Just had the most God awful experience with Lufthansa. I had to change a return ticket and change my departure date. The rebooking fee according to the website is 130 EUROS. So I go through the process only to find out there was another additional fee of 100 EUROS. So now it is 230EUROS to rebook. I had already made plans because I thought 130 was not too bad a penalty. So I tried to call the number which was listed in case one needed help only to find out that number only works weekdays 8-5. So I could not clear the problem up with anyone. Tried their other help number and was on hold for 45 mins before I gave up.
I have to say in spite what my girlfriend says Lufthansa sinks, because their customer service is non existent. Are they trying to compete with Ryan or Wizz Air?
Anyone know who I can write to about this false advertisement?
Sorry to hear about your misfortune but I don’t think this has anything to do with GA
Hence, one assumes, posting in the Hangar Talk forum… 
Indeed – it is an advertisement for GA 
Easyjet play the same ripoff game. It is often cheaper to throw away a ticket and buy a new one than to change a name on a ticket. Reportedly these firms employ former foreign exchange traders to calculate the optimal price for a given pre-departure date, but they drop the ball badly on this.
C210 – it’s possible there’s two very different fees, one the “processing fee” which one always pays, the other being the difference in tariff class as seats are priced in batches of ten which may or not be in your favor (but don’t expect refunds if it is…).
I’ll find out tomorrow when I call their customer service (if . Ive had to rebook maybe 3 or 4 times in my life and I never ran into a surcharge in addition to the booking fee. If they would be less pri*ks and not charge almost double the rebooking fee I wouldnt even be that mad. Also if the rebooking was in a differnt season but we are only talking about a weeks delay. That plus the total lack of customer service.
Im just pissed because I already purchased a R/T ticket from Lufthansa for May. Which means they are getting more money from me. They dont deserve my business.
The reason I posted here is because I thought perhaps someone here might know who to complain to since Germany is so structured. At least according to my girlfriend. There is a rule for everything. No offense to the Germans but sometimes that is a good thing.
I often use Lufthansa for traveling to and from Germany and the U.S., or sometimes Air Berlin. Lufthansa has the only non-stops for my itinerary. All the airlines today will rip you off at any opportunity, and none of them are much better than any others. One thing I have found is that if the flights originate in Europe they’re substantially cheaper, so the baseline price for ripping you off starts lower… Useful if you’re doing flights back and forth regularly.
The annoyance with Lufthansa specifically is the frequent strikes which are not a factor with their competition. I’ve missed Lufthansa strikes by a day twice, so just uncertainty versus actual cost and delay (so far). Similar to flying VFR!
It is interesting to read this. The thoughts that came to my mind were, that the profit margins these days of the airlines are very small, compared to what they used to be; a result of our, as consumers, demand for lower prices and basically everything for nothing. The lower prices had to be achieved somehow, and the reduced freedoms of the “non-tangible” product and therefore the associated increases in limitations are the result. Lufthansa staff are now striking over pay and conditions, during these days, because the very terms and conditions of the workforce are now under threat from consumer demand for cheaper products. We are already complaining the services are bad, and that we expect more, and yet we do not offer the resources to allow the organisations to address the problems… Maybe a little idealistic I accept…
Sorry to be direct, but if you had bought a more expensive ticket in the first place, with flexibility included, then you would not have had that issue. Pay for a Smart Car, get a Smart Car, pay for a Mercedes get a Mercedes.
I met a lo-co airline pilot yesterday who said his airline makes more money from commissions on car rental and hotels etc booked through their flight booking site, than they make on flying.
It’s quite possible since a 737 needs an average ticket price of about €150-200 to cover the costs. Ryanair obviously sell a fair number of €300+ tickets, but you don’t get to hear about that
I regularly fly from Canada to Germany. I’ve tried all the airlines. They all have fussy rules, and darn likely, they’ll hold you to them. I agree with the observation that there may have been a fare difference, in addition to the change fee. The other thing which has caught me out, is not noticing that varied currencies are sometimes used for web bookings. When on the airline web page in Germany, flying to Toronto, a change fee was charged in British pounds, but I did not notice, until I saw a much larger number (than Euros or dollars) on my Visa bill. Read it all carefully….
I am indifferent to Air France and British Airways, I avoid Air Canada and Lufthansa, I fly KLM whenever I can.
