Lufthansa chases one blow after another: after the company was sued by the consumer association, it cancels all flights to this travel destination.
Lufthansa cancels all flights to India
Lufthansa will have to cancel all flights to India between September 30 and October 20, 2020, as reported by the Airliners portal.
However, the reason for this is a
decision by the Indian authorities
, as Lufthansa had informed the portal.
However, it has nothing to do with Corona: The country India sees itself at a disadvantage compared to entering Germany.
Around 20 weekly flights have been canceled.
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Heavy blows for Lufthansa: consumer association sued companies for non-refunded tickets
In the dispute over non-refunded flight tickets that has been going on for months, the
consumer advice center Baden-Württemberg has
now
sued Lufthansa
.
The consumer advocates accused Germany's largest airline on Monday of "disguising and delaying" repayments.
Lufthansa stated that the group did not comment on ongoing proceedings;
However, the airline referred to reimbursements to 6.6 million customers by mid-September worth around 2.8 billion euros.
The
consumer advocates initially requested Germany's largest airline
to cease and desist to inform consumers of their rights, not to withhold the right to a refund and to repay the flight price within the statutory period.
The company did not respond to the warning, so the consumer organization brought an action before the Cologne Regional Court.
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The legal regulation is clear, emphasized the consumer advice center: If a provider cancels flights that have already been paid for, he must inform his customers that they
can claim
their
money back or voluntarily accept a voucher
.
If consumers decide to repay, the company must reimburse the flight price within seven days.
However, consumer complaints showed that Lufthansa is currently hardly adhering to these regulations.
With its behavior, Lufthansa is trying
"by all means" to prevent the reimbursement of flight tickets that have already been paid
, that is the impression of the consumer association.
"Consumers who do not know that they are entitled to a refund are misled by the wrong information," criticized the travel expert at the consumer advice center, Oliver Buttler.
Even if the corona pandemic is currently affecting many providers in the travel industry severely: A company that is massively supported by state funds should not shirk its responsibility and its legal obligations.
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Lufthansa stated that the
complaint had not yet reached the group
.
The number of ticket refunds that are still open has fallen to 900,000 transactions.
On average, 1,800 reimbursements per hour were paid out in the past week.
However, more and more reimbursement claims arise "continuously" because flights have to be canceled or passengers are canceled.
"Lufthansa is currently receiving three times as many applications as there were before the pandemic."
Therefore, the number of open reimbursement applications will continue to develop "dynamically" - continue to decrease in the coming weeks, but never reach zero.
Consumer advice center sued Lufthansa: the court date has not yet been set
According to the consumer advice center,
a
date for the hearing
at the Cologne district court has not yet been set.
The consumer advocates criticized the fact that repayment and communication are also going badly with many other travel and flight providers.
The consumer advice center is therefore currently taking action against several other providers who do not or only insufficiently inform consumers about their right to a refund or who refuse to pay back completely.
Several companies have since issued a cease and desist declaration;
Lawsuits were filed in six cases, including Eurowings and DER Touristik, and more are being prepared.
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According to the Deutsche Richterzeitung,
significantly more flight customers have turned on the judiciary
in
recent weeks
because airlines or tour operators have often still not reimbursed the costs for canceled trips.
According to a survey, the number of travel contract matters in the district courts at ten major airport locations in Germany has recently risen sharply.
In the first eight months of this year around 45,000 proceedings were received by the ten local courts surveyed - despite a procedural gap of several weeks in the spring.
Since June, the incoming numbers in travel matters have been back at the high level they were before the Corona crisis.
In the previous record year of 2019, all nationally competent local courts had recorded a total of around 100,000 travel matters.
(sca / afp) * Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen editorial network.
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