My experience with Lufthansa was terrible. Never do business with Lufthansa!
In June 2007 I bought 2 tickets for a Lufthansa flight including a leg between Frankfurt and Prague for December 2007, 6 months in advance. In Frankfurt we were ticked, Lufthansa issued boarding passes and directed us to the gate. Twenty minutes before the flight took off boarding started. To our horror Lufthansa staff refused us to board saying that according to Lufthansa rules they couldn%26#39;t allow us to fly to Prague because we didn%26#39;t had a return airline ticket. They rebuffed the fact that we had a fully confirmed itinerary for the entire month for travel thought Europe that INCLUDED a 1st class train ticket from Prague to Vienna.
Whilst we were trying to speak to the Crew Supervisor or a Location Manager they said: %26quot;You left it too late to speak to anybody, you should have not had your boarding passes issued to start with [our fault?]. In fact, we don%26#39;t know how you got these boarding passes. You will not fly now.%26quot;
Then a man who presented himself as a Manager glanced at our itenary, paused in silence, and after perplexing for a minute continued: %26quot;You could of made it on this flight if you went and got 2 air tickets with Lufthansa and then cancel them and got refunds in Prague%26quot;, he laughed, %26quot;you only have 5 minutes before we close the gate, though%26quot;.
Having paid for 2 First Class train tickets reservation for Prague - Vienna in November, it was a perputing experience having to run across the terminal in order to give Lufthansa%26#39;s %26#39;gate keepers%26#39; what they asked for. I bought two fully refundable tickets for me and my mother from Prague to Vienna. They costed us about $1,450AUD.
As soon as we landed in Prague we went to Lufthansa ticketing window only to discover they were closed (as it was the last flight to Prague and 11pm at night).
I called the head office in Germany immediately and spoke to their Customer Service that cancelled these unused return tickets, gave me a reference number and asked to mail the originals in the post. Next morning I called Lufthansa again to re-confirm that the tickets were cancelled and that they wanted me to mail the originals as they instructed the day before. Customer Service representative confirmed cancellation, requested the mail to go to the Frankfurt airport address and suggested that I took a photocopy %26quot;just in case it went missing%26quot;. I followed this instructions and couriered the tickets to Lufthansa by EMS.
Having not received a reply to my note that I had attached to the tickets I called Lufthansa on 26 December and asked what happened to my refund?! Lufthansa responded that they usually took 3 months to process refunds and they cannot confirm the status.
In January 2008 having not received a refund I contacted Lufthansa%26#39;s Sydney and Melbourne offices, Frankfurt processing Centre. For the following 3 months Lufthansa created constant goal posting. First, they told me that Lufthansa never received the original tickets. Then, after I provided a photocopy of tickets, reference numbers and a receipt of delivery by EMS couriers, they said they din%26#39;t know how long it would take or where they are up to. Bizzare!
It has been 4 months since we were forced to buy tickets that we did not need and our family still suffers from this disgusting experience that was meant to be a pleasant family reunion.
Next time you fly, you must use Qantas or BA- we never had any problems with them! Avoid Lufthansa at all costs
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OMG so sorry. I have a one-way ticket from Frankfurt to Amsterdam. Going to be making some phone calls. Thanks for the information.
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%26quot;you must use Qantas or BA%26quot;
Good luck with finding a flight from Frankfurt to Prague with these airlines.
%26quot;To our horror Lufthansa staff refused us to board saying that according to Lufthansa rules they couldn%26#39;t allow us to fly to Prague because we didn%26#39;t had a return airline ticket.%26quot;
This is however strange. I know only about countries requiring such a return/onward ticket and punish the airlines if they fail to check this. However your train reservation should have been sufficient. Apart from this: in the mean time the Czech Republic is a member of the Schengen agreement. Thus no border controls between Germany and the Czech Republic anymore. Which also means no controls of return/onward tickets.
@luggageinhand
%26quot;I have a one-way ticket from Frankfurt to Amsterdam. Going to be making some phone calls. Thanks for the information.%26quot;
Kind of self-awareness trip if Lufthansa refunding policy will work better in your case?
a) There are direct ICE trains from Frankfurt Airport to Amsterdam main station. Travel time is 3:42. Fully flexible ticket is EUR 105,60. Specials start from EUR 39,00.
b) If you fly intercontinental to Frankfurt you can %26quot;fly%26quot; for free to Cologne. By ICE trains which also have Lufthansa flight numbers. This cuts the train costs towards Amsterdam as Cologne - Amsterdam is EUR 55,60 (specials from EUR 19,00). This service is called AIRail
bahn.de/international/…airail.shtml
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Abalada thanks for the great info. I%26#39;m flying directly from the US to Frankfurt. Staying in Frankfurt for three days and then flying to Amsterdam. I realized after checking my tickets yesterday after reading Leno%26#39;s post, I did purchase a round trip ticket, it was cheaper than the one way. The train info was a great plus.
Question, if you fly to Frankfurt on a Thursday and want to go to Cologne on Saturday, can you still use the combination discount with ICE?
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%26gt; Question, if you fly to Frankfurt on a Thursday and want to go to Cologne on Saturday, can you still use the combination discount with ICE?
No. It%26#39;s like a connecting flight. I.e. you luggage would be directly checked through to Cologne and you collect your luggage at the Lufthansa counter at Cologne main railway station.
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Abalada thanks. What a great service. I wish we had good train service in the US.
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I also find this very strange (requirement of a round trip ticket from Frankfurt to Prague); I have flown one way to Prague and %26quot;trained%26quot; it out of Prague. Maybe it has something to do with one%26#39;s citizenship; has Lufthansa rectified this? I travel alot and prefer to fly Lufthansa when available; sorry you had such a bad experience.
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%26quot;Maybe it has something to do with one%26#39;s citizenship%26quot;
I%26#39;m sure that many countries throughout the world have requirements that you have proof that you will be leaving their country, but their enforcement of them may be nonexistent, unless for some reason they may suspect that you are a possible overstayer. Nationality is one thing that can be a factor, especially if you are from a country that has a lot of overstayers and illegal workers (then even transitting a country in an airport may be impossible), and also how you look and dress another. It%26#39;s instructive to be waved through a border check point by car without having to slow down because you are a typical %26quot;European-looking%26quot; family, while a car load of darker skinned men may be stopped because they could be illegal immigrants from Africa or the Middle East.
As to the OP%26#39;s choice of airlines, I%26#39;ve never had any trouble with Lufthansa which I fly frequently, but with BA which I now refuse to use because of several past instances. For most people, most airlines will be equivalent to the others until you have a problem, then you find out which ones are really worth flying.
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What a terrible experience! And to have to chase up refundable airline tickets isn%26#39;t the best customer service. If you only have the Australian passport the Czec Rep states
Visitor must hold for immigration:
- all documents required for next destination; and
- return/onward ticket or sufficient funds to buy one; and
- sufficient funds to cover intended stay.
in any case Lufthansa reacted in this way as they would have been fined if they had of not rectified before depature as the airline who checks in a passenger with incorrect documents for the arriving destination gets the fine. Hope you get the refund soon it is the least that can happen. We have used Lufthansa, good experience overall but very very strict with hand luggage size/weight.
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sorry I meant to write it is strange the train ticket or sufficient funds were not enough to let you board the flight.
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I agree with re Lufthansa, we flew them once rd trip to frankfurt only because at that time my sons girlfriend worked for them, this was our first trip to Germany and I will not fly them again. We now fly AA since they are based out of DFW where we live and get better deals and we earned miles.
There was a child screaming across the aisle, the child behid us was continually kicking my husbands seat and the child in front of us was throwing fits for most of the flight. never again.
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