A couple was flying home from Singapore when their connecting Lufthansa flight was canceled. After multiple failed attempts at rebooking, the couple paid $4,000 to fly home 3 days later.

07.09.2023 - 21:41 / insider.com

Home was close for Emma Giantisco and Dylan Marton. 

The couple had spent two months traveling around Southeast Asia and were finally making the long journey home to Lambertville, New Jersey, on August 17, Giantisco told Insider. 

They booked their flights months in advance with United. The itinerary viewed by Insider would have taken them on a United flight from Singapore to Munich, Germany; then, they'd fly with Lufthansa (one of United's partner airlines) to New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport. 

The couple successfully made it to Munich, but before taking off to New Jersey, the couple was informed by the Lufthansa crew that their next flight was canceled due to weather, leaving the couple stranded in Munich for three days.

Between the two airlines, the couple says they were rebooked multiple times, but their tickets kept disappearing from the Lufthansa and United apps. Ultimately, the couple gave up on rebooking through the airlines for free and bought new tickets home for $3,153 out of pocket.

"We spent hours on the phone talking to countless representatives explaining our situation dozens of times," Marton told Insider of the experience. "It was exhausting."

Lufthansa did not respond to Insider's requests for comment.

After a stress-free flight from Singapore to Munich, the couple boarded their connecting Lufthansa flight from Munich to New Jersey.

They sat on the tarmac for three hours, the couple said, because thunderstorms in Germany had caused a delay and the flight crew timed out for the day. Ultimately, their flight was canceled. 

Travelers were told to head to the airline's service desk for rebooking, the couple said, but their flight wasn't the only one canceled, and Giantisco estimates that there were over 1,000 people waiting in line to speak to a Lufthansa representative. 

"Mathematically we're going to be here for 15 hours," Giantisco said she remembers thinking. So, they ditched the line and opted to call and chat with the airline instead. 

On Lufthansa's chat feature, Giantisco said they received a message about rebooking the canceled flight for free. A representative told them that the next available flight wasn't for two days later on August 19, so they accepted the flight and planned to spend time exploring Munich. 

Giantisco said they received a confirmation for the new flight via chat, but when they pulled up their account, there wasn't any indication they had an upcoming reservation — the first of many such incidents, they said.

"We didn't get any tickets, we didn't get any confirmation, and we didn't get anything," she said. 

Without an active reservation, Giantisco said they called United since they purchased their original tickets from that airline. Giantisco