assuming you booked on the Lufthansa website, at time of booking there would have been the choice of multiple ticket types with different flexibility and rules
eg for economy they have Economy Lite, Economy Basic, Economy Basic Plus and Economy Flex.
The more expensive Economy Flex is refundable. Lite (cheapest) and Basic (next cheapest) are non-refundable and Basic Plus is refundable for a £190 fee
Booking during these uncertain times it would have been advantageous to have paid more and booked the Flex ticket (hindsight I know!)

The_Fat_Controller

@Caz3121, I disagree, for a cruise holiday with known fixed dates, absolutely no need to book a flexible fare.

Butts

The_Fat_Controller said:

@Caz3121, I disagree, for a cruise holiday with known fixed dates, absolutely no need to book a flexible fare.

Booking during the Pandemic should have booked a Cruise with an inclusive Air Ticket rather than a separate one.

Alternatively with BA would have got a voucher for the value of the Flights/

Caz3121

The_Fat_Controller said:

@Caz3121, I disagree, for a cruise holiday with known fixed dates, absolutely no need to book a flexible fare.

But cruise lines are cancelling or changing itineraries.
I booked in December 2020 a cruise for end November 2021...with no access yet to the US (and not known when that will happen) I have now moved to cruise till 2022. When I looked at flights back then I considered all the "what if's" and ensured I booked a flight that had flexibility (voucher refund) I am holding off requesting voucher or rescheduling until November in case of reschedule or cancellation prior to then which would allow refund and also see how things going with cruises restarting but know I can get the full amount back on voucher as worst case.

Westin

The_Fat_Controller said:

@Caz3121, I disagree, for a cruise holiday with known fixed dates, absolutely no need to book a flexible fare.

Well it hasn’t worked for the OP.  The cruise was cancelled and the OP had no flexibility on the airline ticket purchased. The flexibility would perhaps of offered options to change dates, routes or a refund.

Booking a separate (non air cruise package) flight with non-refundable or inflexible conditions was a risk.