Okt
21
2010
Every now and then my job makes me travel…
Sometimes it not only makes me travel but also changing flight plans due to unforeseen circumstances.
And those are usually the occasions when I clash with airline booking regulations.
What happened?
I’m booked for a trip to the Netherlands from Friday to Wednesday next week as I’m speaking at OpenForce on WebMatrix. Since I knew about that for quite a while I booked my flight for quite a while already when I learned that I need to be in Cologne on Tuesday…
So I called my travel agent requesting that they change the booking for the returning flight. My expectation was that I need to pay the obligatory cancellation fee (50€) and that probably the flight back might be in another booking class and more expensive because of that.
Hence my surprise when I learned that Lufthansa will not only change the booking class of the flight back but also the one in the flight _to_ Amsterdam since it is a “packaged price” 
Total additional costs: about 500€!
Alright… I quickly checked and thought I had found a particular smart solution: I could book the flight back at KLM. Not as a one-way (because those also ranged above 400€) but as package as well. Amsterdam>Germany>Amsterdam ran about 180€. My idea was to just ignore the flight back from Lufthansa and do the same for the flight back in the KLM package…
And you never guess what my travel agent then told me!
The fare rules of most airlines (and I checked it!) contain a clause that allows them to raise the fare after-the-fact! Here is what they state in their fare regulations:
3.3.3.1. In the event that you do not use the return trip shown on the Ticket, and Art. 3.2.3. not withstanding, we shall recalculate and demand the price in accordance with the one way fare for the leg actually flown valid at the time of first issuance of the Ticket.
and… if at that point in time the booking class isn’t available this could result in extra charges of up to the business class fee!
Unbelievable!
I did some research and found that Lufthansa got sued several times in Germany on this and it looks like they usually loose… But nevertheless the clause is still stated in their regulations. And even more so: KLM would do the same!
So what now: I’m going to hop a train on the way back home. And should Lufthansa really recalculate then I’m gonna hope on help out of our legal department…
Still: Mafia! I can’t believe with what they get away with!