Originally Posted by
YFCacademic
Last June I had Tango itinerary YFC-YYZ-SCL-MVD. The flight out of YFC was delayed and I rerouted through GRU. Instead of getting 50% of the YYZ-SCL leg, I got 125% on the YYZ-GRU leg (ended up in Latitude). I did this over the phone at the airport. They wanted to charge me $100, but waived it because it was involuntary.
If it's over the phone, it's not a SDC.
Over the phone they're generally going to put you in the lowest available fare class, although they CAN open up lower fare classes (I had that done during EYW - a flight was Y0 and I still ended up in G).
I have had exactly one SDC that bumped me up. I went from V to Y, and received all the benefits of being in Y (25% COS, lower upgrade requirements, etc.).
Every other time I've maintained my originally booked fare class.
IRROPS are hit or miss, but that's not what we're discussing here.