UKH

I booked a return flight to the Middle East with Lufthansa a month or so ago for me and one other. Knowing our outward flight date was not going to change but knowing our return flight was likely to change or not be used (alternative travel home was a possibility) we booked (after much searching and reading T&Cs and looking at loads of airlines) fully flexible tickets for the huge price of 3,400 Euros.

Once we'd taken the outward journey that we had to cancel the return for a refund. We did this, expecting about 1,500 Euros back after an admin fee, but Lufthansa informed us that after cancelling the ticket they recalculated the remaining portion that we weren't using and that meant that no refund was due!

This happened to anyone before? Seems totally outrageous, and a complete rip off.

Suggestions about what, if anything, we can do? It's left us massively out of pocket.

In reply to JayPee630:

At very least you should be refunded the taxes as these only apply for flights that you have taken.

In reply to JayPee630:

Try tweeting or posting on their facebook news feed to complain publicly? Might get a more sympathetic response from their customer service?

In reply to Graeme Alderson:

Yeah the email they sent, as well as being very unclear, said that the cost that they recalculated was over the difference in taxes so we weren't due those back either!

In reply to JayPee630:

Sounds pretty normal, cancel a return portion of a ticket and they re-calculate on thecost of a single fare which is usually more.
Depending on what you booked some companies like Eurotunnel will even send you a bill for the difference.

In reply to jimtitt:

We carefully looked through the T&Cs and didn't see that! Prices for each leg were given as seperate costs, so we thought we'd get the return portion back minus a fee.

In reply to JayPee630:

Write to the Guardian's consumer problems page. It's just the sort of thing I like reading about! And they seem to have quite a good record of getting redress.

In reply to JayPee630:

How much is a single ticket - did you check? As others have said, a single often costs more than a return ticket. If that's the case here, they owe you nothing according to these rules that Lufthansa publish:

"10.3.1.2. if a portion of the Ticket has been used, the refund will be an amount equal to the difference between the fare paid and the applicable fare for travel between the points for which the Ticket has been used, less any reasonable service charges or cancellation fees."

Sorry to say that if so, it's not really a rip off - it only looks like one - isn't a 'rip off' where you sell someone margarine and say it's butter?

In reply to abseil:

What is a rip off is what they charge for one way tickets.

In reply to abseil:

OK, not a rip off *exactly*, but a very shady deal that isn't clear until you go through the refund process as they won't actually give you an indication of what you're due back until you've actually cancelled the ticket. if we'd have known we'd get nothing we wouldn't have cancelled it at all and maybe made different plans.

And what was the point of buying a ticket that was fully refundable for the second leg if it isn't really? I might as well not have booked anything more than a fixed ticket for 300 Euros.

In reply to kestrelspl:


I agree - and have rethought my reply to JayPee630. I once read [could be wrong, I know] that airlines usually charge so much for one-way tickets because they are often bought by business people, who don't mind the price because someone else is paying. The article also said a one-way isn't any more expensive for the airline than half a return ticket so yes, a rip off in a sense.

In reply to JayPee630:


JayPee I am very sorry if my first reply to you seemed harsh, I didn't intend that. You certainly have cause for complaint - for example, if the T&Cs for your return ticket were not shown clearly on the site where you bought the tickets: that is a shady deal, I agree.

I'm sorry to read about your lost money. I personally have no love of airlines or rather, of the way they often treat people.

In reply to abseil:

No worries at all, it didn't read badly, and anyway it's the internet, harshness goes with the territory!

Yeah, it quite possibly isn't really a rip-off as such, but does feel like a sneaky way of not refunding any money. A few hundred quid might have been annoying, but 1,500 Euros is quite a hit to take and will take a year of work/savings to make back really.

In reply to JayPee630:


Dead right. It really is. If I'd lost that much I'd have a Beaufort grade 16 tantrum and friends and family would never hear the end of it.... probably for years

If it was me I might avoid Lufthansa in future....

In reply to JayPee630:

We are now so sick of this that any work flights are looked at individually and if the fully flexible fare is too expensive, we book the cheapest option and are prepared to lose part of it if travel plans change.

In reply to abseil:
While sleasyJet etc obviously don't refund their tickets (though all are changeable), it's still a good reason to abandon the traditional airlines and go low-cost, just to make the point that single-fare pricing is much fairer.

Another disgraceful little catch-out employed by traditional airlines is that if you miss your outward, your return is cancelled without refund. None of the low-costs, not even Ryanair, do this.

In reply to Neil Williams:

Yeah I've always been under the impression that flexible tickets refer to the ability to change your chosen flight, not refunding if you wanted to cancel it.

Did not realise that policy regarding missed outward results in the cancellation of the return.

I've only missed a flight once (novice flyer, sitting the wrong side of security having a pint) with BMI. Had to shell out for a single flight down, but the return was fine. Had checked in for that flight though.