rockysam382

I got downgraded from F to J on TG623 because of an equipment swap. It was originally supposed to be a 747 but is now a 77W without F.

I called Thai and they couldn't do anything from their end because my flight's an award redemption through Lifemiles. Contacted Lifemiles and they told me it's Thai's problem. What should I do?

Also, if the flight gets changed back to a 747, will I automatically be put back in F again?

MikeFromTokyo

I seem to recall a thread a few years ago about EXACTLY the same situation. Here is the thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thai-...j-bkk-bru.html

What is the reason for booking through Avianca/Lifemiles? Do they allow purchase of miles, or are redemption rates low?

You'll have to deal with Lifemiles only, because with any partner award, changes, refunds, etc... can only be done through the issuing airline. It is not TG's problem.

I vaguely remember that by persisting (a great deal) with Avianca, the poster years ago did get some kind of adjustment or compensation from life miles. Perhaps just the difference in miles between F and J refunded.

To answer your question, if it goes back to 744, you should of course expect your original booking to be honored. If it does not automatically revert to F, call Avianca Lifemiles and have them do it.

The other option could be re routing to a different F itinerary if possible.

Since there's still time, perhaps you should just wait for a possible change back to 744, and then iron out your problem only if necessary. It would not make sense to escalate with Avianca, only to have it eventually change back.

There's always a bit of risk involved with partner awards. In any case, ending up in 777 J isn't the worst thing in the world.

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

If this concerns a single F->J sector, or alternatively, now puts all your flights in J (none left in F), you should be able to get a refund of miles from LM for the difference between cabins.

If you have other F sectors, LM will always price at the highest cabin on the ticket. So F mileage would stay.

Your options... the easy one, cancel and book something else. LM should waive the cancellation fee.

Option 2 - try for a reroute. If seats are available from another European port you can get the itinerary changed to F. LM should waive the change fee.

Option 3 - max difficulty... if you want to reroute, but no F seats are available, you could ask Thai to convert a revenue seat to an award seat. TG would have to create this, and then you contact LM to reissue the ticket.

TG is under no obligation to convert a revenue ticket to an award, but they have been known to do so. TG will tell you they can't touch the ticket... but you need to emphasise all you want them to do is create a seat which you will then ask LM to ticket (ie TG doesn't need to touch the ticket at all).

you can contact the TG office directly by email in Japan to see if they can help you.