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INBOX YOUR LETTERS
COMPENSATION CONSTERNATION
I loveBusiness Travellermagazine, and I always read the
letters where people have complaints about airlines and
the magazine helps to get an answer. I never realised
this same thing would happen to me.
Once a year, we take a trip to Europe for a skiing
holiday. Throughout the years, f lights have been
cancelled due to bad weather, but we have always been
put on another f light – either to the same destination
on a later f light, or on to another destination where
we might then have to get to our final destination by
train or car. This year, four of us booked our f lights
from Copenhagen (CPH) to Innsbruck (INN) via
Frankfurt (FRA) on a single booking through the
Lufthansa website. Our first f light from CPH to FRA
was with Lu hansa and the FRA-INN f light was
with Austrian Airlines. Our Lufthansa f light was fine,
but when we got to FRA, we found out our Austrian
f light was cancelled a er waiting for two hours, at
which point we were told to go to the Lufthansa
ticketing office to be rebooked. The person at the First
Class Lufthansa ticketing desk helped us retrieve our
checked luggage, and told us we would be reimbursed
by Austrian Airlines and that she had made plans for
us to make it to our destination on the same day using
alternative transport. We ended up having to take
an almost six-hour train via Munich to Innsbruck in
first class, because these were the only seats available.
Due to our late arrival into Innsbruck train station,
we had missed all bus transfers from Innsbruck to our
final destination, Obergurgl, so we had to hire a car
from Jamtransfer to take us up the mountain for €
(US$170) and only arrived at our final destination of
Obergurgl Ski Resort close to midnight!
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to edit letters.TELL US ABOUT YOUR TRAVELS AT EDITORIAL BUSINESSTRAVELLERASIA.COMJULY/AUGUST 2019 businesstraveller.comReading through the Passenger Rights on the
Austrian Airlines website, we can see that we
are entitled to the following reimbursements:
I (a). A full reimbursement of the cancelled
f light (four tickets) from Frankfurt to
Innsbruck on ight OS282 on January 5, 2019;
and IV. (a) €250 (US$280) per person for
the cancelled f light, since it is under 1,500km
in distance.
However, the reply from Austrian
Airlines is that Lufthansa should be the ones
compensating us. They forwarded our claims
to Lufthansa, but Lufthansa replied saying
they do not have to compensate us because the
cancellation was due to bad weather! I am sure
Lufthansa owes us compensation. Our f light to
Innsbruck was cancelled and we were told to go
to the Lufthansa ticketing to get rebooked on
the next available f light. When we were at the
First Class ticketing desk, the lady advised us
to make our way via alternative transport and
even suggested we go by rail. We were actually
trying to be rebooked on the next f light to
Zurich, which would have been closer to our
final destination, but she refused and urged
us to go by train, reassuring us we would be
compensated for our transportation costs. If
she hadn’t told us we would be compensated,
we would not have requested to get our bags
out at Frankfurt to make the rest of our journey
by train, which took more than six hours for
€600 (US$671) for four of us! We would
have instead requested to be put on the next
available f light and the airline would be liable
to compensate us for other expenses. The lady
at the ticketing desk told us Austrian would
pay for our alternative transport, telling us
to write in. Now that we have, Austrian says
Lufthansa is liable. And now they are trying to