Spread the love
Post Views: 19

Booking a flight with an off-line carrier like Lufthansa can be a very expensive mistake in this era of changes and cancellations thanks to Coronavirus. You might think you have a great deal – but if a change is needed don’t expect any sympathy from Frankfurt. I can hear the experts already saying read all the ticket conditions – but our travel agent says no one ever does.
We had a cruise booked some time ago departing Rome in August along with connecting Lufthansa flights but the best advice from my doctor as Omicron started to spread was to cancel and change to a later date. No problems said Errol Wilson at Viking Cruises and happily shifted the cruise. Next came the flights. We usually head to Europe on business several times a year and always book Emirates or Qatar. However, when I was checking for the best J class deal on Webjet, Lufthansa kept coming up with a price well in front of my preferred carriers. Business at the time in both Emirates and Qatar was very expensive – particularly the return leg. As Lufthansa uses Singapore Airlines as a partner – I knew part of the journey at least would be of a high standard. Checking with colleagues in Europe I received mixed reviews about Lufthansa J class – one person said it was like sleeping on a plank – but was also advised the carrier had purchased some A350’s from Philippine Airlines offering a more comfortable seat. When I notified our travel agent we were changing our flights due to COVID fears to November I sent her a couple of suggested new itineraries that I had again had taken from the Webjet site.

One flight was out of Adelaide – the other Melbourne. The response from Lufthansa was to say the least disappointing – the tickets are not refundable and you are not allowed to change Adelaide as the departure city. Melbourne was out. Any changes to the original ticket would cost $874 per person was the final kick in the pants. I looked on the Lufthansa Australia website and noted the following:
“Due to ongoing disruptions caused by the Coronavirus, we continue to accommodate you so that you can make your travel plans even more flexible.
Many of our fares and tickets are bookable, on short, medium and long haul routes. This applies to existing and new bookings. You will find possible exceptions in the fare conditions.
So there you have it. We were a “possible exception.” We were trapped with nowhere to go.
To add insult to injury, Lufthansa finally came up with a new itinerary for us that required a night in Frankfurt in each direction. Fortunately, our agent finally managed to come up with a solution but not on the days we originally booked.
With regards to the prices I took from the Webjet site, the official Lufthansa’s response was that they “did not know where I had got the prices from.” Naturally, the deals are not there now – I was looking more than a month ago.
A final word of warning from our agent: It’s definitely a very different industry post-Covid with so few contacts to go to for help and very little assistance in regards to favours and waivers anymore.”
Written by: Ian McIntosh