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Lufthansa sues passenger who missed his flight

Soumis
 
A method commonly used by airline passengers to get cheaper fares is at the center of a court row between a German airline and one of its customers. Lufthansa has taken a passenger, who didn't show up for the last leg of his ticketed journey, to court in an apparent bid to clamp down on "hidden city" ticketing. The practice involves passengers leaving their journey at a layover point, instead of making a final connection. (edition.cnn.com) Plus d'info...

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Fuhndhu
Fuhndhu 3
Agree with Mike.
I go to a supermarket, and avail myself of a buy-two-get-one-free offer. I only get through two and a half of what I've bought and throw the rest away. Will I be sued for not consuming everything I've bought?
Only justification for suing would be the point raised by Andre Duijnmayer.
Case law needs to be established that means, if you play the system, created by the airlines, provided you tell them you're dropping out, you can't be touched.
MikeMohle
Mike Mohle 5
If the airlines did not offer this type of pricing, travelers could not attempt to take advantage of it! Only the airlines can fix this. Why should it cost LESS to fly an extra leg? It makes no sense.
cwhitt
Makes no sense to you maybe, but makes plenty of sense to the airlines, or they wouldn't do it. Also known as supply-and-demand, a well-known feature of capitalist economies. Some routes have more competition, airlines lower price to compete. Other routes have higher demand, airlines raise prices to increase profit. Sometimes the higher-demand route is a shorter segment within the longer, higher competition route, which leads to the situation of paying less to take an onward connecting flight.

Their plane, their rules. You buy a ticket between two endpoints, not on a specific route or a specific flight. You can argue for airlines to price each segment the same for all buyers regardless of their origin or final destination, but I don't think you'll like how that will work out in the big picture.
davegeden
David Geden 2
Airlines overbook so we will wreak vengeance by gaming the system. If a system can be gamed , then it is your solemn duty to game it to highlight the inadequacies of the system to what are increasingly useless , dictatorial airlines. Never mind the security annoyance.
KobeHunte
Kobe Hunte 3
If you miss your flight inadvertabtly, what can you do? Get sued? yes!
michaelblain
Michael Blain 3
I know this is Germany and I am not sure the basis of their contract law. In Australia and other common law countries I can’t see how this action would succeed. I am struggling to understand what loss the airline suffered because he did not travel the last leg. By him not getting on the plane no loss was suffered. Arguably a small saving in fuel and beverages? Now the airline may choose not to contract with him in the future on the basis of a likely breach of contract but as I point out no loss as suffered. What’s the rules in Germany? Do you get sued by McDonald’s if you decide not to eat the fries that came with your Value meal?
drichardson1
They tried it once with me in Germany. The rule is that if you buy a ticket that requires certain conditions and then use the ticket assuming different conditions, then they can sue you for the cost difference between a ticket valid for what you actually did and the ticket that you actually bought. In my case, I bought a non-rebookable, non-refundable ticket and missed the return flight. I upset them about another topic and then a lawyer called me and threatened to sue me for the price difference between a one-way ticket and the discount ticket that I bought unless I withdraw my other complaint.
Duijn
Andre Duijnmayer -2
There's not enough detail about the courtcase, but the most likely scenario is that the passenger checked in for the 'total' flight, but had no intention to show up for the last leg, AND, did not notify the airline that he couldn't 'make' the last leg. So the pane was probably delayed because they were waiting for him?
I think if he had notified the airline, none of this would have happened.
tomlindeman
Tom Lindeman 1
Luckily, although I live in Europe, I don't need to fly Lufthansa. Haven't done it for quite a time. There are cheaper ones, selling flights leg by leg, one way also. Lufthansa hasn't noticed the world has changed.
rivale
If he did inform the airline would he have got a refund? And would the airline sell his seat again? I think the answer would be no and yes for the latter.
Cansojr
Cansojr -1
Why should an airline pick-up the cost of a missed flight. It's printed on the ticket for pete-sake. But I forgot this generation this generation has trouble reading.
Cansojr
Cansojr -1
The last three words were repeated on purpose above.
bristolgeoff
Geoff Davies 0
I wonder what reason for missing the flight.most people want to make there flight to wherever.now they use them over the top I think one customer lost
Highflyer1950
Highflyer1950 0
Go back and re-read the first paragraph of the article.......there is your answer!
TorstenHoff
Torsten Hoff -3
To me, "missed" means he tried to make the flight but didn't arrive in time before the gate closed.

This passenger never tried to make the flight, and tried to game the system.

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