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, 4:28 am
#49
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Jan 6, 2016, 4:31 am
#51
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Doesn't look too bad at all, but no bed and an extra stop. Might be quite the adventure if the fare allows a stopover in Botswana... No idea if it does.
On a day flight (outbound), I would not mind this cabin too much.
EDIT: here is a review. Just Google Translate it to your language of choice! Seems pretty good tbh.
On a day flight (outbound), I would not mind this cabin too much.
EDIT: here is a review. Just Google Translate it to your language of choice! Seems pretty good tbh.
The company has won numerous awards, including "African Airline of the Year 2013", "Africa's Best Business Class in 2013", "Best Cabin Crew in Africa 2013" and many more.
Last edited by henkybaby; Jan 6, 2016 at 4:36 am
Jan 6, 2016, 4:34 am
#54
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 3,839
Doesn't look too bad at all, but no bed and an extra stop. Might be quite the adventure if the fare allows a stopover in Botswana... No idea if it does.
On a day flight, I would not mind this cabin too much.
On a day flight, I would not mind this cabin too much.
Any site. The fare allows full refund no matter where booked.
Jan 6, 2016, 4:38 am
#55
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Jan 6, 2016, 4:39 am
#56
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Yeah, I thought I read that, but I am very careful interpreting fare rules... 
In that case you could construct a very nice adventure with a stop in Botswana on the outbound and JNB on the inbound. @:-)
Probably need a real life TA for that though...
In that case you could construct a very nice adventure with a stop in Botswana on the outbound and JNB on the inbound. @:-)
Probably need a real life TA for that though...
Jan 6, 2016, 4:40 am
#57
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 3,839
The fare allows a stopover only in ADD.
Jan 6, 2016, 4:41 am
#58
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Surrey, UK
Programs: BA Blue, BMI Blue+
Posts: 779
Flew J on DUB-(777)-ADD-(737)-CPT and CPT-(737)-ADD-(787)-DUB over Christmas / New Year with the family.
737-800 is OK for day flights. 16 seats, equivalent to Domestic US first class and much better than European Shorthaul Business. They had cabin film/TV, there is no other IFE. On the way out the 737-800 did not have power sockets and on the way back it did (so two variations in the fleet)....
Just avoid the overnight from CPT-JNB-ADD on the 737.
For ET:
777 are all lie flat.
787 (10 of 13) are angle (and not angle flat)
787 (3 of 13) are lie flat.
I don't think you can tell whether you get angle or lie flat on 787 (and there are no plans to retrofit the angle.
If you need to overnight in ADD, ET put you up in a hotel and pay for the visa to enter Ethiopia even if it is >24 hours.
737-800 is OK for day flights. 16 seats, equivalent to Domestic US first class and much better than European Shorthaul Business. They had cabin film/TV, there is no other IFE. On the way out the 737-800 did not have power sockets and on the way back it did (so two variations in the fleet)....
Just avoid the overnight from CPT-JNB-ADD on the 737.
For ET:
777 are all lie flat.
787 (10 of 13) are angle (and not angle flat)
787 (3 of 13) are lie flat.
I don't think you can tell whether you get angle or lie flat on 787 (and there are no plans to retrofit the angle.
If you need to overnight in ADD, ET put you up in a hotel and pay for the visa to enter Ethiopia even if it is >24 hours.
Jan 6, 2016, 4:44 am
#59
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