I called yesterday and of course, there was “nothing” they could do. Sorry not sorry, basically. Their only solution was to rebook us on another flight with aircraft offering C+, but it would have meant two stops, a longer trip home, and no guarantee they wouldn’t change the aircraft yet again and bump us (so far 0-for-2 on this, so not feeling any confidence here). I had to decide whether to escalate and fight it or just avoid the stress and rebook to make sure we did get a flight we wanted. I chose the latter once they said they could refund the fare because it was a “schedule change.”

It still remains to be seen what we will get. They were supposed to send an email with the “offer” which we could accept or decline, then if we accepted it, a refund will be issued in 7-10 days. I called on Saturday and we haven’t received an email yet. They said we are due a full refund and won’t be charged a cancellation fee, but the tickets were purchased in yen, so it may be a currency conversion issue. I do have an initial reference number but am supposed to receive a case number once the refund is in process. In the meantime, I’m out $3k.

We were able to rebook on American out of HND through LAX, similar flight schedule. Premium economy seats on all other airlines were running $3-4k. In some cases, this was more than quotes for business class! Delta and AA were the only two showing economy seats under $1k. We were able to upgrade to Main Cabin Extra to get some extra legroom and other perks, for a total price less than the original C+ seats, so I’m not displeased by that. But now I just have to keep my fingers crossed Delta comes through with the full refund.

Thanks again for the help!