Can I change flights directly with the airline when bought though an agent?

Question

I bought a flight through SkyScanner which redirected to Cheers Travel which then sold me a Lufthansa flight. I bought a "Flexi" ticket for some extra fee which promised to allow a flight change and only pay the fare difference.

My flight is through Hong Kong with just 1 hour transfer time, so I thought I'd better change the flight to stay overnight or 2 nights even and give myself some time to explore the city, which I always wanted to do anyway.

But when I asked Cheers Travel to add this stop over it they came back with an above-ridiculous $1650 fee!! So much for the "Flexi fare". I'd be happy to pay a couple hundred for the fare difference but the Cheers Travel quote is well within the WTF realm. The flight was bought last week and the return flight is nearly 2 weeks away - the prices on their web seem very similar to those a week ago, def not $1650 higher!

So I'm thinking to talk directly to Lufthansa - will they be able and willing to do this change for me? Even if the ticket was sold through an agent?

Or anything else I could do? Otherwise my only hope is to have the inbound flight delayed, miss the connecting flight and sort out the stop over at the airport :)

Answer 1

As a general rule, airlines will not make changes to a ticket that has been issued by a travel agent. The airline has paid the travel agency a commission for booking the ticket, and included in that commission is the responsibility of things like making changes to the ticket when needed (both for changes initiated by the customer, as well as for things like schedule changes). This does not apply for changes on the "day of flight" (generally 24-48 hours before departure) where the airline will make changes themselves.

Some airlines will 'take over' the ticket for a fee, however (at least officially) Lufthansa does NOT allow this. Their policy is that the travel agency is responsible for all changes up until at least the day of flight. If your flight is the return flight for the ticket you MAY have some success getting Lufthansa to make a change after you've flown the outbound, but even then it's unlikely.

As far as the change fee you've been quoted, it's likely this includes both a Cheers travel fee and a 'fare difference' - so even if you were able to change via Lufthansa there would still likely be a charge. You've stated you booked a Flex fare, which presuming that is actually a Lufthansa Flex fare (and not a Cheers Travel created concept) does avoid the Lufthansa change fee - but not any fare difference, and not any other fees you agreed to when booking with Cheers Travel.

Unfortunately your primary mistake here has been booking with Cheers Travel. I've written about their model elsewhere, and they are not someone I would generally recommend booking through...

Answer 2

Cheers Travel which then sold me a Lufthansa flight.

That was your mistake. ALWAYS book directly with the airline if any possible. You can just search for the exact itinerary on LH's website and it should price out roughly the same.

At that point, you accepted Cheer Travels terms and conditions (presumably without actually reading them).

From https://www.cheerstravel.com.au/termsandconditions#ponits8

International Booking Changes (including Trans-Tasman): $150 per person, plus travel service provider fees and consolidation fees of $35 per person (capped at $700 per booking).

Since you bought a Flex ticket (which are unfortunately almost always a waste of money) there should be no change fee from LH, but you would probably still be on the hook for $185 for Cheers plus the fare difference. Since you see an uptick of $1650, I'm guessing the bulk of this is fare difference.

to stay overnight or 2 nights even

This may change your layover into a stopover which can be priced completely differently. Be careful what exactly you ask for.

Or anything else I could do?

1. Price out the exact itinerary (outbound and inbound) you want to fly on LH's website and a few other ones. Check of the fare difference and adjust as needed to get in within shooing distance.
2. Try to make the change directly with Lufthansa. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. You won't know until you try and ask.
3. If LH refuses ask Cheers for the change. When the quote comes back ask for a breakdown: what are Cheer fees, LH fees and how much is the fare difference. If the fare difference is higher than what you get on Cheer's website for a fresh booking, argue the fare difference.

Answer 3

Can I change flights directly with the airline when bought though an agent?

That depends on the airline and how the agent made the booking but it's often not possible to amend the ticket directly with the airline, and it is commonplace for agents to try to milk their customers who want to amend their tickets.

https://thepointsguy.com/travel/cancel-travel-agency-ticket/:

If you end up booking through the travel agent, you'll end up with what's referred to as an "external" or "third-party" ticket. Not only will it be governed by an airline's terms, but it'll also be subject to the conditions of the agency. Each airline handles external tickets differently.