Involuntary Downgrade
 

I am flying with a colleague this Thursday from Nairobi to Dubai, and then onto Gatwick in First class. I just got a call from the EK office saying that they have been advsied due to technical reasons we have been downgraded to business class on the NBO-DXB leg. When I asked her what aircraft they are using, I was told it is a 340-300. I do not know of any EK aircraft with no F on a 340-300. She then said that they were only allowed to sell the business class cabin.

When I asked her for compensation, she said she will have to check. Does anyone know what sort of compensation we can get?

I just checked your itinerary and indeed, both flights out of NBO are operated by 343s with no F cabin.

[KVS Availability Tool 2.2.1/Gold - Amadeus: AUA]
On Friday 7th, they are offering First Class again - strange :confused:

[KVS Availability Tool 2.2.1/Gold - Amadeus: AUA]

I would assume that a 'technical' reason for a downgrade would be that the aircraft scheduled for that flight was tech. and had to be substituted for a 2 class aircraft. This would surely only happen at very short notice. In this case though the aircraft is a 340-300 which are all three class. So the downgrade is a mystery. Did they take your money for a first class ticket? The KVA tool indicates only 2 classes available, even on a three class a/c. Very strange and has me worried as I am booked on LGW/DXB next month and would not wish to be downgraded having spent my own hard earned cash on the trip. I would be interested to hear if anyone knows why or how this sort of thin happens

Money taken
 

Thanks for the replies. The money has been taken, so now it will be an uphill battle with them. I never knew EK had a 2 class 340-300.

This certainly is a mystery :confused:

Sabre shows the First Class bucket.

Amadeus doesn't, and neither does Apollo

[KVS Availability Tool 2.1.0/Gold - Amadeus: AUA]
[KVS Availability Tool 2.1.0/Gold - Sabre: ITN/AXP]
[KVS Availability Tool 2.1.0/Gold - Apollo: ITN/UA/US]
FWIW, the seat map shows the plane to be a 2 class plane with a layout identical to the A330 (in J class at least.)

AB 1 EF 1 JK
AB 2 DEF 2 JK
AB 3 DEF 3 JK
AB 4 DEF 4 JK

Cheers

I got a phone call from Emirates today. We get compensation vouchers for US$175 each. The tickets were US$3200 each.

When Emirates offer upgrades from J to F for $175 accept the compensation. Till then ask for at least $1000 and accept $600.

You are legally entitled to a certain amount compensation (fare difference of the fare you paid and fare you flew + some other money) Full information is in the Emirates conditions of carriage I cannot confirm the correct amount without knowing where you started your ticket.

Cheers

Downgrade
 

It may well be the aircraft is definately a 3 class configuration, however, being used as only a 2 class config. i.e. Business class used as economy as it may be quite oversold. Thus u may well be seated in F class cabin but J class service.

This has happened to me on two occasions. Once on Qantas from SYD-AKL-SYD on 744. Was awsome being in pointy end of a QF 744;) and once on Gulf Air from Sydney to Bahrain. It was GF's 2nd flight out of Sydney when they reintroduced services in Nov 2003.

Enjoy :)
CJ :)

CJ, I had thought of that too, but I don't think it's likely for 2 reasons:

i) EK had passengers already booked and ticketed in F. Why would they only sell 2 classes when it results in only unhappy F class passengers? They could easily just opup the extra J passengers to F (which they do very often.)

ii) The EK seat maps shows a 2 class aircraft.

To the OP: please let us know what happens

Cheers

Devils advocate
 

Good points however,
EK doesnt have a 2 class A340?
As such I guess they r being very efficient and show a 2 class map.

Also, they may have only sold 2 F tckts on that sector and 10 J and over sold Y. It looks that way as the A340 flight is sold out completely?

This is what I got off sabre:

16JULNBODXB@EK
06JUL THU NBO/ Z#3 DXB/#1
13EK 718 J0 C0 Y0 W0 M0 B0 K0 NBODXB 0045 0645 343 0
H0 Q0 L0 T0 V0
14EK 720 J4 C1 Y9 W9 M9 B9 K9 NBODXB 1715 2315 332 0
H9 Q9 L9 T9 V9

We'll know the reason soon enough I guess:)

CJ :)

You may be seated in an EK A343 F seat and think you're in J.

We checked in, and spoke to the Aiport Manager who said that we should renegotiate with EK Nairobi office. I have seen some emails from the EK Nairobi Manager saying that they are re-considering.

The aircraft flown was an A330-200 2 class configuration. J Class was not bad. Decent meal.

The new F class on the 777-300ER is fantastic. Huge screen, flat seat, though it was a bit hard to sleep on. The service was not the usual F class service where course is served after course. They served 2-3 courses at a time, and the hot breakfast was not served seat side, but in a dish from the galley. There are visible changes in the service on EK, and they are not positive.

My parents were downgraded F to J DXB-LHR recently. Compensation was difference in fare paid and a voucher for J return LHR-DXB. No amount of effort persuaded them to offer a return in F. J might sound OK but is not worth much if you are 80+ and the whole point of shelling out for F was to be able to lie flat.
Compensation rules change with departure point - my guess is consumer protection is less robust in Africa than other parts of the world.

2 free tickets
 

Just got back from our trip to a fax from EK DXB office offering 2 return business class tickets to Dubai from Nairobi instead of the US$175 compensation. Great response.