Help with terrible Lufthansa experience

This sounds like a very unpleasant experience. I'm sorry you experienced this. How long ago did this happen?

Rose, what an awful experience! Try this site (scroll way down for the link to the form) to see if they can be of help. Forum members have had some success with this non-profit. Best wishes.
https://www.elliott.org

Who did you book this flight with? Was it directly with Lufthansa or was there a third party involved?

I ask because while I can find the flights that allow the 1 hour connection I can't actually book them on their website.

If this was actually one ticket booked via the airline then you have a valid refund request as the minimum connection time legally there is one hour.

Did you ask Luftansa about rebooking you then or did you just book the next flight to Marrakech? If they had moved you to a new flight and you just missed that then.... things don't look great.

Have you tried just calling? 800 645-3880

Did you fill out this form? https://www.lufthansa.com/us/en/compensation-in-the-event-of-flight-irregularities Or this one? https://www.lufthansa.com/us/en/refund

(I can't even find a fax # on their website and it's not really the preferred method any longer. I suspect you may not be faxing an active "fax")

Still not sure what happened. Were you on one ticket or two separate tickets? We have missed connecting flights with Lufthansa and they put us on the next available flight. Not the most convenient but got us there a few hours later. We did miss a flight as your described where they were busing from the gate to the tarmac. In that case they put us on two flight legs on different airlines to get us there. We arrive four hours late and more exhaustive but they were cooperative.

When Lufthansa cancelled our flights six weeks out from our holiday and then offered to rebook the same flights for an extra $3000-. I just went on the Lufthansa Facebook page and posted comments wherever I could about our experience. I also just kept messaging them via Facebook. We got our money back within about 10 days.

https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/file-consumer-complaint

Another place to try to leverage your quest for compensation.

A long, long long-shot might be to call your credit card company and see if they are sympathetic and will do a charge back. (assuming you paid by credit card)

Scroll through this European Union site on passenger rights and claims. One of these official claims usually gets action. https://transport.ec.europa.eu/transport-themes/passenger-rights_en

And more directly: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/air/index_en.htm

And here is the German National Authority: https://transport.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2022-10/2004_261_national_enforcement_bodies-2022-10.pdf

DO NOT call your credit card (yet) as that will muddy the waters and hold up any refund. Furthermore, the tickets were partially used. Please let us know how this turns out.
Friends in a similar situation with Austrian Air got immediate results through the National Authority.

but the bottom line is - there has apparently been no communication with Lufthansa. You really have to find a way to get hold of them and give them a chance to sort it out before calling in the big guns.

Or have I misread the post? Can you come back with a little detail? We'd love to help.

Could you give us your actual flight itinerary? Also, did you book with separate tickets?

Here’s the big thing- all these suggestions to contact all these regulatory agencies are only going to work if this was actually sold by the airline as one ticket and we don’t know that. The way the story unfolds it it looks like it’s possible that it wasn’t sold that way and that’s why I asked the questions. When you look on the airline website this can't be purchased this way at least today. The flights exist but the airline won't sell this routing.

If it was sold as two tickets, so you have a ticket from San Francisco to Frankfurt, followed by a subsequent to get from Frankfurt to Marrakesh, then it was doomed from the start. If the airline requires you to be at the gate 45 minutes or something before the flight and you didn’t make it you’re not entitled to anything it’s on you.

And the real risk is, that somebody might buy something like this from an online agency not realizing it was a two ticket transaction. There are a lot of agencies out there that will do this kind of thing to you. They give you a deal on flights that are basically impossible to make. That's why you should buy direct and if the "cheap airfare fairy" promises you a "great deal" that the airline won't give you....... run!

That's very true, but unless the OP was doing carry-on only, she would have had to claim luggage and recheck in if it had been two separate tickets. There's no mention of that or passport control, or...?

So, you are both right, she needs to clarify the ticketing with us, get something in writing from Lufthansa, and then the OP may be in a position to contact the national agency.

Thank you everyone for your responses. I'll copy the links that some of you have suggested and go from there. But to answer a few questions... the flight left SFO on November 9th, and yes I booked the two seats (same ticket) directly with Lufthansa. It was a RT flight from SFO to Marrakech with a stop each way in Frankfurt. However, the airline sent an email a couple of months ago saying that they were changing their return, to Marrakech-Frankfurt-Munich-SFO, and we could then request a refund for the entire ticket or we could say it's ok with us. I wish i had selected refund then but replied it was ok.
Then we had a problem with seating, apparently because the flight was now from Munich we had to pay an additional $60 for seats, which i paid... 2 or 3 times, since it never got onto their website for some reason. (We were only charged once in the end.)

I was nervous about that 1 hour layover, i don't usually fly that close and i'd called to ask about it but was assured that it was fine, but i did upgrade to Premium Economy anyway to be early off the plane. We had to wait a bit for the first bus which took us to some part of the terminal but the sign getting off the bus said if you needed sections "B" or "C" we needed to take the second bus which we did. Then walked yet a long way to "C" section. To the person who wrote that the airline said there wouldn't be another security line... there most certainly was!!!
When we got there, it took 25 minutes to get through. I talked with the agent at the gate who told me to check online for a cancellation and refund. I called Lufthansa from the airport thinking we might stay the night and get on the next day flight, but the agent told me that we "were within the allotted 45 minutes transfer time" as i said above. Apparently Lufthansa has a time written down that they feel works for connections and that would have been fine if both planes were at the same place and there was no security line. That was not the case. I realized that dealing with Lufthansa would take longer, and i needed to meet my husband that night so we left on the new flight. The next morning I did look online (before the flight that i could have taken with them had they honored the reason i missed the flight) and my return flight to SFO was no longer listed. They made it seem like i had only booked a one way to Frankfurt.
Subsequent calls to Lufthansa have not been helpful. All they say is that everything must be done online. I have called the number someone mentioned above probably 20 times. I can't do anything online when my flight doesn't exist. The only way is to try and talk with someone to explain what happened and how clearly it was humanly impossible to make that flight. However, i haven't found any way to do this, except somewhere on their website i found an address in N.Y. with a fax for letters for refunds and also for customer service complaints. I faxed both and yes, apparently i'm not the only one with problems with Lufthansa because the faxes are not working. I've sent the letters registered to the addresses, but at this point am not hopeful. Someone mentioned writing to the DOT which i'll do, also i'll go onto Lufthansa FB page, thank you for that recommendation.
All comments appreciated.

I’m so sorry that this happened to you. Earlier this year I had an issue that I could not resolve through the regular Lufthansa 1(800) number or the Lufthansa app. I searched the web for alternatives and found the very specific
“Lufthansa Customer Service” app in the Apple App Store, downloaded it and found this number - 1 (833) 240-1426. My issue was resolved within 24 hours. Good luck.

Scroll through this European Union site on passenger rights and
claims. One of these official claims usually gets action.
https://transport.ec.europa.eu/transport-themes/passenger-rights_en

Those are great, but in this case you really need to check if they apply.

Lesson learned: minimum 2 hour layover, 2.5 is better. Especially FRA. What a zoo. 3 hiurs LHR or ChuckyD. I never missed a connection, but got tired of running with 1 hour layovers. Sometimes going to Budapest I get a choice of 1 hour or 14 hours in Istanbul. They have a nice cheap hotel in the gate area and I show up in Budapest bright and early the next morning we'll rested and ready to play.

But something else has to be going on that we or you missed along the way. Over the years we had a number of missed, tight connections just like what you described. But the airline -- including Lufthansa -- always found a way to route on the final stop. I am concerned that the 45 min time frame sounds like a domestic transfer and not international. No way can anyone switch from an international flight to a domestic within hour anywhere in the world. Good luck -- something is not square.

Frank, they can in Munich……..

It sounds like they were rebooked for the following day but instead left the same day with a different airline. When they hadn't checked in on time the following day, the computer cancelled the rest of the itinerary. Ouch.

To Bets, yes we left that night on a different airline because we were given to understand that "nothing could be done", that it was our fault that we missed the flight. When I called Lufthansa several times both from the airport and later however, no one mentioned that we could re-book, it wasn't online when i looked, and there was no indication or communication that they would cancel (or had canceled) our return flight. To this date i've had no communication about this or any return of money, even though i've tried in numerous ways to contact them, filling out the feedback forms online, sending letters, phone calls. I agree that it was the computer that canceled us... but is that ok to do without notice or without any way to talk to someone about the reason? I'll contact DOT from here.
Thanks again everyone.

Your mistake was not going to the Transfer Desk to let them rebook you. They could have eaisly seen where LH 454 or is it 455 from SFO arrived. Let me also say this if you ever are in this situation with a tight connection ring your call button or approach a Flight Attendant to have the cockpit radio ground ops to get a shuttle. You can also request Special Services where a mobility golf cart takes you or a bus directly to. the next flight and help you get through security .

If there is a delay and they know you are on your way they will hold the next flight.

Hope this helps.

To Daniel and AMann, I agree with AMann. We were In Premium Economy and were able to get off the plane early. I've flown with numerous other airlines lately and this idea from Daniel might have worked with several of them, I doubt with Lufthansa. The woman managing the 25 minute security line would not let us go ahead either.
In any case, I'll be deleting this post soon.. the way we handled this issue was when i finally got the Lufthansa CEO's addresses, wrote about our experience and told them I had already contacted DOT and my husband wanted to take them to small claims court. A few hours later I finally got an email saying that they were working on getting our money back from the flights they canceled. We'll see, but I'm hopeful.

I am glad you feel there is movement towards getting a resolution!

In any case, I'll be deleting this post soon..

don't do that. All the knowledge gained will be lost and somebody in your position, or a similar one, in the future won't have the benefit.

At least let others gain from your difficulties - it is like paying it forward. And we don't know who you are so there's nothing pubic about it... there must be thousands of Roses in California, including my niece