I had American Express that issued the tickets call Emirates. They too were amazed at the lack of customer service or responsibility accepted for a downgrade. After the AMEX rep was transferred several times they were eventually told that I should ask for a voucher when I check-in for the flight, but couldn't provide any details about the voucher.

I did check to see if it was just a one day equipment change, but unfortunately it is a permanent change.

Thank you all for your input. I will let you know how the voucher plays out, if at all.

I am not sure why American Express is amazed

You really have the choices to

Accept the downgrade
Rebook for a day when there is availability
Cancel

If you cancel , the airline is not going to charge you any penalty ( and if it was to do so, then AMEX would be able to assist in that service purchased wouldnt match supplied )

I would be surprised if you got much of a voucher if at all given that the fare would almost certainly not be any cheaper

Dave,

Does this mean that a connecting flight from Dubai is not covered?

For example, LGW DXB then 3 hour connection DXB PEK is downgraded to a 2 class that would not fall under 261?

I've booked the above but am slightly concerned about them swapping the 77w. If they do I'm going to court if I'm covered under 261, enough of EK customer affairs!

I think you would be highly unlucky m3red for this to happen. There has been 1 downguaged equipment using the 77W on the DXB-PEK route since the beginning of June.

Hopefully you won't have any issues with your flight.

http://www.theeksource.com/routetracker.html

SAfe & Happy Travels

S

You would not be covered since the DXB-PEK is not departing from the EU

Aircraft Downgrade Flight 102 (MXP>DXB)
 

I had booked a trip in First using JAL Rewards in First class. The leg from MXP to DXB was to be in a 3 class 777-300. In checking my reservation, the aircraft was downgraded to a 2-Class 773 and my seat is now business class.

Dealing with JAL to update to a different flight has been a pain. Any thoughts on a different way to remedy? Am I owed any compensation (be it by EK or JAL) should they be unable to accommodate?

Sorry if this has been asked before--a search yielded no results. Thanks in advance for your assistance!

I'm afraid only JAL can help you as the flight will be on JL stock.

An F ticket entitles you to a seat in the highest cabin of service - JL will claim no compensation is payable.

As reward tickets are usually fully flexible if the cabin is more important than the timetable, would recommend changing the date, but there may be partner award availability.

Thanks for the reply. I did go back to JAL once more and changing the date did the trick.

fingers crossed the aircraft is not changed again.

I suggest you switch to EK205 or EK91 for peace of mind. This is my regular route and EK101 is the only one that gets swapped out for the 2 class. Others are highly unlikely to be swapped out as both are A380 with EK205 even less likely as it continues on to JFK.

Bumping this thread again as I have a very similar situation and had a few q's for the experts (I seldom fly EK, so not sure how this should work and what I should expect/not expect)

The basics: Have a multi-leg trip upcoming all booked and ticketed in F using JAL miles (JFK>DXB>SEZ>DXB>ATH>EWR, with stops in DXB, SEZ, and ATH. A few weeks ago I got a downgrade email on the DXB>ATH leg (equip change from 3 cabin to 2 cabin 777). I have spoken to both EK and JAL and because there is currently not F upgrade space on the earlier flight from DXB>ATH (which actually would be preferable timing, as we arrive early on a redeye from SEZ), they cannot change our flights. They also noted that they could easily change it if space opens up between now and the flight. Nothing abnormal there, have EF alerts set, 4 F seats are still avail on the earlier flight to ATH.

My two main questions:

1) If upgrade space does NOT open up, but F remains with open seats, can anyone on the ground make a day-of change to the 3-class/earlier flight, given we were involuntarily downgraded? Is there some sort of process for getting on a standby list once we are on the ground?

2) If the answer to question 1 is "no, they can't make such a day-of change given it was a partner award" (which is the vibe I am getting), can we still access the First Class lounge in DXB for our almost 11 hr layover? Would be kind of a bummer if that answer is also "no", given we were initially ticketed in F and were vaguely looking fwd to a nice layover in the First class lounge in DXB.

Understood that some of these requests may be at the discretion of the DXB ground team, but was hoping someone with a similar experience might have some real-world insight and advice on how to handle, if we can't make the change ahead of checking in.

Yes, No EC261. It'll be a battle. How did you pay? You should of course get a refund but your calculation will likely differ from EKs

One option may be to change your flight. What is the route? If it's MAN, then there are normally 2 flights a day with F, plus one 2 class. So, you may be able to shift your flight.

Thanks both, jip it's one of the MAN flights swapped to a 2 class. Have never found the call centre too helpful so figured it was easier to swap to the later flight rather than fight for a partial refund. Emirates works well most of the time but not when the matter is irrops! But then, their flight frequencies can't be beaten when that's the case.

Aircraft swap ahead of time isn't IRROPS

You will be disappointed with what refund you get! Defo swap

edited

I wanted to share a positive experience since I was pretty dejected after reading this thread. I had an aircraft change that led to a downgrade from F to J (773 to 772) later in the year. I called several times and mostly got the standard ‘you must pay the fare difference for a different routing’. I politely said I would check into my schedule and get back to them. On the 4th call I finally felt like I had purchased a F ticket! Extremely nice, polite, and helpful agent changed my ticket routing through SFO instead of SEA - no up fare. This yet again proves that if you don’t like the first response (or three) HUCA may eventually get the desired result.

Just out of curiosity. How many times maximum were you ready to try ?
As for me, three times is a max.