Lufthansa flight canceled - can I get compensation for trip delay?
 

I'm reposting because I didn't see the message on the board.

In mid-October, I had reservations to fly from Florence to Munich to San Francisco. At the time of departure, Lufthansa staff announced that the flight to Munich was being canceled. Although the Lufthansa staff provided multiple reasons for the cancellation, the passengers never knew what was the real cause of the cancellation.

Because of the cancellation, we had to stand in line for two hours to get rebooked. Then, we had to take a bus from Florence to Bologna. From Bologna, we caught a flight to Frankfurt and spent the night there. The following day, we flew home to the United States.

Although Lufthansa provided a hotel room for the night stay in Frankfurt, I wanted to know if I could get any additional compensation for the trip delay. It took an additional 20 hours to get home. Any advice or guidance would be appreciated.

Well, they get you where you need to go, so they owe you nothing. If you fuss at them enough, they may give you some FF miles or perhaps a $100 voucher for future LH travel.

In most cases like this I would agree with <b>rkkwan</b>,

BUT, didn't the EU pass some kind of stringent rules and regulations for delayed flights?

The regulations call for specific compensation depending on the delay....

Google for info and good luck!

here it is:

<b>published: Wednesday, February 16 2005, 10:08PM

Air passengers who are unable to board because of overbooking or flight cancellation will be entitled to more compensation from tomorrow.

New EU rules set compensation at between 250 and 600 euros, depending on the length of the flight.</b>

<i>http://www.simplyamsterdam.nl/news/Compensation_flight_delays_and_overbookings_in_Eur opean_Union.htm</i>

and

<i>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4271197.stm</i>

and

<i>http://www.britishairways.com/travel/euclaimnor/public/en_gb</i>

Thanks for the all of the responses. I'll take a closer look at the websites that AAFrequentFlyer identified. I'll let you know if anything pans out.

I'm sorry but I think someone needs to say this to you and that's to just get over it already. If not you can be like some americans and sue for emotional depression.

It is apparent that venusfan has never had a flight cancellation resulting in extensive delays and unnecessary costs to him/her. When you buy a ticket if you cancel, there is a penalty; if the airline cancels they should have to pay at least the same penalty.

Unfortunately, they have more money to lobby lawmakers than we do so we are the ones who get the bad end of the deal. British Airways pulls this a lot and their response is always that it was an 'extraordinary circumstance' for which they are not liable. They also have zero customer service, you call an 800 number which tells you not to call to write, and then they ignore your letter.

You have my sympathies, curly, but that's probably all you're going to get.

It's been a while, but I promised to provide an update if anything panned out.

LH did respond and claimed that the cancellation was due to Air Traffic Control. Since the cancellation was beyond their control, the EU rule (for compensation) did not apply.

However, they sent two 20% coupons for future travel. These coupons will expire within the next six months.

Thanks again for everyone who offered suggestions.