Jan 20, 2016, 9:14 am
Last edit by: Palal
Brief History
On 6 January, a fare appeared for a few hours on Ethiopian Airlines (ET) and online travel agencies (OTAs) offering BRU-ADD-(GBE)-CPT r/t in fully refundable business (C-Class) for 530.
Several days later, many members got e-mails stating that they "actually booked economy tickets" and were downgraded from fare basis CRTBE (fully refundable business) to TLES6MBE (economy). Some who booked through OTAs have yet to receive this downgrade, and some have been downgraded with no notification from OTAs.
Several people have also successfully flown already.
Next Steps
1. It's (now) safe to call/email the airline.
2. It seems 2 options are given: travel in economy, or full refund.
--> those who have chosen a refund have mostly gotten it promptly.
--> those who have contested the e-mail have not received any type of response.
--> other options were presented here, although others have not seem to replicated the result.
3. Contacting any Ethiopian offices (London, Vienna, etc.) have resulted in being redirected to the Ethiopian Brussels office.
4. For those who plan to fight it, see below. Note that no one has had a successful outcome yet.
5. Update: Some users are reporting getting the offer of 75% refunds to travel in economy as per EC 261.
Avenues of contest:
1. Try Art. 10 (2) lit. c of the Flight Delay Compensation Regulation 261/2004. It may be possible to get up to 75% of the ticket price back, although this is unconfirmed and debatable.
2. Befriend a Belgian lawyer with a penchant for pro bono work
Kidding aside, it is not wise to go the legal route.
You should email the Belgian enforcement body at: [email protected]
In the email state your name, eticket, travel date, attach ticket receipt.
State that your ticket has been purchased and issued in business class and that the airline is offering to either cancel or downgrade without compensation. Politely ask for their help in enforcing EU Reg 261/2004 Art.10 2(c).
Planned Trips:
early February OwlMan
early April mattking2000
March-End Culture Guru
late April Palal
Further/concurrent reading (for the German-inclined):
http://www.vielfliegertreff.de/first-business-class-tarife/91159-et-bru-cpt-524-euro.html
On 6 January, a fare appeared for a few hours on Ethiopian Airlines (ET) and online travel agencies (OTAs) offering BRU-ADD-(GBE)-CPT r/t in fully refundable business (C-Class) for 530.
Several days later, many members got e-mails stating that they "actually booked economy tickets" and were downgraded from fare basis CRTBE (fully refundable business) to TLES6MBE (economy). Some who booked through OTAs have yet to receive this downgrade, and some have been downgraded with no notification from OTAs.
Several people have also successfully flown already.
Next Steps
1. It's (now) safe to call/email the airline.
2. It seems 2 options are given: travel in economy, or full refund.
--> those who have chosen a refund have mostly gotten it promptly.
--> those who have contested the e-mail have not received any type of response.
--> other options were presented here, although others have not seem to replicated the result.
3. Contacting any Ethiopian offices (London, Vienna, etc.) have resulted in being redirected to the Ethiopian Brussels office.
4. For those who plan to fight it, see below. Note that no one has had a successful outcome yet.
5. Update: Some users are reporting getting the offer of 75% refunds to travel in economy as per EC 261.
Avenues of contest:
1. Try Art. 10 (2) lit. c of the Flight Delay Compensation Regulation 261/2004. It may be possible to get up to 75% of the ticket price back, although this is unconfirmed and debatable.
2. Befriend a Belgian lawyer with a penchant for pro bono work
Kidding aside, it is not wise to go the legal route. Code:
Article 10: Upgrading and downgrading 1. If an operating air carrier places a passenger in a class higher than that for which the ticket was purchased, it may not request any supplementary payment. 2. If an operating air carrier places a passenger in a class lower than that for which the ticket was purchased, it shall within seven days, by the means provided for in Article 7(3), reimburse (a) 30 % of the price of the ticket for all flights of 1500 kilometres or less, or (b) 50 % of the price of the ticket for all intra-Community flights of more than 1500 kilometres, except flights between the European territory of the Member States and the French overseas departments, and for all other flights between 1500 and 3500 kilometres, or (c) 75 % of the price of the ticket for all flights not falling under (a) or (b), including flights between the European territory of the Member States and the French overseas departments.
In the email state your name, eticket, travel date, attach ticket receipt.
State that your ticket has been purchased and issued in business class and that the airline is offering to either cancel or downgrade without compensation. Politely ask for their help in enforcing EU Reg 261/2004 Art.10 2(c).
Planned Trips:
early February OwlMan
early April mattking2000
March-End Culture Guru
late April Palal
Further/concurrent reading (for the German-inclined):
http://www.vielfliegertreff.de/first-business-class-tarife/91159-et-bru-cpt-524-euro.html
[PREMIUM FARE GONE] Ethiopian Airlines-Brussel to CPT (r/t) in J on 787 for 530 in J
Jan 6, 2016, 3:51 am
#31
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: WORLD
Programs: Bonvoy Titanium, Flying Blue (KLM) Platinum, Oneworld (BA) Sapphire, *A (Aegean) Gold, IHG Spire RA,
Posts: 555
BTW: at about double price you can put a week stop in ADD..... it prices then about 500 euro each way totalling 1000 euro total. still cheap.
Jan 6, 2016, 3:57 am
#32
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 4,279
Thanks OP.
Jumped into this as I always wanted to try out ET no matter how bad it has been reported. Doing a quick weekend to CPT and back - yep got the 737 service via JNB and GEB - with a long layover in ADD on the way back - will see how I want to survive that portion - maybe I might do a daytrip out to ADD if I find it safe enough (based on my own opinion).
Helps me to requalify this year for my A3 program easily
Too bad it was not possible to add the stopover in CDG - that would have been a double icing on the cake.
Cheers!
Jumped into this as I always wanted to try out ET no matter how bad it has been reported. Doing a quick weekend to CPT and back - yep got the 737 service via JNB and GEB - with a long layover in ADD on the way back - will see how I want to survive that portion - maybe I might do a daytrip out to ADD if I find it safe enough (based on my own opinion).
Helps me to requalify this year for my A3 program easily
Too bad it was not possible to add the stopover in CDG - that would have been a double icing on the cake.
Cheers!
Jan 6, 2016, 4:01 am
#34
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Wedged somewhere between BTS and VIE ✈
Programs: Star Alliance Gold (A3 Gold), Oneworld Emerald (BA Gold), Hilton Diamond
Posts: 6,338
Does fully flexible mean that they'd refund the whole amount if you cancelled the booking? Or would there be a service charge? (I've never booked fully flex before!)
Jan 6, 2016, 4:14 am
#38
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: The Hague, NL
Programs: GMLFL, Life 2.0 - Mucci Premiere Classe & des Chevaliers Toulousiens
Posts: 22,911
Glad to see so many people actually booking it. ^
Too bad I can't use it myself. For now it looks like Thursday/Tuesday outbound and Friday/Wednesday inbound give you a 787 all the way until end of May.
Too bad I can't use it myself. For now it looks like Thursday/Tuesday outbound and Friday/Wednesday inbound give you a 787 all the way until end of May.
Jan 6, 2016, 4:23 am
#44
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: London
Posts: 172
I am booked to Cape Town on an open jaw Avios redemption.
This is tempting but I will take the convenience of direct flight over 3 stops. Plus everything else is booked so it would be too much of a hassle for me to look into moving around car/ hotel bookings.
This is tempting but I will take the convenience of direct flight over 3 stops. Plus everything else is booked so it would be too much of a hassle for me to look into moving around car/ hotel bookings.
Jan 6, 2016, 4:24 am
#45
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: North-West Europe
Programs: Flying Blue, BA Executive Club, LH Miles & More, Air Asia BigShot, Les Collectioneurs
Posts: 268
very nice find, almost dreamed of this only them from Amsterdam. Am trying to convince the wife to go with the kids, but no response yet 