Originally Posted by
Often1
It is unhelpful in the extreme to suggest that EC 261/2004 applies to non community (EU) carriers on flights to the EU. A plain reading of the Regulation which can be found at the source, the Wiki or any number of threads on FT and elsewhere, will tell you this.
EC 261/2004 applies to the operating carrier. The operating carrier which downgraded op was NH. NH is not an EU carrier and this was a ticket HND-CPH or the downgraded segment HND-MUC however you want to look at it. Either way, Japan is not in the EU so the Regulation does not apply.
Just to paste the relevant section for everybody's convenience:
Originally Posted by http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32004R0261:en:HTML
1. This Regulation shall apply:
(a) to passengers departing from an airport located in the territory of a Member State [...];
(b) to passengers departing from an airport located in a third country to an airport situated in the territory of a Member State [...] if the operating air carrier of the flight concerned is a Community carrier.
I guess the best outcome is to get refunded the difference in points between a *A F award and a *A J award. You will need to get in touch with EuroBonus.