^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BMW without any refund (due to an urgent need for a car) would you consider it reasonable that the tank of fuel also be withdrawn?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?

Squadoosh just love it. There isn't a spell check going to allow that without a red underline.

You could have rebooked the whole 1 way journey into business class on the same flights and then would have been refunded to 1 way busines / 1 way 1st.

I am surprised that they would offer no compensation for the loss of 1st class on the route where a booking was in place, but can understand the logic that would be behind their response and the difference between an advance rescheduling to a 2 class aeroplane vs a day of departure aeroplane substitution due to unplanned occurrences

Is it a particularly nice response ... no
I would have thought that they might give more than nothing, but would not have expected the level of a day of departure change

Thought that would have a few on here checking google...

Why would I want to do that? I didn't want to fly business class, thus the reason I paid for first class.

2-days of advance notice while I was already in the middle of traveling isn't a whole lot different to day-of-departure notice. Its not like they told me a month in advance. At the point they notified me it was a day prior to flying to CMB to position, I had already booked a non-refundable hotel in CMB, and my hands were just as tied as if it were day-of-departure notice.

EK did it to me again Booked F
EK018 for 17th, downgraded to 2 class, no notification whatsoever, only discovered upon checking my skywards account today
Rebooked to EK 020 which trashes my schedule, have to leave 7 hours earlier but i'm not prepared to go in J again

Unconcerned agent, email complaint sent

Dave - you answer queries so like my husband would - are you a Scotsman too?

Recently purchased tix on the SIN-DXB-WAW route in F all the way, only to find out some weeks down the road that on those dates the DXB-WAW leg has been substituted to an aircraft with no F.

I cannot change the dates so that is not an option, but should I expect any compensation/farechange as a result of this? During a phone call Emirates were adamant that they owe me nothing in this case.

For me it comes down to what is "right" with "right" (depending on its usage)being defined as being:
Adjective - Morally good, justified, or acceptable; or
Noun - That which is morally correct, just, or honorable: "the difference between right and wrong".

No amount of justification as to why no compensation or recompense is due as a result of a downgrading of service on the basis of specious sounding arguments that you could change your travel plans, etc., will ever personally convince me otherwise.

Agreed.

Is it worth writing with a formal complaint to get an answer from them on paper? I mean purchasing F and being forced to fly C seems like it should entail some form of compensation or lowering of the ticket price? Otherwise this is like daylight robbery.

It might help the case if you can quote the difference between the fares for F and C and seek that as the starting point for recompense - it would appear difficult for them to counter that. You might stand more chance of getting anything above this amount by requesting Skywards miles rather than cash but I have no experience of this with EK.