I finally heard back from BA on the downgrade claim discussed above. Very annoyingly they described it as a delay and downgrade claim (when I specifically stated that it was for downgrade only on the final leg).

“Please note that British Airways (operated by Comair) was a British Airways franchise, owned by Comair Limited, which operated regional flights across South Africa. It was a separate entity to British Airways, which flies between London and South Africa. Unfortunately, Comair entered liquidation in June 2022. You will therefore need to contact Comair’s liquidators at[email protected] or via the portal: ticketholders.comair.co.za regarding your delay and downgrading claim. You may also be able to rely on any travel insurance or credit card protection that you may have.”

Can it be right that they also blame the downgrade as well as the delay on Comair? The final leg of the flight was just a standard BA flight and nothing to do with Comair. Is it worth going back to them or was the downgrade Comair’s decision/responsibility?