Lufthansa Reluctant Refunds - volcanic ash cancellations

[pilothouse]

I work for Jet2. When the ash clouds appeared and Jet2 started to cancel flights, jet2.com displayed a prominent notice to this effect: try calling us to rebook and, if you can't get through, book a new flight and we will refund the price of the REPLACEMENT flight. I thought this was very fair, and must have put thousands of minds at rest.

Lufthansa seem to have had a different approach:

1. Relegate volcanic ash disruption to a tiny corner of their website
2. Offer no guidance whatsoever on how to rebook a cancelled flight
3. Offer no adviced whatsoever on the refund procedure for cancelled flights
4. Disconnect all phone lines
5. Remove email customer service

Thus the only way to rebook was to buy a completely new ticket over the internet at - surprise, surprise - a much higher price. Most people would have assumed that they would be refunded, just as Jet2 was offering.

Now, several months down the line, I find that:

1. Everything for the UK is dealt with by Customer Service in Liverpool, who have a policy of refusing to reply to ALL emails requesting refunds
2. Refunds are eventually being made, but only for the cancelled flights, not the replacements
3. Bypassing Liverpool and emailling Germany results in a brush-off, to the effect that email assistance is only for technical matters (rubbish)

Whilst I am sympathetic about the huge workload that volcanic ash cancellations have created for airlines, I am appalled that what should be a reputable flag carrier should behave like this.

I imagine that many business travellers, who are not spending their own money, will give up. Result - a huge but immoral revenue stream for Lufthansa.

I expect that cost-conscious leisure travellers like me will fight on, and not let go until this mean attitude is exposed.