Originally Posted by
Plato90s
That's not the same situation as the OP at all. Of course refunds should be given for unused flight segments and attempts to hold on to funds for flights not taken is wrong.
The situation is when you're offered a re-route to the destination which has segments which aren't in the class of service purchased, either because the segment has no premium class or because there's no seat available in the original fare class.
In that situation, the airline is not required to offer a fare difference refund (as the OP wanted) any more than it's appropriate for airlines to charge extra if the re-route would have been more expensive. Sometimes people get re-accomodated in F when they purchased coach and other times it's the reverse. Irregular operations are like that.
Two different situations when you don't make it to the destination versus getting there in coach instead of business/first.
Why don't you try reading the posts by the OP. The scenario you describe isn't what happened to him. His original routing involved an AE flight in coach but on a D fare basis. The new flight had a business class section, with available seats. His D ticket for that segment was not honored.
And what you're saying about airlines not having to compensate pax for downgrades resulting from re-routes is simply not true, just saying "well, we got you there" is unacceptable.