no refund Lufthansa cancellation

I assume your mother is not traveling with you but you and your travel companion want to cancel due to your mother’s health. A very understandable decision, but likely not qualified for refund under the Lufthansa contract of carriage. A polite request might get you a refund from a sympathetic agent, but no guarantee. Sorry for your situation.

Do you have trip insurance?

Sorry about your mother's health problems. I'm sure it's stressful.

But when you bought your tickets, did you buy a non-refundable fare? What does your booking confirmation email state under "Fare Conditions"? I'm afraid if you purchased a non-refundable fare, it means just that: non-refundable. it's sort of how non-refundable flights and hotel reservations work (and why my husband and I almost never book stuff we can't change or cancel without a big penalty).

Did you purchase trip insurance? If so, you might see if that might cover some of the expense, although as your mother's health conditions are pre-existing, it probably won't help help you. You probably needed a "Cancel for any reason" policy. Hope someone else has helpful insights for you regarding insurance.

https://www.lufthansa.com/be/en/cancellations-and-refunds

Not to be morbid but except if your mother dies, there is little recourse for getting a non-refundable ticket refunded. You can call and ask Lufthansa but your travel insurance would probably be the best way to be reimbursed.

What iS YOUR COVERAGE under your credit card you used to book the air? ( (sorry for the caps). Good luck!

You will be able to claim this on your trip cancellation insurance policy.
Or…through the insurance provided by your credit card that you bought the flights with.
All you need is an official letter from your mother’s doctor that she is so ill that you cannot take your trip.
My husband got very ill one year just before our trip, and we did just that and got all the money refunded within 10 days from the airline and also apartments I had rented.
Our doctor happily wrote a letter for us.
Best of luck, I’m so sorry your Mum is ill.

I am so sorry to hear this.

Unfortunately, I don’t think there is any way that Lufthansa will be flexible and offer a refund.

You need to look at the specific terms of the travel insurance or credit card coverage offered to see if this is covered. It sounds to me that in SJ’s case her husband was a travel partner and therefore named in the insurance policy. Cancellation coverage for a non-traveling family member may have different terms and requirements. Including time requirements for a pre-existing condition.

If you can confirm there is coverage, that is good. If it turns out you do not have travel insurance, and the credit card used to purchase the tix does not offer it, then the option of re-booking for a later date is reasonable. But I would choose a time I might actually want to go, like October (a great time to visit Italy). Then you have something you will want to use if there are no schedule changes which enable a refund.

And if you do -re-book, make sure you get travel insurance right away so any pre-existing conditions (your or any family member’s) are covered for purposes of cancellation. You can just get the insurance for the actual cost of the tickets if you want; that will keep the cost down.

Try to get a sympathetic agent. Hang up and call again a few times even. But if that doesn't work, "bump and run" is probably your best bet. Bump the trip out as far as you can, preferably to a flight that is likely to get changed. (This may take a little research but maybe someone can help.) Then when the flight change inevitably happens, you will be due a refund.
This is a frowned-upon practice, but it works.

Agree that you are unlikely to have any luck getting a refund, no matter how friendly/sympathetic an agent you might get. Policies are policies, and front-line agents are generally not empowered enough (that's an understatement) to override clear company policies, and this sounds like it would be crystal clear (and not in your favor).

Celeste's suggestion above of "bump and run" might offer your best chance for a refund. Re-schedule your outbound flight for a day when there's a higher-than-usual chance of a schedule change - I'd try a day or two before Thanksgiving. Between now and then, there's a pretty good chance there will be schedule changes (maybe several times), potentially allowing you to cancel for a refund.

A lot of good suggestions in this thread. I find myself curious. Are there travel insurance policies out there that you could still purchase that will allow you to cancel if the ill family member has pre-existing conditions? There just might be! You don't know until you search.

I found this article extremely informative.
https://www.tripinsurance.com/does-travel-insurance-cover-you-if-a-parent-is-sick

edited to add: I know just how painful it is to watch a parent decline. My heart goes out to you.

No, my husband wasn’t my travel partner that time.
(See above.).
He was going to a conference back East, and I was going to Italy at the same time with my friend from Scotland.
He became ill two weeks beforehand, so I cancelled his trip and mine.
Our credit card travel insurance repaid everything for both trips.
Both trip were booked entirely by credit cards, we each have our own on separate accounts.
Our doctor and the hospital my husband was in wrote explanatory letters and the travel insurance company was happy with those.
Our doctor even wrote one for my friend in Scotland, as she wouldn’t travel without me, and needed proof of why I had cancelled the Italy trip which included her.

Susan: I hope you will find time to let us know how you resolved this.

Susan, here is some advice from a travel agent (me). if you haven’t canceled the flights yet you may want to wait. Even if you’re not going to take the trip, I would suggest waiting to cancel until a couple days before travel. Lufthansa has been making a lot of schedule changes lately. If you get one on your itinerary that is significant your ticket may qualify for a refund. Just a thought/suggestion.

Many thanks for all your advice and support.
Luckily, I was able to get a full refund due to a major itinerary change made by Lufthansa as mentioned in one or more of the replies.

If anyone is interested in 2 tickets for the Pope's Easter Sunday mass, send me a private message. I requested 2 tickets and our names were required to make the request, but the email response makes no reference to our names. Nevertheless, identification may be needed to claim the tickets, although this is not indicated. In any case, it's worth trying if you are interested since we won't be able to use the tickets.

Amex was able to get me out of a ticket because they read the fine print and it said a change of more than 2 hours made it cancellable. But that was me.

Also if you do some Google for Lufthansa and refunds you'll see they have been in the news

Susan, I'm so pleased to hear that you were able to get a refund. The advice to cross fingers for a potential flight schedule change evidently was golden!

Good news!
Now you can devote your time to your family.