Downgrade compensation
 

My wife and kids were flying AC HNL-YVR last week. I upgraded them all by LMU the day before to business. As they were boarding with group 1, boarding passes in hand, they were paged to the podium and informed they were being downgraded due to an overbooking situation. They were given economy boarding passes and told to contact AC customer service for refund of the LMU. No compensation was offered. This was a red-eye flight, so the business seats were more important than usual.

Is a simple refund of the LMU really all that will be given? Or should actual compensation be given? If it matters two of the family are E25K.

Since they supposedly do not overbook J, why would they downgrade a J passenger even with a LMU for a Y oversold ? Assuming that's what happened.

If you write in I'm sure you'll be offered some token, but you'll want to word your email appropriately.

You weren't depending on much, because you were in Y until a day before. But maybe you were expecting food or something.

As a SE who's been downgraded from paid J at boarding, you really shouldn't get your hopes up though. They're not generous with downgrade compensation.

For what reason for the downgrade - defective seat?

Aircraft change from CR9 to DH4 at the last minute.

I believe it was because of an aircraft downgauge. When I did the LMU the day before they actually had a 787 assigned (part of the reason why I did the LMU) and I selected pods after the purchase. Then day of the flight they subbed back in the Omni 767 which I think is the usual aircraft for the route. Does AC ever proactively offer compensation at the gate for business -> economy downgrades? I believe UA offers flight credit vouchers at the gate for similar downgrades.

No they do not.

They are really stingy with downgrade compensation.

I was downgraded in December on a paid J ticket from Europe to South America. The only refund I got was '75% of segment fare' which of course is only the base fare. Minimal amount compared to the paid ticket price.

Of course a refund in this situation is deserved, but on top of that I would imagine there should be some kind of additional compensation for not delivering the product that was purchased. A normal customer service gesture that I would expect from most other companies.

AC wasn't even going to pay the 75% of the downgraded segments until I sent a copy of the relevant EC261 articles. They then promptly got back with "After further review....." :rolleyes:

btw... EC261/2004 demands of 75% refund of the full segment fare, not base segment fare.

Correct, it also does not say segment in EU261/2004.

Thanks warakorn Sean Peever

They are refunding 75% of the base fare for the 2 segments affected. Are you saying that taxes fees etc. should also be included in the calculation?

75% of the total fare paid for the segments affected. if AC is the recipient/beneficiary of a fuel surcharge then get that included too on your next further review... or file a claim with an EU261 claims service.

Initially I didn't think government taxes/fees would be included in the 75%. HOWEVER, airports such as LHR charge a massive difference in taxes between econony and business--so I would expect that to be included as well.

think i would try to get on a later flight if possible.