I just had an interesting experience involving a downgrade on a Lufthansa first class ticket (booked using miles), and figured I’d report back with what happened. I’ve redeemed miles for Lufthansa first class a countless number of times, but this was a first for me…
My dad’s downgraded Lufthansa first class ticket
On Tuesday, my dad was scheduled to fly from Boston to Munich to Frankfurt in Lufthansa first class. I booked him the ticket using Air Canada Aeroplan points, and booked around three days before departure. For what it’s worth, there was also award availability on the nonstop Boston to Frankfurt flight in first class. However, I booked him the connecting itinerary for two reasons:
- The Munich route was operated by an A380, while the Frankfurt route was operated by an A340, and the former is a more fun experience
- My dad is open to a detour if it’s fun, so this would allow him to have a nice layover in the Lufthansa First Class Lounge Munich
Anyway, on Monday evening, just under 24 hours before departure, I received a call from a number in Germany (my phone number and email are on my dad’s reservation, since I handle travel for my family). I didn’t answer, since I didn’t recognize the number. But after searching the number online, I saw that Lufthansa was calling.
No voicemail was left, but I figured it must involve my dad’s itinerary, since it’s the only Lufthansa travel my family has planned. So after pulling up the reservation online, I saw what happened — the Boston to Munich flight for that day was downgraded from an A380 to an A350, with the latter not having a first class cabin. As a result, he was downgraded to business class.
What you’re entitled to for a first class downgrade
Before contacting Lufthansa, I of course spent a bit of time researching options, and reviewing relevant regulations. Keep in mind that since Lufthansa is a German airline, it’s subjected to the EU261 passenger rights policy, which also contains rules regarding downgrades.
Under EU261 rules, you’re entitled to reimbursement of 75% of your ticket price if you’re downgraded on flights of over 3,500 kilometers. As you’d expect, this gets a bit tricky with award tickets, and gets especially tricky with partner award tickets, and I imagine it could be a bit of a battle.
Of course as an alternative, you’re also entitled to be rebooked on the next available flight in the class of service that you booked. If this rebooking would lead to a considerable delay in your arrival time, you’d also be entitled to delay compensation for the rebooking, which can be up to €600.
Lufthansa also seems to voluntarily offer cash compensation for accepting a downgrade. I read online that in the event that you’re downgraded from first class on an award ticket, Lufthansa generally offers €1,050 cash compensation (the airline offers larger amounts for tickets booked with cash). Now, it’s not entirely clear to me whether that’s in lieu of the 75% reimbursement for the downgrade, or in addition to.
As you can see, there were quite a few options to consider…
How I handled this Lufthansa downgrade situation
As tempting as it was to accept the downgrade to business class, I advised my dad against it:
- It’s a special trip for him, as he hasn’t traveled long haul in quite some time, and I know he enjoys the first class experience
- He was positioning to Boston to take advantage of this award space, and if he had wanted to fly business class, I would have found something straight out of Tampa on Discover Airlines
Alternatively, it might seem tempting to try to get Lufthansa to rebook him the following day and to get the €600 delay compensation. However, he would’ve had to spend a night in Boston at his own expense, and I also already had hotels booked for him in Germany. So that only seemed marginally worthwhile, especially with the current travel chaos.
For me, the question came down to how I could make the journey most fun for him. Now, the most obvious option was for him to be rebooked on the nonstop Boston to Frankfurt flight in first class, since that had availability. However, we could have booked that in the first place and chose not to, because I wanted him to have a bit more fun.
I figured I’d try a different angle. Lufthansa Group owns both Lufthansa and SWISS, and during irregular operations, passengers can easily be rebooked between airlines. It’s usually not possible to redeem partner miles for SWISS first class, so I thought this would be a cool opportunity for him to fly SWISS first class, and visit the amazing SWISS first class lounges in Zurich. There was plenty of availability, and it can’t hurt to ask.
So I eventually got in touch with Lufthansa’s first class hotline, and they explained the options. They said they could offer him €1,050 cash compensation and business class on the same flight he was booked on, or they could rebook him on the nonstop Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt in first class.
I asked the agent if my dad could instead be rebooked on SWISS in first class through Zurich. I didn’t provide a reason (though I was trying to come up with one, other than “he’s looking to have some fun”). To my surprise, the agent didn’t hesitate at all, and said that wouldn’t be a problem.
She proposed an itinerary with a roughly one hour layover, and I asked if a layover of five hours was possible instead. She gladly rebooked him on whatever flights he wanted, and moments later, I had the updated confirmation.
For the past many hours, I’ve quite been enjoying the live trip report via text message! And to think that my dad didn’t know how to use a cell phone until several years ago…
Bottom line
I dealt with a Lufthansa first class downgrade for the first time. I redeemed miles for my dad to fly Lufthansa first class, but the aircraft was downgraded at the last minute to one without first class. It was interesting to go through this process and see the options firsthand, as this was the first time I’ve faced something like this, in all my years of frequently flying Lufthansa first class.
I’m not sure there was a right or wrong approach here, but I’d say flying SWISS first class across the Atlantic with Aeroplan points is a pretty cool opportunity.
How would you have handled this Lufthansa first class downgrade situation?
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