I’m soliciting feedback from people who have some experience negotiating with airlines. In February, I bought a plane ticket from Ottawa to Bologna with Lufthansa, with return trip on June 20. (I’ve since come back to Canada on a different ticket, but the June 20 date was because I knew I’d attend a conference in Italy from June 16 to June 19. So I will be there on June 20.)
Since then, I’ve heard of a conference in Münster, Germany, from June 21 to 26 which it would be a good idea for my to attend. I’ve called Lufthansa to check how much it would cost to postpone my trip. They’ve told me that they charge $250 (Canadian) just to change the reservation, plus whatever the difference between the old and new ticket is. I guess I expected that it would be expensive.
This said, I’ve looked at one-way trips from Europe to Canada, and I’ve found a ticket from Rome to Montreal on Air Transat for only $217. This is actually not as out of my way as it seems, as I didn’t get to visit Rome when I last was in Italy so taking a few days to see it is a good idea. So I’m thinking of calling Lufthansa again, asking for a change of ticket from Rome to Ottawa or Montreal at the end of June, and making the following points:
[ul]
[li]I can buy a whole new ticket for less than their change of reservation fee;[/li][li]if I am to go to this conference in Münster and then fly back from Rome, I will need to buy transportation from Bologna to Münster and then Münster to Rome. For this, Lufthansa is actually one of my possible choices; I’ve checked Ryanair and similar companies but I haven’t found a flight with them that fits my schedule.[/li][/ul]
So in other words, if Lufthansa agrees to waive or at least severely reduce the change of reservation fee (I’m quite sure I’d have to speak to a supervisor for this), they will actually get me to buy an extra plane ticket. For those of you who have experience with these sorts of things, do you think I have a case? And if so, what would you suggest I say? Or is it hopeless and should I just buy the Air Transat ticket and thank God that I was able to find a relatively cheap transatlantic ticket?