Well, I received an interesting e-mail from Lufthansa this morning. I thought I would post it here for others that may be still trying to receive refunds on their cancelled airline tickets from Lufthansa. While I was trying various methods to get a refund as quick as possible for my cancelled tickets from 3/9, I sent an e-mail via the feedback system on the Lufthansa website on April 14. I just received this response this morning, which basically confirms that they cannot reliably communicate a concrete time frame for a refund. In the meantime I reached out to my Credit Card Company on April 15 and initiated a charge back request. I should hear something no later than April 30 at a minimum. I have to wait 60 days (2 billing periods) maximum in order for my money to be refunded to my account, assuming the Credit Card company does not hear from Lufthansa. My credit card does show a "temporary" credit of the airline ticket cost, so I am hopeful that I will receive my money back via this method sooner than waiting on a response from Lufthansa.
Here is a copy of the e-mail I received today from Lufthansa.
Thank you for your feedback requesting a refund of your ticket.
Please note that Customer Relations will not be able to process requests regarding these topics, or any changes to bookings or fare conditions. All relevant information may be found on our website https://www.lufthansa.com/us/en/flight-information.
We are well aware of the legal framework and assure you that refunds are still possible. We do, however, ask for your understanding that, in the current situation, refunds are not possible within the standard time limits and we cannot reliably communicate a concrete time frame.
Alternatively, we would like to inform you that we have extended our rebooking conditions and made them even more flexible. All information regarding rebooking and voucher options are available on LH.com at https://lufthansa.flightvoucher.com/?lang=en.
If a cancellation is currently the only option available to you, please contact our Service Center. Worldwide telephone numbers can be found at https://www.lufthansa.com/us/en/help-and-contact.
We thank you again for your understanding in this dynamic and unprecedented situation.
Interesting story from this morning regarding Lufthansa and anticipated bailout of $10 Billion dollars from 4 different countries (Germany, Belgium, Austria and Switzerland) that they do business with. The story is from the main German Newspaper DW (Deutsche Welle), a German Media Organization. Without the bailout, they will probably go under and there goes our chance for a refund.
A quote from the article states the following: This probably explains the delays in receiving a refund.
"We are losing about a million euros in liquidity reserves per hour. Day and night. Week by week," CEO Carsten Spohr said."
The story ends with the following positive comment, so I hope this pans out.
"However, the company's confidence in securing a bailout seems not to be misplaced. Insiders told Reuters news agency that the air giant would be receiving an aid package of up to €10 billion ($10.8 billion) in state loans from the four countries."
Latest news this morning about Lufthansa from "Business Insider"
"German government to bail Lufthansa out of bankruptcy with nearly $10 billion state aid."
This gives me a ray of hope that I may yet receive my refund by the end of next month, one way or another, either via Lufthansa or the charge back request from my Credit Card. I just want my money back! Waiting 6 weeks already. I will only fly US Airlines in the future, if at all possible.
Travel Maven. We have just been thru the process of getting money back for flights. We booked our flights with American Express, so that is who we dealt with. Our flights were American/ British Airways code share. The outward BA flights were still showing as going but the coming back flight on American was cancelled. These were booked the maximum 330 days in advance of the trip. We got thru to Amex straight away, they took details and called us back within the hour and We will get the money back onto our card Within two Bill cycles which is the standard. You always get the money back the way you paid for the tickets, not cash. These tickets were premium economy not business. For such short nighttime flights from the East coast, we often think it’s not worth paying for business class, it’s more economical to go an extra day early and pay for a hotel night that is more effective in helping getting over jet lag than a couple of hours sleep on a plane in business class. We use our credit card to pay for almost everything and pay the entire amount off every month, so the flight credit will soon be spent. I. I’m glad the cancellation did not happen with our K, T and Rwanda tour this past winter or we would have had a $30,000 credit on our AMEX card for the tour alone plus flight fares. That certainly would have taken some time to spend.
We have always had great respect for our credit cards services ever since years ago when we paid a contractor with one, a hefty deposit. He went bankrupt due to a gambling habit and went off with a lot of local people”s money. I called the credit card as soon as I had suspicions and they were able to get the money back from his bank before he drained it all. We got our money credited very quickly. The guy made the mistake of taking money from a local big time lawyer who went after him and he went to jail. We rarely use our debit cards. So far we have had faith in our credit cards, they have even very quickly let us know when someone has tried to use our card.
Thank you for your insight British. I agree. I always use my credit card for all purchases now, even for small items in the grocery store and pay the balance off each month. This is a new mind set for me as I always considered credit cards strictly for travel and used my debit card and cash for day to day purchases, however, cash is slowly going to disappear as a form of payment before long; actually for most people it already has.
When I said I am waiting on either Lufthansa or my Credit Card, I do realize that the credit will be applied to the Credit Card I used to book the trip. I was just hoping with this new influx of cash from the German Government, that Lufthansa would start the ball rolling on the backlog of refund requests and issue the credit to my card sooner than having to wait yet another month for my refund thru the charge back request. I just wish the process was quicker, I could really use the cash right now.
UPDATE: REFUND ON THE WAY
Finally, success after 3 long months of trying to receive a refund from Lufthansa for a flight that they cancelled back in March. I just finished a call with my Credit Card Company (had to wait on hold 45 minutes) and they have initiated a request to submit a check to me for the full amount of the canceled flight airfare from Lufthansa. Since I wasn't getting anywhere with Lufthansa, I initiated a charge back request with my Credit Card Company on 4/15/20. I followed up today with the CC Dispute Department for a status and they reported they had not received any feedback from Lufthansa, however, since I do not have a balance against my card they said that I could receive the funds right now. Hallelujah !!! What an ordeal, I will be glad once I have my check in hand and this nightmare will be over. I will never fly with Lufthansa again and will try to only use American companies where possible. So the takeaway here is to initiate a charge back with your credit card company right away if you are not receiving any assistance from the airline. Keep copies of all emails and detailed notes of telephone call conversations. I would also suggest, at least with Lufthansa, to take a screen shot of the page where they show canceling your flight in case you need this as proof. Once the flight is canceled and you request a refund, the record disappears from their site and the cancellation e-mail does not say anything about a refund. Luckily I didn't need the copy but I would cover all my bases upfront. Good luck to my fellow travelers and I wish you patience and success.
It’s a strange world. Lufthansa just sent me an email saying my seats had changed for our September trip. So I checked the new seats to discover that they upgraded us from Premium Economy to Business Class. We will see how all that works out.
Sealord - I assume that is an European Business Class seat - Economy seat with middle seat blocked out. If it is a true lie flat business class seat then you hit the motherlode. Let's hope it's the lie flat variety.
Sealord - Yahoo, you did hit the motherlode. I hope it stands and goes per plan. That will be an enjoyable leg of transit. Pass some of that luck around to the rest of us forum participants.
Interesting story from The Irish Times today about Lufthansa's plea for a 9 Billion Euro bailout from the German Government. Although I no longer have a critical need to follow this story, I find that it has become an automatic daily task for me out of curiosity. If Lufthansa does not get a bailout soon , they could be filing for bankruptcy by September as they are burning thru about 8 million Euros per month and they only had about 4 billion as of May 5, according to the story. I have also been following the Lufthansa Facebook page and there are thousands of people still waiting for refunds since March/April time frame. A majority of the recent posts state that Lufthansa Customer Service is not even answering their phones or if you do get thru you may have to wait on hold for a half hour and then you are just disconnected. What a dismal situation.
Here is the link to the story for those that might be interested.
From Politico:
BERLIN — The German government Monday approved a €9 billion bailout package for flag carrier Lufthansa in return for an initial 20 percent stake in the airline, the economics and finance ministries said.
The deal will give the government two seats on Lufthansa's supervisory board but the agreement worked out over the last few weeks stipulates these should be taken by "independent experts," which would appear to exclude political appointees.
The article said the agreement still has to be approved by the "European Commission's competition team." We are still waiting for our refund so this makes me feel a bit more encouraged.
Thank you! Good news. I'm waiting, too. I don't think I can do a charge back, because I did use the outward flights, and it was the return flights that were cancelled. What I would really like is payment for the rebooked flights home, which cost me as much as the "round trip" Lufthansa flights.
Amex have refunded two lots of cancelled flights for me, two different tours already, no problem and quickly. If the return flight was cancelled, no problem, they should at least refund that, even if they won’t refund the remainder. Did you buy the new tickets yourself or did you get Amex do it for you? We had return flights cancelled last year form Amsterdam after the end of the Rhine Cruise, we noticed about two days before, called Amex and they got new flights for us. You have several ways you can resolve here, good luck!
The Saga continues. It appears that there is an antitrust demand snag that Lufthansa does not agree with concerning the surrender of 2 takeoff and landing slots at Frankfurt and Munich Airports. I have copied below an excerpt from the story as posted per Bloomberg today.
I have also hit a snag with my Credit Card company regarding my refund for a Lufthansa Canceled Flight from March. Evidently the Credit Card Customer Service gave me some incorrect information regarding my refund of funds in my account. A check was supposed to have been sent last Monday. I followed up today and it now appears that Lufthansa has until May 30 to respond to my charge back dispute. Hopefully this will be resolved soon. This is still a better path to take to receive my money back rather than waiting on Lufthansa to refund my money which could take several more months at a minimum.
(Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s supervisory board held off on accepting a German bailout, raising the stakes in a tug-of-war with the European Union over antitrust demands attached to the 9 billion-euro ($9.9 billion) package.
In a surprise move, Europe’s biggest airline said Wednesday it would study the aid proposal while not immediately calling a vote to seek shareholder approval. European Commission conditions requiring the surrender of takeoff and landing slots would weaken its hubs Frankfurt and Munich, Lufthansa said.
The resulting economic hit, along with the need to repay the stabilization funds, needs to be “‘analyzed intensively” along with possible alternative scenarios, the carrier said in a statement. Nevertheless, the board, an oversight body on which workers are heavily represented, still regards the bailout “as the only viable alternative for maintaining solvency.”
The delay comes with Lufthansa severely weakened by the coronavirus crisis. The carrier has just weeks of liquidity remaining before it runs out of cash, according to people familiar with the matter. The proposed bailout requires shareholder and EU approval before the funds can be distributed, a process that could take several weeks even without the new delay.
“Its cash burn is accelerating,” analysts at Berenberg said of Lufthansa in a note published Monday, adding outflows might have doubled due to summer ticket refunds and fuel hedging losses. “We’ve been surprised at the drawn-out aid process given this elevated urgency.”
The supervisory board is expected to meet again to discuss the package once it has more information on the slots matter. The airline can call a meeting at short notice, meaning it could still approve the deal this week.
Update on this ongoing saga from Bloomberg today, June 1.
The supervisory board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG approved Germany’s 9 billion-euro ($10 billion) bailout proposal, paving the way for the airline to receive the lifeline should shareholders accept the deal.
With the carrier’s cash reserves dwindling, Lufthansa’s supervisory board voted in favor of the plan and called an extraordinary general meeting of stockholders for June 25. The board’s approval was unexpectedly delayed last week after members balked at European Union demands for slot disposals, a matter resolved in a deal sealed late Friday.
The spotlight now turns to the investors, who hold Lufthansa’s fate in their hands. They face a choice between a capital hike that will dilute their own shareholdings or tipping Europe’s biggest airline toward insolvency. Lufthansa’s management has told German government officials and labor representatives that it will run out of cash on June 15, people familiar with the matter have said.
Lufthansa supervisory board Chairman Karl-Ludwig Kley said it had been “a very difficult decision” involving “intensive discussion.”
“We recommend that our shareholders follow this path, even if it requires them to make substantial contributions to stabilizing their company,” Kley said in a statement. “It must be clearly stated, however, that Lufthansa is facing a very difficult road ahead.”
Travel maven, have you got the money back from your credit card? Did asking for cash make it more complicated? We are getting credits On our card from so many things we had prepaid for, flights, vacations, lectures, theatre tickets with no problems and much more quickly than they say.
Thank you for asking. I received an e-mail from my Credit Card on May 31 stating that my temporary credit had been updated to a full credit and that the dispute has been resolved. I initiated my charge back request on 4/15 so it took 47 days which is actually under the 60 days it typically takes. I am very grateful to BKMD for the suggestion of the charge back. Without this action, who knows when I would have received a refund from Lufthansa. It could take several more months for refunds to be processed, if they even happen. So sad.
I contacted the Credit Card company this morning and requested a return of the funds in my account and they said they have initiated the request and I will receive an e-mail in a couple of days with further instructions. It appears that I can have the refund processed electronically or have a check mailed. I will probably opt for the electronic transfer as it would be faster. I will just be glad when this entire process is finally over, it has been very stressful and my patience has been tested to the max.
I still dream about traveling in the future but will hold off booking any future trips for at least a year to see how everything pans out.
Here's my latest: My Amex travel agent forwarded me an e-mail to her from Lufthansa that referenced my claim. It said that they could not deal with her without a power of attorney from me. (They attached a power of attorney for me to complete and return.). What a crock!! They are happy enough to deal with Amex when they're booking my flight (as they did in this case) but not when making a refund. I am not amused!
I found out my September “Treasures ...” trip was cancelled on May 26th when I called Tauck because my flight to Nice was now going to Paris. She said, no problem ... you’re not going. All of the funds for the Treasures trip were transferred to my next trip except for the air which was on a Lufthansa ticket, and booked by Tauck. I received the refund yesterday (June 2) ... seven or eight days. My next trip I booked myself because I’m using ‘miles’, but I think future ‘cash’ trips I will book with Tauck.
Comments
Thank you so much Virginia Travelers. I appreciate it. I have received it and replied to you.
Well, I received an interesting e-mail from Lufthansa this morning. I thought I would post it here for others that may be still trying to receive refunds on their cancelled airline tickets from Lufthansa. While I was trying various methods to get a refund as quick as possible for my cancelled tickets from 3/9, I sent an e-mail via the feedback system on the Lufthansa website on April 14. I just received this response this morning, which basically confirms that they cannot reliably communicate a concrete time frame for a refund. In the meantime I reached out to my Credit Card Company on April 15 and initiated a charge back request. I should hear something no later than April 30 at a minimum. I have to wait 60 days (2 billing periods) maximum in order for my money to be refunded to my account, assuming the Credit Card company does not hear from Lufthansa. My credit card does show a "temporary" credit of the airline ticket cost, so I am hopeful that I will receive my money back via this method sooner than waiting on a response from Lufthansa.
Here is a copy of the e-mail I received today from Lufthansa.
Thank you for your feedback requesting a refund of your ticket.
Please note that Customer Relations will not be able to process requests regarding these topics, or any changes to bookings or fare conditions. All relevant information may be found on our website https://www.lufthansa.com/us/en/flight-information.
We are well aware of the legal framework and assure you that refunds are still possible. We do, however, ask for your understanding that, in the current situation, refunds are not possible within the standard time limits and we cannot reliably communicate a concrete time frame.
Alternatively, we would like to inform you that we have extended our rebooking conditions and made them even more flexible. All information regarding rebooking and voucher options are available on LH.com at https://lufthansa.flightvoucher.com/?lang=en.
If a cancellation is currently the only option available to you, please contact our Service Center. Worldwide telephone numbers can be found at https://www.lufthansa.com/us/en/help-and-contact.
We thank you again for your understanding in this dynamic and unprecedented situation.
Interesting story from this morning regarding Lufthansa and anticipated bailout of $10 Billion dollars from 4 different countries (Germany, Belgium, Austria and Switzerland) that they do business with. The story is from the main German Newspaper DW (Deutsche Welle), a German Media Organization. Without the bailout, they will probably go under and there goes our chance for a refund.
A quote from the article states the following: This probably explains the delays in receiving a refund.
"We are losing about a million euros in liquidity reserves per hour. Day and night. Week by week," CEO Carsten Spohr said."
Here is a link to the article at DW.com.
https://www.dw.com/en/lufthansa-seeks-government-bailouts-to-stay-aloft/a-53226029
The story ends with the following positive comment, so I hope this pans out.
"However, the company's confidence in securing a bailout seems not to be misplaced. Insiders told Reuters news agency that the air giant would be receiving an aid package of up to €10 billion ($10.8 billion) in state loans from the four countries."
Latest news this morning about Lufthansa from "Business Insider"
"German government to bail Lufthansa out of bankruptcy with nearly $10 billion state aid."
https://www.businessinsider.com/german-state-bailing-lufthansa-out-of-bankruptcy-with-10-billion-2020-4
This gives me a ray of hope that I may yet receive my refund by the end of next month, one way or another, either via Lufthansa or the charge back request from my Credit Card. I just want my money back! Waiting 6 weeks already. I will only fly US Airlines in the future, if at all possible.
Travel Maven. We have just been thru the process of getting money back for flights. We booked our flights with American Express, so that is who we dealt with. Our flights were American/ British Airways code share. The outward BA flights were still showing as going but the coming back flight on American was cancelled. These were booked the maximum 330 days in advance of the trip. We got thru to Amex straight away, they took details and called us back within the hour and We will get the money back onto our card Within two Bill cycles which is the standard. You always get the money back the way you paid for the tickets, not cash. These tickets were premium economy not business. For such short nighttime flights from the East coast, we often think it’s not worth paying for business class, it’s more economical to go an extra day early and pay for a hotel night that is more effective in helping getting over jet lag than a couple of hours sleep on a plane in business class. We use our credit card to pay for almost everything and pay the entire amount off every month, so the flight credit will soon be spent. I. I’m glad the cancellation did not happen with our K, T and Rwanda tour this past winter or we would have had a $30,000 credit on our AMEX card for the tour alone plus flight fares. That certainly would have taken some time to spend.
We have always had great respect for our credit cards services ever since years ago when we paid a contractor with one, a hefty deposit. He went bankrupt due to a gambling habit and went off with a lot of local people”s money. I called the credit card as soon as I had suspicions and they were able to get the money back from his bank before he drained it all. We got our money credited very quickly. The guy made the mistake of taking money from a local big time lawyer who went after him and he went to jail. We rarely use our debit cards. So far we have had faith in our credit cards, they have even very quickly let us know when someone has tried to use our card.
Thank you for your insight British. I agree. I always use my credit card for all purchases now, even for small items in the grocery store and pay the balance off each month. This is a new mind set for me as I always considered credit cards strictly for travel and used my debit card and cash for day to day purchases, however, cash is slowly going to disappear as a form of payment before long; actually for most people it already has.
When I said I am waiting on either Lufthansa or my Credit Card, I do realize that the credit will be applied to the Credit Card I used to book the trip. I was just hoping with this new influx of cash from the German Government, that Lufthansa would start the ball rolling on the backlog of refund requests and issue the credit to my card sooner than having to wait yet another month for my refund thru the charge back request. I just wish the process was quicker, I could really use the cash right now.
UPDATE: REFUND ON THE WAY
Finally, success after 3 long months of trying to receive a refund from Lufthansa for a flight that they cancelled back in March. I just finished a call with my Credit Card Company (had to wait on hold 45 minutes) and they have initiated a request to submit a check to me for the full amount of the canceled flight airfare from Lufthansa. Since I wasn't getting anywhere with Lufthansa, I initiated a charge back request with my Credit Card Company on 4/15/20. I followed up today with the CC Dispute Department for a status and they reported they had not received any feedback from Lufthansa, however, since I do not have a balance against my card they said that I could receive the funds right now. Hallelujah !!! What an ordeal, I will be glad once I have my check in hand and this nightmare will be over. I will never fly with Lufthansa again and will try to only use American companies where possible. So the takeaway here is to initiate a charge back with your credit card company right away if you are not receiving any assistance from the airline. Keep copies of all emails and detailed notes of telephone call conversations. I would also suggest, at least with Lufthansa, to take a screen shot of the page where they show canceling your flight in case you need this as proof. Once the flight is canceled and you request a refund, the record disappears from their site and the cancellation e-mail does not say anything about a refund. Luckily I didn't need the copy but I would cover all my bases upfront. Good luck to my fellow travelers and I wish you patience and success.
It’s a strange world. Lufthansa just sent me an email saying my seats had changed for our September trip. So I checked the new seats to discover that they upgraded us from Premium Economy to Business Class. We will see how all that works out.
Sealord - I assume that is an European Business Class seat - Economy seat with middle seat blocked out. If it is a true lie flat business class seat then you hit the motherlode. Let's hope it's the lie flat variety.
Motherload Sam. It’s business class on an A380 ... row 12.
Sealord - Yahoo, you did hit the motherlode. I hope it stands and goes per plan. That will be an enjoyable leg of transit. Pass some of that luck around to the rest of us forum participants.
Best of luck to everyone. Stay well.
The chances of this trip actually happening are not very good ... but getting an ‘invisible’ upgrade was fun.
September trip???
Your character may also be laughing at the term “social distancing” ... another oxymoron that few seem to recognize.
AlanS - I thought you had a back injury. I’m surprised to see you moving around so easily. 😃 Perhaps that is you rolling around writhing in pain.
Interesting story from The Irish Times today about Lufthansa's plea for a 9 Billion Euro bailout from the German Government. Although I no longer have a critical need to follow this story, I find that it has become an automatic daily task for me out of curiosity. If Lufthansa does not get a bailout soon , they could be filing for bankruptcy by September as they are burning thru about 8 million Euros per month and they only had about 4 billion as of May 5, according to the story. I have also been following the Lufthansa Facebook page and there are thousands of people still waiting for refunds since March/April time frame. A majority of the recent posts state that Lufthansa Customer Service is not even answering their phones or if you do get thru you may have to wait on hold for a half hour and then you are just disconnected. What a dismal situation.
Here is the link to the story for those that might be interested.
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/transport-and-tourism/lufthansa-says-need-for-multibillion-euro-bailout-becoming-urgent-1.4258050
From Politico:
BERLIN — The German government Monday approved a €9 billion bailout package for flag carrier Lufthansa in return for an initial 20 percent stake in the airline, the economics and finance ministries said.
The deal will give the government two seats on Lufthansa's supervisory board but the agreement worked out over the last few weeks stipulates these should be taken by "independent experts," which would appear to exclude political appointees.
The article said the agreement still has to be approved by the "European Commission's competition team." We are still waiting for our refund so this makes me feel a bit more encouraged.
Thank you! Good news. I'm waiting, too. I don't think I can do a charge back, because I did use the outward flights, and it was the return flights that were cancelled. What I would really like is payment for the rebooked flights home, which cost me as much as the "round trip" Lufthansa flights.
MCD Doesn’t the Tauck insurance cover this? Trip interruption or Trip delay?
I never thought of that! The flights were booked through Amex, but I do have the Tauck insurance.
Amex have refunded two lots of cancelled flights for me, two different tours already, no problem and quickly. If the return flight was cancelled, no problem, they should at least refund that, even if they won’t refund the remainder. Did you buy the new tickets yourself or did you get Amex do it for you? We had return flights cancelled last year form Amsterdam after the end of the Rhine Cruise, we noticed about two days before, called Amex and they got new flights for us. You have several ways you can resolve here, good luck!
Thanks, British. I had Amex handle all of the flights, I'll contact them tomorrow.
The Saga continues. It appears that there is an antitrust demand snag that Lufthansa does not agree with concerning the surrender of 2 takeoff and landing slots at Frankfurt and Munich Airports. I have copied below an excerpt from the story as posted per Bloomberg today.
I have also hit a snag with my Credit Card company regarding my refund for a Lufthansa Canceled Flight from March. Evidently the Credit Card Customer Service gave me some incorrect information regarding my refund of funds in my account. A check was supposed to have been sent last Monday. I followed up today and it now appears that Lufthansa has until May 30 to respond to my charge back dispute. Hopefully this will be resolved soon. This is still a better path to take to receive my money back rather than waiting on Lufthansa to refund my money which could take several more months at a minimum.
(Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s supervisory board held off on accepting a German bailout, raising the stakes in a tug-of-war with the European Union over antitrust demands attached to the 9 billion-euro ($9.9 billion) package.
In a surprise move, Europe’s biggest airline said Wednesday it would study the aid proposal while not immediately calling a vote to seek shareholder approval. European Commission conditions requiring the surrender of takeoff and landing slots would weaken its hubs Frankfurt and Munich, Lufthansa said.
The resulting economic hit, along with the need to repay the stabilization funds, needs to be “‘analyzed intensively” along with possible alternative scenarios, the carrier said in a statement. Nevertheless, the board, an oversight body on which workers are heavily represented, still regards the bailout “as the only viable alternative for maintaining solvency.”
The delay comes with Lufthansa severely weakened by the coronavirus crisis. The carrier has just weeks of liquidity remaining before it runs out of cash, according to people familiar with the matter. The proposed bailout requires shareholder and EU approval before the funds can be distributed, a process that could take several weeks even without the new delay.
“Its cash burn is accelerating,” analysts at Berenberg said of Lufthansa in a note published Monday, adding outflows might have doubled due to summer ticket refunds and fuel hedging losses. “We’ve been surprised at the drawn-out aid process given this elevated urgency.”
The supervisory board is expected to meet again to discuss the package once it has more information on the slots matter. The airline can call a meeting at short notice, meaning it could still approve the deal this week.
Update on this ongoing saga from Bloomberg today, June 1.
The supervisory board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG approved Germany’s 9 billion-euro ($10 billion) bailout proposal, paving the way for the airline to receive the lifeline should shareholders accept the deal.
With the carrier’s cash reserves dwindling, Lufthansa’s supervisory board voted in favor of the plan and called an extraordinary general meeting of stockholders for June 25. The board’s approval was unexpectedly delayed last week after members balked at European Union demands for slot disposals, a matter resolved in a deal sealed late Friday.
The spotlight now turns to the investors, who hold Lufthansa’s fate in their hands. They face a choice between a capital hike that will dilute their own shareholdings or tipping Europe’s biggest airline toward insolvency. Lufthansa’s management has told German government officials and labor representatives that it will run out of cash on June 15, people familiar with the matter have said.
Lufthansa supervisory board Chairman Karl-Ludwig Kley said it had been “a very difficult decision” involving “intensive discussion.”
“We recommend that our shareholders follow this path, even if it requires them to make substantial contributions to stabilizing their company,” Kley said in a statement. “It must be clearly stated, however, that Lufthansa is facing a very difficult road ahead.”
Travel maven, have you got the money back from your credit card? Did asking for cash make it more complicated? We are getting credits On our card from so many things we had prepaid for, flights, vacations, lectures, theatre tickets with no problems and much more quickly than they say.
British:
Thank you for asking. I received an e-mail from my Credit Card on May 31 stating that my temporary credit had been updated to a full credit and that the dispute has been resolved. I initiated my charge back request on 4/15 so it took 47 days which is actually under the 60 days it typically takes. I am very grateful to BKMD for the suggestion of the charge back. Without this action, who knows when I would have received a refund from Lufthansa. It could take several more months for refunds to be processed, if they even happen. So sad.
I contacted the Credit Card company this morning and requested a return of the funds in my account and they said they have initiated the request and I will receive an e-mail in a couple of days with further instructions. It appears that I can have the refund processed electronically or have a check mailed. I will probably opt for the electronic transfer as it would be faster. I will just be glad when this entire process is finally over, it has been very stressful and my patience has been tested to the max.
I still dream about traveling in the future but will hold off booking any future trips for at least a year to see how everything pans out.
Here's my latest: My Amex travel agent forwarded me an e-mail to her from Lufthansa that referenced my claim. It said that they could not deal with her without a power of attorney from me. (They attached a power of attorney for me to complete and return.). What a crock!! They are happy enough to deal with Amex when they're booking my flight (as they did in this case) but not when making a refund. I am not amused!
MCD - I think I have seen this plot in a movie. 😀 Hope it works out. Keep us posted, I hate not seeing an entire movie.
I found out my September “Treasures ...” trip was cancelled on May 26th when I called Tauck because my flight to Nice was now going to Paris. She said, no problem ... you’re not going. All of the funds for the Treasures trip were transferred to my next trip except for the air which was on a Lufthansa ticket, and booked by Tauck. I received the refund yesterday (June 2) ... seven or eight days. My next trip I booked myself because I’m using ‘miles’, but I think future ‘cash’ trips I will book with Tauck.