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-I'm flying a paid first ticket on Friday which was booked back in May. My DTW-CMH flight back then was mainline (thus first class seats) and departed at 7:10pm (I'm now at 7:32pm on a CRJ-200 in coach). My previously incoming flight arrived later (4:54pm vs. 4:09pm now).
There is a Mesaba CR9 flight that leaves at 5:09pm with first class, and I thought it would be a fair enough request for them to rebook me into first class as a result of the schedule change.
Instead, the agent told me that I should be greatful for the fare I got and that I had no right to be on the earlier flight that has First class even though there were schedule changes. She did propose that I pay $1000+ change fee to get on that flight. This has to be the least customer oriented measure I've seen from NW in years....
If you have had a schedule change, you can cancel or rebook your arrangements without change fees.
Given that you have paid for F and have been downgraded to Y I would absolutely 100% push to be switched into F on the other flight if that other flight suits you schedule wise. I would call back and ask another agent, and if you still get no joy, ask for a team lead/senior agent.
NW has involuntarily downgraded you - your request to be accommodated on another flight in the originally purchased class of service should not be at your extra cost as the change was not of your choosing.
On a side note, I've generally had good luck with Chisholm. My family (non-elite members) had a 10 minute schedule change on a SEA-AMS-EDI flight. The change was minor, but now meant that they could get on an earlier flight to EDI as the connection was now legal whereas it was 5 minutes short of being a legal connection before. The representative had no problem making the change and waiving any change fee/fare difference given the schedule change, even though it was only 10 minutes.