Obviously the EU261/2004 reimbursement / compensation is not high enough to stop this extremely shady practice. It would appear that the rate of downgrading those on 2-4-1's has increased since a court decided that the reimbursement amount should be 75% of the one way segment price instead of 75% of the total ticket price.
The amount of downgrade reimbursement has to be high enough to deter airlines from doing this. How about reimbursement of 100% of the total ticket price, plus the same amount in compensation, plus payment for any expenses or loss incurred by the downgraded passenger?
How sad that what was once a reputable company would behave in this way. It shows why EU261 is not only necessary but needs to become more draconian, and to be rigorously enforced.