My husband just returned from a round trip flight from Houston to Nice, France. The full-fare, refundable, business class ticket was booked through Continental, with the first leg of the flight being flown on Continental (Houston to Amsterdam) and the second leg of the flight being flown on KLM (Amsterdam to Nice). The flight over went fine, but on the return flight the first leg (on KLM) was delayed several hours, then finally cancelled. I’m not sure, but it may have been mechanical -- definitely not weather related.

There’s no Continental service in Nice, so all arrangements were handled through KLM & Air France. He was rerouted from Nice to Paris, then Paris into Houston all on Air France. The flights he was re-routed on didn’t have seats available in business class, and he ended up sitting in coach in the last row of the plane. Although he got home on the same day as originally scheduled, he was 5 hours late and had to fly coach. Questions:

1. What sort of compensation is due to him for flying coach when he paid for business class? Refund? Vouchers? Miles?
2. Any compensation for the delay?
3. Who should I contact for the compensation? He’s Silver Elite – do I just call OnePass customer service? Continental wasn't really involved in the delay or re-routing.
4. Will he automatically get the miles for the return trip even though he ended up on a different carrier or is this something I have to pursue?

Thanks for any insight you can give me. I'd like to know what to expect before I make the phone call.