This tale is truly unbelievable, reflecting an astonishing degree of pettiness from Lufthansa. Simultaneously, the airline inadvertently harmed itself, as a judge ruled in favor of the passenger, compelling the airline to revise its policy.
## Lufthansa requested €414 from passenger for omitting segment
A German attorney recently recounted a situation he experienced while representing a client who holds Lufthansa’s elite HON Circle status, which necessitates extensive travel with the airline.
In April 2025, he booked a flight from Greece to Saudi Arabia with a stopover in Germany. According to his account, during the journey, while in Saudi Arabia, a family member fell ill in Germany. Consequently, he traveled from Riyadh (RUH) to Frankfurt (FRA), and instead of proceeding to Athens (ATH) as per his ticket, he booked a new ticket to Dusseldorf (DUS) to reach his ailing relative.
While on the flight from Saudi Arabia to Frankfurt, a flight attendant allegedly engaged him in conversation (Lufthansa flight attendants often extend extra attention to HON Circle members), during which he shared his modified travel itinerary. She expressed her astonishment at his deviation from Lufthansa’s fare policies and reportedly informed the airline!!
Shortly after the flight, the passenger received a notification from Lufthansa’s “revenue integrity” department, insisting that he pay €414. Their claim was that he purchased the ticket for €551, while the itinerary he actually flew would have cost €965. He was given a mere two weeks to remit the payment.
The passenger then hired an attorney and requested that a declaratory judgment action be filed. In their response, Lufthansa identified the flight attendant as a witness, asserting that the passenger informed her he was not planning to connect to Athens as he had paid so little for the fare by booking in this manner. In their defense, Lufthansa argued that the passenger was breaching the carrier’s contract of carriage, referencing previous case law.
Lufthansa sought to charge a passenger for omitting a flight
The hearing for this matter was scheduled for November 24, 2025, but just four days prior, Lufthansa opted to retract its claim. Nonetheless, the Bundesgerichtshof (Germany’s federal court of justice) still issued a ruling, arriving at two key conclusions:
> “The requirement for a payment from passengers who, at the time of signing the contract, intended to utilize the entire service and altered their plans due to circumstances that arose afterwards is not substantiated by the valid interests of the defendant.”
> “The valid interest in adapting to the respective market demands and being able to request the best possible price available on the market is adequately considered if a passenger wishing to access a specific service enters into a contract at the established price for that service. Circumstances that only become apparent following the conclusion of the contract and result in the passenger altering their plans do not impact the decision to enter into the contract and consequently do not pose a substantial threat to the ongoing viability of the special pricing framework.”
Thus, the court essentially determined that passengers are permitted to skip segments on an itinerary without facing penalties, provided they did not intend to do so at the time of booking (in other words, due to unforeseen circumstances arising post-purchase).
It’s noticeable that Lufthansa has even adjusted its contract of carriage accordingly. If you refer to Section 3.3.4., you will find the following, specifically for residents of Germany and Austria (this does not apply to residents of other nations):
> If you have selected a fare that necessitates adherence to a set ticket sequence, please be aware that if transportation is not utilized on all individual legs or not followed in the order specified on the ticket, with all other travel details remaining the same, we will recalculate the fare in line with your revised routing. This does not apply if your travel plans merely shift or if you are unable, due to force majeure, illness, or any other reason beyond your control, to commence transportation on all segments, or on individual segments in the order indicated on the flight ticket. Whenever feasible, please inform us of the reasons for such modifications as soon as you become aware of them.
Naturally, this prompts the question of how Lufthansa can demonstrate intent with throwaway ticketing. A German court ruled that throwaway ticketing is permissible as long as it’s not intended at the time of booking, yet, of course, there are numerous life circumstances that can arise after the booking time, so…
I suspect Lufthansa is not overly pleased about this development.
## Bottom line
I doubt there exists an airline more adept at self-sabotage than Lufthansa. In the latest instance, a top-tier HON Circle passenger neglected a flight segment on an itinerary, and remarkably, the flight attendant reported it.