I bought a one way economy ticket Cairo/Bahrain/Bangkok on Gulf Air. I upgraded to business class at check in at the Cairo airport, because their schedule showed a lie-flat seat on and A340 Bah/Bkk. They didn't tell me at check in, which they already knew, that they changed the aircraft Bah/Bkk to a two class A330 which did not have lie-flat seats in business class. I felt since they knew at the time I paid for the upgrade that they had already changed the aircraft, they had an obligation to inform me of the inferior seat, which they sold me at the same price. Gulf Air claims they are both "business class seats", and their fine print, only on their website says they don't guarantee lie-flat seats, but this information is not required reading, and is not available to see at the airport check in counter. Currently disputing the charge with my credit card company.

All GF A330 longhaul J seats are lie-flat IIRC

Did you ask about whether there had been an equipment change?

I am personally not persuaded by your argument that "only the website" says that not all business class are lie-flat. Was there something at the airport, at the time you bought the seat, that told you everything *was* lie-flat? Or was that just an assumption you made from other information you saw another time?

I think you should lose your credit-card charge back. You did get a much bigger seat, much better food and drink, etc.

Agreed. When you bought the upgrade, it's not like they pulled out an illustrated brochure and showed all of the features to you, and then delivered something different from that. I think that challenging the credit card charge is a bit much.

It's unfortunate that you didn't get what you expected, but that is not shocking with GF. I suppose there's a reason why their J product (which can sometimes be excellent in my experience) always seems to be priced lower than competitors'.

As of two weeks ago, my Bah/Bkk A330 flight certainly did not have lie-flat seats, despite Gulf Air's advertising to the contrary that I've seen since then.

I don't work for Gulf Air. I don't feel I need to ask them if there was any equipment change. Seems it would be their responsibility to inform me of that. Their advertising and on their website said, i think after a date in April, all seats would be lie-flat on certain routes, and it mentioned Bangkok as one of them. The assumption I made was that I would get what I saw on their website, their advertising. The flight was quite empty, so i'm sure for economic reasons, they decided to steal money from whoever they could, by not disclosing, at the time of upgrade purchase at the airport, that they were substituting a lower quality seat, despite what they promise/advertise. I did get a bigger seat, better food, but I didn't get the lie-flat seat they promised, in writing in multiple places. Their website clearly states something like after April xx, all business class seats to bangkok will be lie flat. what is confusing about that? Had they disclosed they were substituting a different lower quality aircraft/seat, I probably would have just gone economy, as ticketed. I'm curious to know what you think I did wrong.

It's not really a question of how good or bad their j product is, or if they need to pull out an illustrated brochure at the time of upgrade purchase. The question is really quite simple: did I get what they promise and advertise? No. I didn't get a lie flat seat, and they made no attempt to disclose that to me at the check in counter, when they already knew they had substituted the aircraft. Strange that you feel challanging the credit card is a bit much. I'm always amazed at how easily people are willing to bend over backwards when an airline is stealing money from them.

According to the GF website - quote from their 'Falcon Gold' product and service information (my bolding):

From the clear terms and conditions accompanying the above:
I don't think it could be any clearer... full fare J gets you a sleeper seat (full flat), a lower fare gets you a 'lie-flat'.

I have flown the A330 in F a few years ago and can confirm full flat sleeper seats are available, in the front cabin only (2 rows).

Regular J class seating was the lie flat at an angle. Sounds like those were the seats you got.

I just did the Bah-Bkk a few days ago and thought I too would have the sleeper seats. No such luck as I got the 330 with no sleeper seats. I did have them before and they are actually very good IMO.

Our AC wasn't working during boarding and the cabin was 33.5 degrees C. while they were figuring it out. I thought for sure someone would deboard for we left 30 minutes late as well. One of the worst hours of my life. I'm going to write to them and see what they will offer. Had a broken audio jack in coach on a fra-bah flight and they only gave me 4k miles which are close to worthless IMO.

oops - my bad... I stand corrected. There are A330s without the full flat sleepers.

But the same still stands to the OP - the beds are not guaranteed on all routes and even if they are there, they go to full fare pax first.

Not picking on you, just answering your question. You previously said that it wasn't fair to expect you to read the website. But that is what you read to get the information in the first place.

My point is: Lie-flat = slopey flat - haven't all A330s got this? If the OP is talking full-flat (180 degree flat) then only on Flexi-J tix is my understanding. Simple.

It would be useful if you could quote me where in Gulf Air's terms and conditions and/or contract of carriage, is there a requirement that I read or even look or even know about their website, which has new additional rules imposed on people. And there is clearly conflicting info on their webiste which specifically states all flights to BKK will have lie-flat seats. I looked at their website pictures, to see what the lie flat seats look like. I had no obligation to even do that, or read anything further.

And what they really should have done is show a photo of the A330 non lie-flat seats, and state "this is what you'll get, but maybe you'll be lucky and get something better, but that's not guaranteed". They chose to do illegal "bait and switch" advertising.

What you are referring to relates to routes where the lie-flat seats are not guaranteed. For Bangkok, it clearly states that "all" flights will have the lie-flat seats.

If i have understood you correctly you should have been entitled to expect a 'lie-flat' (=not horizontal full flat) seat on your flight to BKK.

If you got an ordinary seat and not a lie flat then I think you have cause for complaint.

No entitlement to a full flat sleeper seat. That is clearly only for full fare J on space available basis.