Today I get a call from Lufthansa telling me that the ticket I booked and gave them a credit card for cannot be ticketed. I booked the reservation on 2/21/03 (weeks ago!). The reason? The trip is to Seville from Nerark, NJ. The route is Newark>Frankfurt>Barcelona>Seville. The route from Barcelona to Seville was booked on AirEuropa by Lufthansa a part of the ticket. Lufthansa tells me "sorry" we don't have a ticketing agreement with AirEuropa. I think they are trying to put me on an Iberia flight which give me a two hour layover in Barcelona and makes this trip more unbearable than it already was. They still haven't assured me that the fare would remain the same.

So what are my rights? If I wanted to make a change I would be charged fees up the butt!

Since you bought your tickets from LH, their obligation is to get to you Seville. I don't think they have to guarantee you to be flying AirEuropa between Barcelona and Seville. However, the fare should be the same.

A 2-hour layover at Barcelona doesn't seem unreasonable or excessive. What's the original transit time to AirEuropa? 1 hour? So, your overall journey is lengthened by an hour. That's nothing, and I don't think LH really has to compensate you for anything. And if you really hate this itinerary, you may be able to cancel the whole thing and get your money back, or maybe not, depending on your fare category and LH's policy about an 1-hr increase in journey time.

Anyways, I guess I just don't see the big deal here. If you hate flying this much, you probably should have flown through Madrid to start with. Much shorter flight time than through Frankfurt, and save yourself a connection.

Lufthansa rebooked me on the Iberia flight at my original rate quote. They did suggest that I still could buy the AirEuropa ticket from an agent but if I did that I would not be protected if there was a problem with the connection since it would be bought as a separate ticket. Better take a 2 hr layover than having an airline cancel me as a "NO SHOW".

Flight to Seville from Newark are not easy. Besides I was trying to stay with the star Alliance for the 12,000 miles I would receive!

I am confused....Was a ticket issued? You say "cannot be ticketed" but then you say if you want to make changes "I would be charged fees"...

they never issued the ticket but held the proce due to their mistake

I read all the responses on the thread on the Europe board as well, and this is my conclusion:

You got a great price to Seville, and you get the FF miles you want, knowing that you have to make 2 connections and that LH doesn't fly to SVQ. LH is not trying to charge you more, just a tiny inconvenience in about an hour of delay, and they're putting you on a major airline instead of a discount one.

There is simply NOTHING you should be complaining about. The reason why it takes you 17 hours to get to Seville is because of the price and the FF miles. Apparently those are important to you (and to me too!), so what's the difference in an extra hour or travel time. Having 2 hours at Barcelona means you have a better chance of making the connection than having just 1.

It's alright to hate flying, and want to get to your destination as fast as you can. You just have to pay more. Or go to JFK instead of EWR, and fly JFK-Madrid direct.

Do you know that you can fly Iberia JFK-MAD-SVQ and arrive in Seville at 9:25am? That's 9 hours sooner than your current itinerary. Only if you don't mind not getting your FF, going over to JFK, and perhaps pay a little more.

It's your choice, your money, your time.

Another option is fly to Madrid (you can go from Newark if you fly Continental) and from Madrid take the AVE to Sevilla. It's less than 3 hours by rail and a very comfortable ride.