Lufthansa screwed up my travel plans!
 

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 resrvation 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!

You might want to re-post this question over on the Airlines forum. I just got some good advice there.

Have you looked at other options on this - it seems crazy to go through Frankfurt and Barcelona to go to Seville - why not a single stop - through either Madrid or London? If they are saying the ticket is invalid then I would just tell them to give you a refund.

First of all, they never charged me! Second, connections to Seville are not easy or cheap from NEWARK! Third, I am a miles whore and wanted to stay with my alliance!

I could have gone Air France....

Somewhere buried in my history of posts is the problem I had with Lufthansa. To make a long story short (at least I'll try ;) ), someone at Lufthansa made an error when they quoted me a fare for 2 r/t tickets by combining 2 promotional offers. I offered my credit card for payment to book the tickets. A few weeks later, we got a call from Lufthansa and they told us they could refund us our money (they had not actually charged us yet we came to find out) or we could pay an additional $400. I told them no thank you, we will keep our tickets at the same fare promised. They told me it was not possible, so I said I would take it up with their customer relations. I sent a letter addressed to their cust. relations in Germany through their website and via fax. 1 week later, I got a call from the same woman who said it was not possible saying that they would keep their initial promise.

A carefully and politely worded letter stating the situation and your case can go a long way.

I'm going to Seville also, but through London, next month. This is actually one reason I book flights with multiple segments through Travelocity because the carrier I wanted for the main part would not book the extra segment London-Seville.

I don't think they are making that up, so I'm not sure what you want them to do. If they can't write the ticket, they can't write it. You said they didn't charge you for it. Can you find a travel agent or something to cut the ticket that you already have a reservation on? Or how about contacting AirEuropa yourself? I would be worried about the fare changing, though, that's why I went through Travelocity for my route -- booking the two parts separately with each indiv. airline would have cost a whole lot more.

Christina, Lufthansa did suggest that I could buy the AirEuropa segment from a travel agent but if I did that there is a catch....

Lets say I buy the ticket Barcelona to Seville ticket from an agent and the Newark-Frankfurt-Barcelona ticket from Lufthansa. Now lets say the flight from Frankfurt to Barcelona is late or cancelled and I miss my connection. In this case since the AirEuropa ticket was purchased seperately AirEuropa is NOT responsible for getting me to my destination of I don''t show up. That make me a "no show" and I would be at the mercy of Air Europa. Now, I did get my connecting ticket on Iberia purchased from Lufthansa which falls under the same ticket number as my Intercontental flight. If I miss the Iberia connection Iberia is responsible for getting me to my destination based on the terms of contract of the entire ticket purchased as a whole.

Get it?

I'm curious. How did you book this ticket with Lufthansa in the first place if they don't ticket with Air Europa? Did you do this online or with a Lufthansa ticketing agent or what? And why was it doable then but not now?

I'm not clear here. Are you ticketed already with Iberia and trying to get some sort of rebate? Are you trying to force them to ticket you on AirEurope (they won't - its a lost cause)? Or are you looking for better options that waste less of your time? (That's what I would do - but I have no patience for wasting valuable vacation time to save a few $) Or is this a free ticket that you must use?

Lufthansa made the reservation and took my credit card for payment. About three weeks ago I called them to see if eveything was OK and there was no problem, at that time they gave me seat assignments on my transatlantic flight. A week ago I called Lufthansa and told them I never received my ticket. They said the sent it for processing but for some reason it was never issued. Red Flag! Yesterday they called and said it wasn't possible, 4 weeks after I gave them my credit card. They never charged my card. At this point they honored my original fare of $475 R/T and booked me a flight on Iberia instead of Air Europa. The Iberia flight isn't convenient but at least I am booked. I alsd know that the Ibria change was at their expense since that was an expensive option when I look a while back. Air Europe is a discount airline, Iberia is not.

OK, do you realize that I leave Newark at 4 pm and arrive at arround 4pm the next day. Thats about a 16 hour trip.

Hello! I am the walking dead!

Well, you're the one who picked a multi-stop itinerary - it's not like they turned a 6 hour flight into a 16-hour one. It sounds like they made an honest error and tried to fix it as best they could - at their cost. I'm not really sure what else they can do.