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Report: #451641

Complaint Review: Lufthansa - New York New York

  • Submitted:
  • Updated:
  • Reported By: Woodinville Washington
  • Author Confirmed What's this?
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  • Lufthansa Box 425, East Meadow New York, New York U.S.A.

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I schedule an international flight and paid on a Thursday morning (May 9, 2009) and got a large, unexpected bill in the mail a day and a half later on Saturday morning and saw that I have no choice but to stay in America and keep working to generate income to survive. I called Lufthansa and told them this and cancelled the airline ticket. They told me it was 'nonrefundable' even though I do not remember being told this. They said they can only return my $400 in taxes back to my bank account (which they have not done yet) and they REFUSED to return my money to me even though I will never use the ticket. My point is that how can they ethically do this to people with no conscience after I paid $1,812 and yet I will NEVER receive any product or service? They just get to pocket this huge amount of money??!?? And taking from a single woman who has nobody to help her, alone in the world, in a horrible economy.

Lufthansa does not seem to care about customers but just profit, regardless of the damage to a person's life.

How can it be legal to take someone's money and just say it's their "policy"?!?

I never received a product, so I am completely blown away by this cruelty. Just because something is considered 'policy' does not mean it is correct, or more specifically, justified. It used to be 'policy' of many public places, in fact a previous 'law' that black people had to use separate restrooms, etc...that does NOT MAKE IT 'RIGHT'.I do not understand. I could never treat someone like that.
I even begged for 30 minutes and was crying.

I will never fly Lufthansa, ever, in my life. NEVER AGAIN.

M
Woodinville, Washington
U.S.A.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 05/13/2009 07:22 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/lufthansa/new-york-new-york-11554/lufthansa-refuses-to-give-me-back-my-money-on-cancelled-ticket-new-york-new-york-451641. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
0Author
5Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#5 Consumer Comment

Airline Fees

AUTHOR: Steve - (USA)

POSTED: Monday, April 02, 2012

I  never  heard  that  Airlines  are  free  to  set  the  amount  of  fees.   Fees  are  supposed  to  be  government  imposed  but  I  am  under  the impression  that  it  is  an instrument to  bs   consumers.  Since  different  airlines  charge  different  amounts  of  fees  for  exactly  the  same  flight  it  seems  to  be  true  that  they  can  take  whatever  they  want.

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#4 Consumer Comment

No Reason Except Greed

AUTHOR: Karl - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Monday, April 02, 2012

Back before deregulation when airline fees were set by the CAB, airlines competed on amenities. Fares were identical say between New York and Chicago on both American and TWA but you flew one or the other based on customer service you experienced, the meal, or other amenities.

After deregulation airlines were free to set their own fares and felt that fares were the only major reason people took one airline over another. The amenities - meals, free checked baggage, refunds, etc went by the wayside. Advertised fares are virtually all non-refundable. There is no reason for it except simple greed. Good luck complaining and getting an eventual refund. It may work but in the small print somewhere is an agreement that you made when you bought a ticket that the fare is non-refundable. Too bad Southwest doesn't go to Europe. They are the last player standing for customer service.

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#3 Consumer Comment

Non refundable flights

AUTHOR: Steve - (USA)

POSTED: Saturday, March 24, 2012

I  can  understand  it  if  an  airline does  not  give  a  refund  if  the  specific seat on that flight remained vacant.  A vacant seat means a  loss  for  the  airline  because  they  could  have  sold  this  seat  to  someone  else.

What  does  not  make  sense  to me  is  that  they  won't  give  a refund  if  a flight was completely booked out  and someone else paid for this seat.  Now in these days airlines usually overbook a  plane  so  most  of  the  time  even  the  last  seat is  occupied.  So  it  seems  to  be  the  best  imaginable  business:   a  passenger  who  can't  fly.   that  means  that  the  airline  gets  twice  as  much  money  for  that  specific  seat  and  what  is  even  worse  and  almost  at  the  edge of  fraud  is  that  they   won't   refund   a  large  chunk  of  what  they  call  "Fees":

When  my  wife  could  not  fly,  they  kept  the   airport  tax  (why  does  a  passenger  who  stays  at  home  have  to pay  an  airport  tax ????),  the  fuel  surcharge   (does  the  plane  use  extra  fuel  when  loaded  with passengers  who  never  board  the  plane ?????)    and other  taxes.  When  I  went  without  her I  thought  that  I would  get  more  room for my  ellbows since  i  had  paid  for  2  seats  but  Lufthansa  put  someone  else onto the seat  that  I  had  paid  for.  There  was not  a  single  vacant  seat  on  that  flight  but  they  would  not  refund  a penny.

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#2 Consumer Comment

B.S.

AUTHOR: Dsperin - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Thursday, May 14, 2009

If you complain loud enough, long enough, and to the right people, you WILL get your money back!

I once booked a non-refundable 5 day stay at a hotel, only to find out afterwards that I would be required to put down a $100 a night refundable deposit ($500) upon check in. It didn't state that on the website, so I hollered to every phone number I could find on the internet until they refunded my money.

Policies aren't written in stone. Check out the website and call everyone you can until the money is refunded.

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#1 Consumer Suggestion

What Part of Non-Refundable Don't You Understand?

AUTHOR: Karl - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Thursday, May 14, 2009

Virtually all of the low fares advertised on Travelocity, Expedia, etc. are NON-REFUNDABLE. This means exactly what it says. If you cancel there is NO REFUND. Most airlines credit the fare and let you travel within a year of the time you paid for the first ticket but they will charge a change fee (except for Southwest). If you cancel altogether it doesn't matter if you are Mother Teresa. You lose your money. Obviously the airline cares about profit. It needs to make a profit to stay in business. If you even remotely think that you may have to cancel an airline ticket you need to buy a refundable full fare coach ticket next time.

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