Lufthansa Cancelled Return Flight Second Leg - No Rebooking Offered

Ingah

I have just been informed that my return flight back to Serbia (I am doing a return flight from Serbia to the UK during an extended holiday in Serbia, to attend a stag party this coming weekend), has been cancelled by Lufthansa, who are offering no alternative flight (their automated 'replacement' return journey gets me as far as Germany and then that's it!), and are not allowing any calls or providing any assistance right now (their message states they are "too busy" to even let me join their call queue and then the call to their 'customer services' is cut off with their corporate apologies). I have yet to take either the outbound or the return journey, but both flights are happening within the next few days, so they meet the "within 7 days" timeframe.

All flights are via Germany (Frankfurt/Munich) and it's the return flight second leg, from Germany back to Serbia, that they've cancelled and are not offering any alternative for. I don't want to miss out on the stag party as it's that of a close a family member, so I really need to get to the UK in time at least. Ticket was booked as a return (15/07 - 17/07, Belgrade to Manchester, hand luggage only). They have already previously cancelled and moved the 1st leg of the Belgrade to Manchester outbound journey forward by several hours as of a week ago (so I was already going to lose the entire day to a much earlier 1st leg departure and a long wait in Germany following that prior Lufthansa rerouting).

I could/would be willing to return earlier from Serbia and stay in the UK - and it might even be easier considering the mess of flying right now, but I've already booked and paid for the return flight from Serbia to the UK at the end of the month (also via Lufthansa, this time with a suitcase too). My partner would be returning with me on that flight (to be clear, these flights were booked from Birmingham to Belgrade outbound 01/07 and then return on 30/07 - in a separate transaction to the Belgrade to Manchester return journey).

Apart from intending to push Lufthansa for a replacement with another airline and possibly chasing them for compensation delay payment(s), I'm not sure what else I can do / expect - I doubt any replacement offered (if any) will be suitable, assuming I can even get through to someone for help (I've been "trying again later" for hours at this point ).

I was hoping someone could help me by suggesting any options that are less likely to leave me considerably out of pocket - I suspect that what might be the best I can do at this stage is to get a refund for my unused fares as consequential losses, and get Lufthansa to return me to Manchester on that already previously rerouted 15/07 flight, but I don't know how hard they'll fight me for money back etc due to the 'return' (Manchester to Belgrade) they've cancelled on the 17/07, or the further 'return' (Belgrade to Birmingham) I then won't be able to use on 30/07. My partner would probably also look to return home sooner if I do, and I would bet there would be an additional charge payable to Lufthansa to change that too.

It's really quite complicated when read back, so thank you for reading if nothing else!

Ingah

On the upside, I was able to get through after 4+ hours of trying the call centre, and on the downside the best they could offer me was Manchester - Frankfurt (and then 30 minutes to make the connection to) - Vienna (overnight stay at airport, no accommodation) - Belgrade (arrival at 10.20am on 18/07 - around 11 hours late arrival, with no sleep!). They also claimed there were no other suitable flights with other airlines to book onto to get me there sooner.

Ended up agreeing to fly 2 days late (20/07) at the same times as the original return flights (as they had cancelled those same flights for Mon 19/07 too).

So I'm out of pocket for 2 nights in Manchester (1 of which I hold them responsible for, 1 of which is 'on me' as they offered to get me to Belgrade by 19/07), and am arriving 48 hours late (I hold them responsible for the first 11 hours, the rest is again 'on me').

Would I be right in pursuing them for the fixed compensation £££ for ~11 hours of delays under the EU compensation laws, plus reasonable out of pocket expenses of one night in Manchester? (I can prove that I'm paying for accommodation in Serbia at the same time).

It probably doesn't make any difference, but it was a business class return ticket.