Ticket was purchased while logged into EK UK website & paid for with UK CC, i will take action in UK.

PRG-ZRH is just a one hour hop, to connect with an F flight which is +6 made sence for me :)

It is necessary to demonstrate that prior to taking action i sought a way out of the problem & i did, EK were not interested :td:

I'm not sure there is a UK website. There is a UK section of the main Emirates site, but nothing specific for the UK. I'm not trying to put you off, just make sure you don't fall at the first hurdle :D

I think the way you're supposed to approach it if you're brushed off by the airline, is to initially got to the authorities in the jurisdiction where the incident happened. ie the Czech Republic equivalent of the CAA in the UK.

My claim is in the UK where i purchased the ticket, CAA had no problem with this & after the flight they will deal with this too, i followed their advice & UK legal protocol.

I would recommend sending a letter detailing how much you want and when you want it by and why you are due it by special delivery. keep a copy and a copy of proof of postage/delivery so that you have an artefact to show that you have attempted to address it with the company

Much better than only being able to say that you phoned them or having sent a letter which they can claim not to have received

One an F ticket lhr-dxb-bom rtn I was down graded to J on the dxb-bom sector. I was offered a voucher for a free F class Dxb-bom but stated it was pretty useless when I lived in the UK. I was given a free return lhr-bom in F. On the spot, had to use it 12 months after my initia ticket had finished.

I just got notified that my CMB-DXB flight in a few days in F was downgraded to J.

When these vouchers are given out, is it at the airport check-in desk or are you dealing with EK corporate at this point?

I m going to cmb soon j out and f back.. The 651 back often has no f or sky cruisers and I paid for f as it was advertised as suites...

It will be Massively annoying if its not suites

Same to DEL as well. Its mostly sky cruisers.

Regarding downgrades: In my experience, EK differentiates between "class of service suddenly not offered anymore on plane" (e.g. change from 3-class to 2-class metal) and "overbooking". Expect the fare difference (i.e. peanuts) in the former case and a hefty involuntary downgrade compensation (e.g. free ticket) in the latter.

Of course, this only relates to what EK will offer you voluntarily. There may be better legal options in the former case.

EK never purposefully overbooks F. A lot of the time it is aircraft substitutions made with 2 class aircraft that obviously don't have an F cabin. Other times it is getting F passengers who missed their previous flight onto the airplane.

Which I see as a form of last minute "overbooking". But it is good to know that EK does not intentionally oversell F seats (most reputable airlines don't, from what I heard).

What is the difference between these two? In both cases I am being involuntarily downgraded from a paid F ticket. There is no difference on my side of the fence.

I agree.

If I get cruisers I ll be annoyed.

Suites i will be very happy.

Downgrade and the price difference is not enough.

A one sector upgrade would be for my next trip.

whimike and m3red, that is why I said that your legal rights (which might be the same in both cases) may be different from what EK will voluntarily offer.

I kind of understand why EK would make a difference between both cases, since it is much worse for an F-passenger if he is the only one downgraded (hearing the corks pop from the other F-passengers in first class) than if all F-passengers need to sit in J.

That won't happen if they don't oversell f. J to y. Maybe but then the compensation won't be as much.

So any update?

I got an email from EK saying they are looking into it and will get back to me within 30 days. :rolleyes:

Let us know!

I just got a notice for a flight in June that I am downgraded from F to J. It appears the change is from a 3-class 332 to a two-class. Whimike, what happened re: your downgrade?

Some would class that as an upgrade! :D

I am not really bothered about the downgrade for the flight, since it is only DXB-DOH. It is still listed as giving me the miles for F. I would still like access to the F lounge.

On my downgrade I only get credit for business class miles. :mad:

I still have no resolution, EK is still within their 30-days to respond period.

Just got a response from EK on my "involuntary downgrade":

"Dear Mr. Whimike,

Thank you for your email of 15 March.

I regret the inconvenience you experienced due to being downgraded from First class to Business class on flight EK651 from Colombo to Dubai.

As advised in our email of 14 Marchm the downgrade was due to operational requirements.

Regrettably, I am unable to offer you any form of service recovery for this downgrade.

As a valued Gold Skywards member, we look forward to welcoming you on board our flights again.

Yours sincerely,

Customer Affairs"

So, basically, if you pay for a First Class ticket, and they involuntarily downgrade you to Business Class, you are owed nothing, and to top it off you are given fewer miles. :confused:

You will be entitled to a reduction in fare to business class if you travel in business class the whole way or should be able to cancel without penalty I would expect

As far as fares go, that is ungenerous but correct in that with a 1st class fare, if the flight is scheduled to operate with no 1st class, you get booked into the highest available cabin at the same price

That is outrageous! What sort of response is that!?

I am surprised that they are not even mentioning that they'll refund the fare difference or offer some other form of relief :confused:

I understand this if it is scheduled as a 2-class airplane when I booked my original flights. But, the schedule on this flight is always a 3-class with suites. They had a substitution on the particular day I flew and it appears EK often substitutes this flight, so they should really re-think marketing it and selling it as a 3-class flight with suites if they are changing it so often.

EK has 3 flights a day from CMB->DXB. Only 1 of them is 3-class and I specifically chose that flight for having F suites. Due to this I incurred the cost of a transit hotel stay in CMB which I otherwise wouldn't have had to.

At minimum they could have blocked the seat next to me so that I don't have to climb over people to get to the bathroom.

To offer absolutely zero compensation, especially when I have received fewer tier and skywards miles, is ridiculous.

If thisi is a journey with a transit and onwards in 1st class , then the mileage earning should still be 1st class , shouldn't it given that EK does not credit on a per sector basis, but on a one-way journey basis?

Alternatively, If the whole one way journey is now in business class, you should get refunded back to business class I would have thought

Mileage Accelerator was higher in F than in J on the CMB-DXB leg. They have also only credited me with SAVER miles even though this was a FLEX ticket, but that is another matter altogether.

Ignoring the mileage accelerator

Did the airline credit you for tier miles as for 1st class for the whole oneway journey or for business class for the whole one way journey

I was credit as Saver first class, if I ignore the mileage accelerator. But, the milage accelerator is material, and overall I have fewer miles than had I flown in F on the first leg, as I paid to do.

The credit as saver , if purchased a flex would seem to just be a mistake that should be easily rectified rather than , as implied by the previous post where you stated that you have received fewer tier miles due to this

I don't think this is a flex/saver issue... the ticket was presumably a First Saver and First Saver tier miles have been issued. However, the CMB-DXB leg probably carried an F accelerator bonus that was larger than the J accelerator bonus - I suspect this is where one has been short-changed.

The lack of service recovery is a poor show.

Well, the OP did state that he had received fewer tier miles than was due

As far as any 1st bonuses for travelling 1st on a specific flight, then the lack of earning would be expected

^Love your style Dave you never quit. I may not agree with some of what you say I like the way you say it as you see it.

Well, yes, the passenger was unable to travel in the planned cabin for that flight . I am not overly surprised with EK's response given that it was changed in the schedule and so passenger was rebooked into business rather than a last minute unscheduled change.

Whether I think that their response indicates a generosity is another matter.

As far as mileage earning goes, it actually sounds that the passenger ( other than a potential that the system screwed up in awarding miles if it credited saver when a flex was purchased .... but that is likely easily resolved and is the type of screw up that can happen anyway ) actually did receive the miles applicable for a 1st class travel between the origin and destination

Depends how one sees the world... purchasing a first class ticket and turning up at the airport at the correct time, one could reasonably assume to travel first class and receive first class miles.

Travelling first class was impossible, but receiving first class (bonus accelerator) miles is still very possible.

I agree that it is standard airline practice that no refund is due... as the mixed class journey cannot be ticketed for a lower fare. This does not however make 'sense' to someone receiving less service than they have paid for.

If you agreed to pay somebody a sum of money in return for a BMW and a free tank of fuel, paid the money and turned up at the collection point to find that the only vehicle available was a Fiat... even if you accepted the Fiat in place of the BMW without any refund (due to an urgent need for a car) would you consider it reasonable that the tank of fuel also be withdrawn?

And if that was the case, it would be a different situation, however that is not the case here


In this case, the customer has been informed before going to collect the vehicle that it is a Fiat and has so had opportunity to cancel/ rebook to pay for fiat etc in advance

If this had been a "turn up at airport and find 2 class only" that would be different

The email they sent me never gave me the option of rebooking. However, even if it had, it was not an option. I had a business meeting in Dubai, then another in Zurich the following day, so had to be on that flight.

While I applaud you on you efforts, Dave, to focus on uncovering my misstatement of the proper tier miles being earned, I would like to get back to the focus of my post, and that is what is done for involuntary compensation.

If one reads this thread from the start there are several instances of EK offering compensation. So, to get told, especially as one that is likely in their top 5% of customers in tier miles and revenue, to basically get lost, is surprising. The fact remains that I didn't get what i paid for.

While I don't expect what this guy got, why is EK offering compensation of this level to some and squadoosh to others?