Delayed and canceled flights

Lufthansa will proactively rebook you automatically and free of charge on an alternative flight to the same destination and in the same travel class. In some cases, Lufthansa may not be able to rebook you proactively on an alternative flight. If this is the case, you can select an alternative yourself. This is also possible if an alternative automatically booked by Lufthansa does not fit in with your plans. Please go to “My bookings” or contact your travel agency. You will find further information about rebooking in our FAQs.

With an alternative flight on the following day, you are entitled to an overnight stay in a hotel.

In the event of a flight within Germany being cancelled, in certain cases we will offer you replacement transport with Deutsche Bahn. In this case, we will convert your ticket for a domestic German flight into a train ticket free of charge. 

If you hold a ticket for a flight cancelled by Lufthansa, and you have not yet submitted your ticket for a refund, you can submit it for a refund on the “Refunds” page or at your travel agency.

If you have already submitted a request for a refund by telephone or via email, we ask you not to resubmit your request for a refund as this can lead to delays in the processing of your request.

If your ticket has not been used, the ticket price including all taxes and fees will be refunded to the original method of payment. 

If you have already used one or several segments of the journey, the unused portion of the fare value, taxes and fees will be calculated and the ticket refunded accordingly on a pro rata basis.

If your flight is delayed by at least two hours, canceled, or denied boarding, you will receive a meal voucher. You can redeem this voucher at numerous restaurants at the airport. An overview of the participating restaurants can be found here:

​iCoupons Worldwide

This means you no longer need to go to the service counter in person to collect your meal voucher. Please note that only the boarding pass of the affected flight can be used as a meal voucher. In addition, we will also inform you about your voucher and its value by e-mail, SMS, or push notification in your LH app. 

We have summarized all the information about the new meal voucher for you in this video.

If your departure is postponed to the following day, we will arrange your overnight stay in a hotel. Please check whether you have already received information about this via email or SMS. If you prefer, you can book a hotel yourself and submit the costs for the overnight stay, transport between the airport and hotel, and meals for reimbursement. Lufthansa will assume the costs for these, provided they are reasonable. If you pay for the hotel yourself, please send your hotel, transport and catering receipts as well as your boarding pass, and provide your bank details (IBAN and BIC) with the help of our feedback form.

If no alternative can be booked in the event that your flight is cancelled at short notice (maximum 48 hours before departure), your flight ticket can be converted into a Deutsche Bahn train ticket. This applies to domestic German Lufthansa flights as well as Lufthansa flights between Germany and Basel or Salzburg.

Important advice for cancelled feeder flights: please ensure that, when choosing your train, you allow sufficient time in advance to get your connecting flight from Frankfurt or Munich.

If your flight was cancelled more than 48 hours before departure ,you will be automatically rebooked onto a Lufthansa Express Rail connection with Deutsche Bahn. You can view your Lufthansa Express Rail connection under My bookings.

Please check in as usual from 24 hours before the start of your trip via our online check-in.

For transfer connections, please check in for the train connection even if you decide to travel to Frankfurt or Munich by another means of transport.