Some time back, I had posted about a series of failures on a flight I took from Mexico City to Houston with a later connection to my hometown. It is not my desire to rehash that postings. The short version of the story is that there was a mechnical breakdown, I had a purchased business class seat, and I arrived 5 hours and 34 minutes late in an economy class seat to which I was re-accomodated on American. The were a number of other customer service failings, but that is the crux of the story. I was compensated with a $125 voucher, a PC pass (odd as my original email had mentioned that I was already in the PC when one of the problems happened), and given the promise of a refund. That refund amounted to $45. I was deeply unhappy, but at some point it just quits being worth my time.

Here is the relevant part for this post. It turns out that a purchased business class fare may in fact not be a business class fare. I had purchased business class for the flight from MEX to IAH- it was not available on the Saab 340 flight to my final destination. The class of service was D, and the itinerary printout clearly said international business. However, eventually even an assistant to Mr. Kellner said that what I had was actually an S fare on which I had paid a $45 upgrade fee. This is what they eventually, after a month and a half of fighting, offered to refund to me.

It is, of course, ridiculous. I never paid any such fee. All I did was go on Co.com and say I wanted the cheapest business class fare I could get. It said I had a D class fare. Point of story: Business class fares are not always (at least according to CO) business class fares, and they owe you bupkis if something goes wrong.