I booked a round trip ticket with Lufthansa from Washington to Ankara in Feb,2022. Two months later, I found that my ticket had been cancelled, and when I contacted Lufthansa they refused to provide a refund. Their customer support staff are useless, all they can do is spout meaningless bureaucratic drivel. Lufthansa can’t be trusted.

I assume you've filed a dispute with your credit card company?

Sounds very unlikely that an airline would cancel your trip entirely and then refuse a refund. Did they offer alternative dates or a credit for future travel, was that the issue? Bit more detail would be helpful.

Was your ticket booked directly with Lufthansa? Because I agree with balthy that it is basically unheard of for an airline to refuse a refund for a canceled flight unless it declares bankruptcy.

As others have said did you book this with Lufthansa directly or through an agent?

Some time ago I booked air on Jet Airways thru and agent. The price was really good so i called the airline a few days later to confirm it.

I then checked down the road closer to departure and found out the agent cancelled it and kept the money.

I was able to file fraud on my cc and completely get reimbursed. Please tell us you used a cc. If so call them now!

I think you booked thru an agent who skinned you.

This seems to have happened to a few other travelers recently. There are pop-up agencies pretending to be affiliates of major airlines, with web sites and logos almost exact copies of the airline, and offering great prices. People call to book, give their credit card info and no tickets ever materialize. Scammers and thieves.

I recall this happening sometime ago with a person on this forum who was complaining about Carnival Cruise Lines. As it turned out he fell for the same scam. He booked with somebody who used the carnival cruise line logo but was not in any way affiliated with them. It was a total scam as well.

I have dealt with Lufthansa on multiple occasions (at least 20). Love flying Lufthansa, always my choice from Boston to Europe. Very professional in my opinion. I always advise my friends who book thru sites like Expedia, Kayak, etc to be careful, you may save some minimal dollars but good luck dealing with them if you have an issue with your booking. Always book directly on the airlines site.

Yes, and I've filed a complaint with DOT as well.

They first cancelled one of the flights in my ticket, and I was able to rescheduled an alternative flight. I asked them for a refund of the seat selection fee that I paid for the cancelled flight, and as a result the cancelled the entire ticket. I clearly told the customer service agent I wanted only a refund for the cancelled flight, but he decided to cancel the entire ticket. I don't think they understand English very well.

It was booked directly through Lufthansa, and Lufthansa cancelled the ticket. No middleman involved.

You may have actually dealt with Lufthansa.
I think it was removed, but there was a post about a company that absolutely swore they were the Lufthansa service desk, and proved not to be. They had posted their number as being a Lufthansa number. These people are slick and devious.

Have you filed a protest with your CC company?
also you must have some sort of record of your dealings with them. Do you remember or can you provide the phone number you used to call them? As sassafras has said there are scammers out there that are very clever and disguising themselves as booking directly with a company when in fact they are not related to them or affiliated with them. If you had the phone number or could provide it then we could see exactly who you called. Not trying to give you a hard time here by any means but certainly trying to get to the bottom of this that’s all. You also must have correspondence and an electronic ticket as well. Have you tried to corroborate that to be utterly sure that the documentation you have is directly from Lufthansa? Best of luck.

"I wanted only a refund for the cancelled flight, but he decided to cancel the entire ticket. I don't think they understand English very well."

I'm sure they understand English very well. My guess is there was a communications issue and CS agent thought you asked to have the booking canceled. What are you actually out of pocket?? Just the seat selection fee you mention . . . OR . . . the entire ticket cost?

Was it a nonrefundable fare?

Doing changes over the phone can be tricky, communication is a two-way street.

Why did it take two month to realize the ticket was cancelled? That should have shown up right away, any email confirmations?

This may be a good reminder to be pleasant to airline agents as they hold the keys to our plans.

Thanks for that suggestion, but it was the number listed in their website that I called.

The base ticket was not refundable, but the seat assignment fee is refundable when a flight is cancelled. But the point is, I never requested a refund for the entire ticket, only for the seat assignment fee. The customer service staff mistakenly cancelled the entire ticket.

The ticket was purchased months in advance. Lufthansa never notified me that they cancelled the ticket . It was only when I went to check my flight status a month prior to departure that I discovered that the ticket had been cancelled.

They did not. I had to repeat myself several times during the conversation because the agent did not understand what I was saying. They clearly misunderstood my request.