Originally Posted by
bedelman
Im a new user, thanks for the reply. Suppose we put aside the codeshare aspect of friend's problem. So situation is passenger bought SEA-LHR in paid first on BA, BA canceled the flight with six weeks notice, available nonstop alternatives are BA flight in first 6 hours earlier, or Delta flight in business at the scheduled time. Is this then a standard EC261 downgrade? The only convenient/similarly-timed flight is one with a downgrade, so passenger gets 75% downgrade compensation per EC261, no matter how far in advance the airline cancels the flight -- because the downgrade benefit does not depend on amount of notice. RIght?
I share your intrigue about how downgrade rules apply to situations where the entity processing the downgrade is someone other than the operating air carrier. Maybe my friend should begin, then, by contacting BA. BA YouFirst is a better team to deal with than AA Reservations. BA may say that they won't do anything in response to their cancellation, and my friend can only deal with AA -- but if BA handles the cancellation and reaccomodation, then my friend would seem to be within the plain language of the EC261 downgrade rules per your quote.
My friend already flew the outbound segment, btw. All the discussion in this thread is about the return (back half of the rt). I think it's more common to talk to operating carrier when journey is underway, versus before journey begins, right?
My reading of the text of EC261/2004 is that downgrade compensation is due regardless of how far in advance a passenger is downgraded. However, I infer from phrasing and context that the most common upgrade/downgrade case is being seated in a different class on the same flight you were originally confirmed on. I am not a lawyer.
Before you or your friend start getting too excited about downgrade compensation, you should try to get a confirmed seat on a new flight. It seems that you are only interested in non-stop flights in the evening, but SEA has a significant
oneworld presence and AA/BA may offer you other options that depart around 7 pm (e.g. fly AS to another BA city, fly AA, etc.). Figure out how your friend is going to get home in a way that works, and then figure out how the airline is going to make you whole for not accommodating you as-booked.
By the book, the ticketing carrier (AA) is responsible for your rebooking up until the operating carrier takes control of the ticket at T-24. AA's order of preference for schedule change reroutings on a TATL itinerary is (1) AA and BA/IB/AY, then (2)
oneworld (e.g. AS, AT, QR, but don't expect to go out of your way via Doha to get to London). The only time they regularly will rebook on non-
oneworld for an advance schedule change is if they are suspending all flights to a destination, e.g. when JFK-DEL was delayed they offered rebooking on on BA, QR, UA, and EY. Per AA policy, DL is a last resort to only be used for day-of-departure IROPS rebooking when all other options are exhausted.
AA does not have a dedicated call center for international First. It's quite possible there is some AA/BA ticketing agreement that I don't know about that would let BA YouFirst help you with your ticket, so it's not a bad idea to give them a ring. As with many things on FlyerTalk, the worst thing that happens is that you are told no.