What's the gold line there for then? This is what the agents on the gold line are trained to do. In these situations it's standard procedure to give the first tier points and miles which as satish says should retain the gold card which can then be manually upgraded. A standard telephone agent should be able to do this for you with a minimum of fuss, your pnr is looked up, we see that you have been downgraded by us and its not your fault, we give your tier points and miles, your kept at gold. Simple! Hopefully...