andyptrav

All very well in theory but any court order in, say, the UK against a foreign company is unenforceable. You cannot apply to wind up the company in the UK as it does not exist in the UK. If you pursue the court order in Thailand, well, good luck with that.

I reckon Thai will compensate fairly and ignore the punitive compensation crap from the EU bureaucrats. Anyone who thinks the EU can enforce crap like this on non EU companies ought to check out the tax paid by Google, Facebook et al in the EU.

LondonElite

Have you you ever filed a claim in respect of EC/261 (not EU/261) against TG in Germany (or another airline somewhere else in the EU/EEA)? There is very much a governmental enforcement mechanism, namely the relatively toothless (in that it can't force an airline to pay) Luftfahrt Bundesamt. However, it is not really difficult to pursue this matter through the local Amtsgericht (roughly municipal/local court)or Landgericht (district court). And since TG has a registered company in Germany (in the centre of Frankfurt actually), it's pretty much bread and butter work for a lawyer. For the 75% difference between a F and J fare, it would be worth it.

In fact, TG's German homepage even takes you straight to a long section acknowledging their obligations under EC/261: http://www.thaiairways.com/de_DE/Ter.../AGB.page?#023

Kacee

No, have you?

If you regularly follow this forum, you know how much TG respects the regulation

Also, as I understand it, the calculation of comp on an award ticket is very much an open question under the EU261 regime. If you have citation to legal authority as to how precisely how comp is calculated on an award downgrade, please do direct us to it. (And btw, "EU261" is a perfectly acceptable citation format. Many of the airlines and commentators use it.)

LondonElite

Actually, quite a few. Just sent one off to BA this morning (albeit that was for a 3:30 delay on a shorthaul flight, €400).

Whether or not you respect the regulation is not really the issue. I probably wouldn't bother filing a claim for the sake of a delay or anything under €400, but for 75% of the paid F price, yes I'd file a claim, and then sue their German company from the Amtsgericht Frankfurt. You can't really ignore those or dismiss them as bogus irritant filings.

Of course, it could be that this has never come up, since TG may have fully refunded the F price anyway and offered the affected pax a J price based on historical fares, and I suspect many/most would have been happy with that.

If it's an award ticket, I believe the current interpretation of the directive is to issue, in this case 75% of the miles used to purchase the ticket.

PERU

OK, I am seeking some advice. I fly this route 2-3 times a year and luckily have never had a change in class forced on me. Call me crazy but I actually like the First seat, service, and Thai food on the Thai A380. I am traveling in early June in paid first (not miles) from FRA - USM. As First has been zeroed out for months starting in mid May I guess there is going to be an aircraft change without first. I am US based, so should I email the London office to see if they have any idea about what is actually happening or just request a refund and book with SQ with unfortunately longer connection times. I tried calling Bangkok but got nowhere with the agent understanding.