Aircraft change 777ER300->A321, compensation?
 

Recent ZRH>TLV trip with an aircraft change to a narrow body approx 24h before the flight. Seating in Y with the family, so not a huge downgrade, but no IFE to keep the kids busy. If they flew the A321s consistently, I could have booked my flight with LY, but it just seems to be a lottery with LX on this route....

Should I be asking for any compensation from Swiss?
Would that be different if seated in C (which happened to me last year)?

You are not entlitled to compensation according to EU regulations. I doubt you will get any compensation at all. Maybe a 20 euros voucher or something if you are very lucky?

You had a contract with LX to be transported in a specific class (Y or C) from ZRH to TLV. Nothing more, nothing less. Aircraft type is not part of the contract => no compensation at all.

A bit off topic i had a similar problem with Asiana. I had a confirmed ticket LHR-ICN in C and the plane had the Smartium business class. Last minute change of planes and i ended in a very old plane with some horrible angle flat seats. I am not going to mention the IFE. Only 4 or 5 movies and you could only press PLAY. You couldnt stop the film or add subtitles or anything. The staff in LHR explained to me that i am entitled to some kind of compensation. After many emails back and forth Asiana simple replied that they charge the same price for angle flats or lie flats seats....
Obviously i havent flew with Asiana since!

Except for the IFE, swaping the LX b777 for the a321 in Y is hardly a downgrade.

So what defines business class then? Clearly not a lie flat seat. Is there any concrete promise other than "better than coach on the same plane"?

No, there isn't. You are well aware that business class seating is highly variable between different airlines or even within the same airlines (e.g. EK C long-haul products).

Was in your booking confirmation / Etix in a legal binding phrase somewhere stated that C-class seats will be lie flat? I doubt it.

No contractual promise is made in respect of the type of seat or amenities. Business class is as defined by the airline in question. In fact, it is entirely possible to be more comfortable in an economy exit row seat, than in a business class seat on a short-haul configuration. On medium-haul routes like these, this type of swap is reasonably common. As said above, it is a pain, but there is no compensation due.

A couple of years back I was booked on AZ (J) to/from IKA with the scheduled aircraft being one of their new 330s and eventually ended up flying on a 320 (both ways) due to operational changes. Frustrating as hell but nothing you can do about it I'm afraid.

G

With SWISS there are very few routes that operate wide body aircraft that can be swaped out for the small aircrats. Cairo seems to be operating with an A320 now (used to be a 343/333) maybe this is seasonal? Aside from TLV, not sure if it's possible on other routes. Heck you probably more chances of the oposite happening!

I remember the days when F was actually sold to Cairo... But recently only very rarely I have seen a widebody on the ZRH-CAI route. Always A320s or even CS300s. And the route is not even daily anymore!

[QUOTE=ermis177;30360099]You are not entlitled to compensation according to EU regulations./QUOTE]Not according to EU regulations for sure, but what about the airline policy? I got a €200 travel voucher from them when my flight was downgraded a few years ago from the A330 to an A320 on the same route, admittedly I was in business. The swap actually happened while I was sat in the lunge in ZRH waiting for my flight. Thanks to Myflight (Which I truly miss...) I was alerted and I got them to block a row for me, plus the compensation.

While it's not a huge deal in Y, for anyone booked in C this is a serious downgrade and one can definitely argue this is not the product they booked and paid for, or would have paid for.

Is it really as bad as that statistically? I was hoping it didn't happen that often anymore, and I'll be seriously annoyed if it happens to me next week when i'm booked on a 77W flight TLV-ZRH.