Incident in Brussels - Lufthansa Group offers rebooking and refund possibilities

Due to two explosions on 22 March 2016, Brussels Airport is currently closed.

• Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, SWISS and Eurowings cancel all flights from/to Brussels scheduled up to and including Tuesday, 5 April 2016.
• Please check brusselsairlines.com for updated schedules of Brussels Airlines. Special handling policy for flights operated by Brussels Airlines can be found below on this page.
• Selected Lufthansa flights between Frankfurt and Brussels and Munich and Brussels have been rerouted from/to Liege (LGG). All rerouted flights will be displayed in the GDS and on LH.com (“Flight status”). Brussels Airlines offers passengers a complimentary shuttle bus connection between Brussels and Liège. This bus operates up to 13 times daily. Further information about the bus schedule is available on the Brussels Airlines website.

All passengers are requested to check the status of their flight at LH.com before setting out on their journey.

► Flight status request for individual flights

Lufthansa passengers who have saved their mobile phone number in their customer profile will be notified about relevant cancellations by text message.

Lufthansa has installed a shuttle bus connection between Frankfurt Airport and Brussels, to provide customers with reliable transportation between the two cities despite the flight cancellations. Busses for the time being will operate seven times daily. The bus departure and arrival points and the departure times from Frankfurt and Brussels are currently planned as follows:

• Frankfurt Airport departures from P32, Bus Station/Terminal 1 (arrivals level) at 08:00 /10:00 / 12:00 / 14:00 / 16:00 / 18:00 / 20:00.
  
  
• Brussels departures from Boulevard du Centenaire (near the Atomium) at 06:00 / 08:00 / 10:00 / 12:00 / 14:00 / 16:00.

Any changes to these arrangements will be published on LH.com.

These shuttle buses can be used by any customers holding a ticket for a flight to or from Brussels on any Lufthansa Group airline (Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa, Brussels Airlines, SWISS or Eurowings).

Passengers who are booked as unaccompanied minors, as travelling with wheelchair assistance or as travelling with a pet are kindly asked to use the Lufthansa flight connection from and to Liege instead of the bus shuttle. These special services can only be provided on the flight connection.   

Exchanging an air ticket for a train ticket
Additionally, passengers can receive a Deutsche Bahn train ticket in exchange for tickets they hold for flights between Brussel and Munich or Frankfurt. This type of train ticket is only valid for Deutsche Bahn ICE trains to and from Brussels Midi station and not for Thalys trains or Belgian railways.

To download a train ticket, please refer to the following links:

» https://www.lufthansa.com/de/de/Good-For-Train (Deutsch)
» https://www.lufthansa.com/uk/en/Good-For-Train (English)
» https://www.lufthansa.com/fr/fr/Good-For-Train (Francaise)

Part 1 – Lufthansa rules for rebooking/reissue/refund for cancelled flights

Customers affected by a flight cancellation can rebook free of charge or have their ticket refunded. You are welcome to make rebookings/reissues for cancelled Lufthansa flights yourself in accordance with the Lufthansa Standard INVOL rules.

In addition to the standard INVOL rules, the following special regulations apply during the airport closure in Brussels:

• On request of the passenger, the change of origin/destination is permitted to airports close to Brussels (BRU)
• That means: passengers holding a ticket from/to BRU may be rebooked/rerouted to airports in Belgium or to CGN, DUS, PAR, AMS, LUX, FRA.
• Ground transportation from/to these airports must be organized and paid for by the passengers and cost will not be reimbursed. The passengers must be duly informed about this.
• For tickets reissued based on this rule, an approval/waiver by Lufthansa Group will be absolutely essential
• This derogation is only valid during the closure of Brussels Airport

Part 2 – Goodwill policy for rebooking/reissue of flights which are not cancelled

Please note: The Lufthansa Standard INVOL rules only apply to flights which have already been cancelled. For all other flights, the following goodwill rules apply:

New: Goodwill policy for rebooking/reissue of flights which have not been cancelled

Any passenger with a booked Lufthansa/SWISS/Austrian Airlines/Brussels Airlines/Eurowings flight on a LH/LX/OS/SN document to/from Brussels up to 7 April 2016 whose flight is not cancelled and whose ticket was issued up to and including 1 April 2016, may rebook once free of charge.

The following rules apply to these rebookings:

• Rebooking on an alternative Lufthansa Group flight/connection (flight number and operated by: LH, LX, OS, SN, EW, 4U) – in the original booking class or alternatively within the same class of carriage. Please note: Lufthansa booking classes G/E/N must not be used for rebooking of Economy Class passengers since G/E/N are used for Lufthansa Premium Economy and consequently considered a different compartment.
  
  
• New travel date latest 30th of June 2016
  
  
• The departure and destination points for the journey must remain unchanged
  
  
• In the case of reissues the endorsement entry should read: 0216
  
  
• For refunds of tickets that are not affected by flight cancellations, the fare conditions apply.

Additional goodwill policy:
For passengers wishing to travel to/from/via Brussels later than 30 June 2016, the following additional goodwill policy applies:

• Rebooking on an alternative Lufthansa Group flight/connection (flight number and operated by: LH, LX, OS, SN, EW, 4U) – in the original booking class
  
  
• New travel date between 1 July and 31 October 2016
  
  
• The departure and destination points for the journey must remain unchanged
  
  
• In the case of reissues the endorsement entry should read: 0216
  
  
• For refunds of tickets that are not affected by flight cancellations, the fare conditions apply.

For rebookings/reissues in line with the goodwill rule stated above, an approval/waiver by Lufthansa Group will be absolutely essential.

Extra handling policy for SN operated flights

Brussels Airport has partially opened up again as of Sunday, 3 April 2016 and Brussels Airlines has scheduled some short-haul (especially feeding) and long-haul flights. The flight offer from/to BRU will gradually increase on a daily basis.

Brussels Airlines (SN) continues to offer the alternative emergency schedule out of LGG (Liege), ANR (Antwerp), ZRH and FRA during the transition period:

• for short-haul out of alternative Belgian airports LGG (Liege) and ANR (Antwerp), and
• for long-haul flights out of ZRH, FRA and LGG

Please check the GDS and brusselsairlines.com for further updates of this emergency schedule.

For passengers originally booked on SN flight numbers, the following procedure is valid:

Rebooking:

• Brussels Airlines will automatically rebook the passengers originally booked on SN operated flights from/to BRU onto the new SN operated flights from/to LGG (Liege) and ANR (Antwerp).
• SN cannot separate point-to-point passengers from connecting passengers. Also connecting passengers will be reaccommodated on the flights to LGG/ANR.
• These passengers will have to be re-booked again by the booking originator on flights of the Lufthansa Group Airlines via FRA/MUC/VIE/ZRH according to the standard INVOL rules/goodwill policy.

The following is valid:

• Only for point-to-point passengers within Europe.
• For as long as Brussels airport remains closed and Brussels Airlines cannot operate from/to BRU
• If the destination is offered at the alternative airports in LGG and ANR.
• Brussels Airlines has organized a free bus service between Brussels and Liège/Antwerp airports.
  Bus schedules can be found on brusselsairlines.com

The following is valid for long-haul flights in ZRH and FRA and LGG:
Brussels Airlines will automatically rebook the passengers from SN operated flights from/to BRU onto the
new SN operated flights from/to ZRH and FRA/LGG.

The connecting feeder flights will have to be re-booked again by the booking originator and according to the
above mentioned rebooking procedure.

For example, DLA-SN123-BRU-SN456-CPH will be rebooked in 2 steps:

• Step 1: automated rebooking by Brussels Airlines DLA-SN1123-ZRH//LGG-SN1456-CPH
• Step 2: manual rebooking by Brussels Airlines outstations or booking originator LGG-SN1456-CPH into ZRH-LX123-CPH

For feeder flights between ANR/LGG and ZRH/FRA and bus services please see latest updated info on brusselsairlines.com or GDS.

Please note:

• Refund is allowed in case flights are cancelled or passengers are involuntary rerouted (e.g. original booking is BRU-FIH now involuntary rerouted on LGG-FRA-FIH or e.g. original booking is BRU-CPH now involuntary rerouted on ANR-CPH)
• Refund is not allowed if the original routing on the original date is offered again and the flight is not cancelled