JumboJet

This is like the worst mystery novel I have ever read.

Allan38103

OP may have a legitimate issue, but the question was whether to complain to the purser on board.

Up In The Air

Apologies to all for unintentionally having created this terrible mystery novel. (I partially blame the difficulties in posting on the FT 'full site' on a small iPhone and partially on being not terribly articulate.)

Thanks for all the advice; and to all those defending against the somewhat judgmental posts that perhaps would have been better in the 'OMNI PR' pages. (I don't necessarily disagree with some of the sentiments–but didn't really intend to provoke that type of debate in the original post.)

To clarify:
The original booking was in First.
The flight was then cancelled and reinstated with a 3-class aircraft; so we rebooked in J (and received the appropriate refund). We reserved seats 4A and 4B. These seats showed on our reservation right up until 48 hours or so before the flight.
On checking in we found that the aircraft had been changed to a 4-class and that our (J) seats had been reallocated to 11F and 11G. At the airport our request to upgrade (back) to First using Avios was denied–which wasn't a great surprise–but we were offered the opportunity of upgrading with cash (at around Ł450 each), which we declined.
When boarding had been completed, seats 16E and 16F were free, and the crew were happy for us to move to these centre seats, which in our view were the better option.
As a postscript to this enthralling tale, the purser didn't 'meet and greet'–so we didn't even have the opportunity to 'feed back' on board. The really positive thing was that the crew were brilliant throughout the flight.

Ancient Observer

I like stories with relatively nice endings.

simons1

Thank you to the OP for returning and updating us on what seems to be a slightly happier ending.

Now is that the sound of the flaps being set for landing, or a couple of FTers winding their necks in...

EsherFlyer

Or those FTers winding out a bit further to say "by appropriate do you mean the 25% differential or the 75% compensation?" .

Dave Noble

Paragraph 1 states
1. This Regulation shall apply:
(a) to passengers departing from an airport located in the territory
of a Member State to which the Treaty applies;
(b) to passengers departing from an airport located in a third
country to an airport situated in the territory of a Member
State to which the Treaty applies, unless they received
benefits or compensation and were given assistance in that
third country, if the operating air carrier of the flight
concerned is a Community carrier.

There seems to be no doubt that the flight was in accordance with that. The passenger had a confirmed booking on a flight that met the critera of paragraph 1 and so was wiithin scope

The flight on which the passenger was booked was not cancelled - the passenger checked in for it and flew.

The passenger was transported in a cabin lower than which was purchased

pauldb

Dave Noble

There is no rub - regardless what BA did with cancelling and rebooking , the passenger purchased a 1st class ticket - An avios ticket is no different to any other and there is nothing in the regulation that supports that an airline is permitted to rebook into a lower cabin without the passenger's consent and not be liable

There is nothing that states that when a flight is cancelled that the airline is not responsible for rebooking in at least the same cabin

Often1

This one is clear and the suggestion that the Regulation does not apply comes from the presumption that the passengers must check in before the are downgraded. Not so in the least. The check-in requirement is solely there in order to assure that the aggrieved passenger actually does fly.

corporate-wage-slave

This is an old debate that we had in the EC261 thread about 3 years ago. Essentially the way BA treats this is that if someone is on a First flight, and there is an equipment substitution, then BA treats it a flight cancellation under Article 5 (Cancellation), and offer the appropriate remedies of refund or rebooking on alternative services with part refund if applicable - and this could be First if it was available on another date. BA have won at least two Small Claims Court case in Liverpool and Portsmouth on this basis. Their argument was indeed that Article 10 (Downgrading giving the 75% calculation on long flights) would apply to someone holding a reservation in First and who turned up at the airport to be downgraded, which would not be the case here. Whether we like it or not, that's what happens, and the current reality is that people only get a part refund, covering the F to CW difference. If it got to appellate level then other outcomes are quite possible, in view of the EC261 Regulation general aim to help passengers rather than airlines, but I couldn't be totally certain that the outcome would be different ( I suspect it would be, however). As things stand I'm not aware of anyone who has successfully got 75% back from BA, if told more than 2 weeks off, but I'm happy to receive PMs from anyone who knows differently. I am also not aware of any claims management company being successful in this area either.

What is strange in this case, however, is that BA doesn't suddenly open up First revenue sales for a particular flight at short notice, so I fear that for the OP the switch from 4 class to 3 class was fairly shortlived, but the OP couple may have been unaware of this factor at the time. Normally BA would be prepared to look at restoring the booking into First, but clearly not at the airport at the last minute, and airports also can't process UuA requests either.

pauldb

Often1

An entirely separate issue.

If a passenger is booked in F and his flight is cancelled at 14+ days, all he is entitled to is rebooking in comparable circumstances within certain time parameters. So long as he is rebooked in F and arrives within the rebooking window, there is neither cancellation compensation nor a downgrade refund due. Alternatively, the passenger could elect a refund and that would be all he gets. Or, the passenger could elect a later reroute at a time when F is available and that would be all he gets.

In this case, OP was rebooked within the time parameters because indeed his cancelled flight was reinstated. Thus, no compensation. He was however not rebooked into F and thus a downgrade refund is due.

Dave Noble

No I am not making a different argument

I am stating that whether or not BA "cancelled" the booking and then rebooked in a lower cabin, that the person is entitled to the correct compensation of 75% and that there is nothing in the regulation that provides a get out of paying compensation by doing so

There is nothing in the regulation that states that the passenger must be offered rerouting in 1st class

BOStonTravels