Bumped FROM business class!
 

Hi all,

I was recently uncermoniously bumped from business-class on transatlantic flight. I was given a voucher for a free business ticket, but am still furious as I had to suffer a sleepless night in economy. I've got a very bad back, so this was no laughing matter. I thought it you paid for premium tickets overbooking was off limits!!!

Does anyone know widely spread this practice is? What kind of compensation can I demand if this sort of thing happens again?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Airline ? Paid/Award/NonRev/Upgrade ? Destination ?

Wow....that is jacked up! What airline? I guess if it were me, I would figure what would make me happy and ask for it. Maybe a second C class freebie??

Premium class passengers are just as likely (possibly even more likely) not to show up for a given flight as Economy passengers. The airlines overbook in all classes, from the very front to the very back.

It is unfortunate when the math doesn't add up, but it is not unusual. A voucher for a free Business Class flight seems like reasonable compensation to me (I am assuming that you were affected on only one flight and that you're getting a return Business Class ticket - so two flights - as compensation).

I agree entirely. Whereas this is an unfortunate (and rather uncommon) occurrence, occasionally it does happen. Although my sympathies go out to the OP, it could, of course, be much worse.

did you pay for the ticket with cash money, miles, or use a UG? they are treated very differently.

Was the flight from Europe or was the travel on a European carrier?

What other options were offered? Sometimes the airlines will compensate you and put you on the next available flight in the class of service you reserved.

Welcome to Flyertalk :)

Sorry that happened to you- I've spent many sleepless nights in TATL Coach so I know how bad that is. The only time I got bumped from Business Class was on an ORD-LHR flight where I got bumped up to First because they oversold Business! Very easy to take.

Like the others, I'm curious about the circumstances- what airline? Reward travel? How early did you check in? It's a good way for the airline to anger a customer no matter how it happened.

I was once bumped from business a long long ago

fortunately I was bumped to first. the only time I rode first transpac

Happened to me on CX once and my wife on CX twice. It was a good bump. :D

Mike

Check the BA forum for involuntary downgrade - there's a case there from someone downgraded from F to C who took it to court and won.

If you already accepted the compensation you may be out of luck - though it depends what the restrictions on the voucher are - if they are few I think it's a pretty good deal. If the voucher requires availability of award booking class I'd fight for much more.

It happened to me once when flying from Seoul to Hong Kong. What irked me more, almost, than the downgrade was the fact that the check-in staff wouldn't let me use the business-class lounge.

I did go to the business-class lounge, and the woman at the desk there took pity on me and let me in.

I made sure that I had several expensive drinks and lots to eat... :p

I was still furious though...

Happened to me once, too, flying on BA from LHR-LAX - I bought a WT+ ticket, was bumped to CW at the gate and bumped to F right before the doors closed. Let me tell you, that was a flight to remember! ^

That is really rude of them.

If you were downgraded from a paid business class fare, you should receive some sort of cash refund in addition to your voucher to use later.

If you were lost a space-available upgrade, then you should get your upgrade instrument back plus some sort of "downgrade kit" - in your case, the R/T voucher to use later is actually better than what many carriers give you.

Oh, and the guy who tried to rip lounge access from a passenger who had just been involuntarily downgraded should be fired. That's just low rent.

OP: Can you come back and post additional details about your trip? Airline, route, date, etc.

Although accepting the upgrade certificate might limit your legal rights, you should be entitled to reclaim the entire difference in fare from what you paid and the lowest fare in Y that was available at the time you originally ticketed. In addition, they should let you keep the upgrade cert at the very least.

If you are not financially compensated for the fare difference, I suggest you take the airline to small claims court (if you're in the US) and sue for the fare difference and additional compensation for your physical discomfort.

If you're still suffering physical discomfort from the trip, and can prove you always buy business or first on long haul flights because of the physical comfort issues, you could also consider hiring a lawyer and taking the airline to regular court, suing for punitive damages as well for your 'pain and suffering.'

Another option for future consideration - if you're flying on a refundable full fare business class ticket and the airline pulls these shenanigans, order them to print you a paper ticket and endorse it, flip them off and march over to a competitor who is likely all too happy to take the other airline's tickets - some might be willing to accept the paper ticket even without an endorsement. Or, you can tell them to issue you a refund immediately, then go buy a business class ticket on a competitor - the fare might be the same. If you opt for either of these options, send a letter to the airline CEO with copies of the new airline boarding passes/receipt, an explanation of what happened (with employee names) and a note that you're taking your future business elsewhere and will be publicly blogging about how you were treated.

I agree with this part - the more we know, the better the advice we can provide.

Please be aware that if you are based anywhere other than the US, the first part of this may or may not work, and the second will get you laughed out of court. :rolleyes:

I wouldn't go so far as another poster did by saying that all carriers overbook their premium cabins - some do not.

But overbooking is only one of several reasons why you might get bumped from a premium cabin despite holding a confirmed reservation. Don't assume that the reason was overbooking unless you know that for sure. Another situation where this can happen is when there's an equipment substitution. For example, the flight was originally planned to be operated with an aircraft having 50 Business Class seats, but at the last minute it gets swapped out for an aircraft having only 40 Business Class seats. If they sold out the original 50 seats and everyone shows up, there are going to be 10 Business Class passengers that need to be bumped/downgraded even though they didn't oversell the flight.

Also, always consider that another option rather than being downgraded is to agree to wait for the next flight where you can be accommodated in your ticketed class. Assuming this works with your schedule, this is often the better option, especially if you have a bad back or otherwise will be miserable in coach. I've been fortunate enough to never have been downgraded, but if I was on a trans-oceanic flight, I'd almost certainly opt for waiting for another flight (even the next day) rather then doing it in economy, unless there was a hard scheduling issue where I really needed to be somewhere (and if that was the case, I probably would have factored this into my travel plans to start with and built a day of slack into my schedule).

Since when does the CI staff has anything to decide in regards to Lounge access ? :confused:

And what sort of expensve drinks are available in ICN ? Seems like I missed out a few times :p

Reminds me of an involuntary downgrade I had a few years ago with Qatar Airways flying DOH-LHR due to an aircraft swap. Not only did they downgrade me to a middle seat in Economy Class, but they also rounded up all the downgraded pax (about 6 of us) and escorted us out of the Premium Terminal immediately. They were very polite about the whole thing but still a very negative experience.

Anyone else smell a hoax?

OP comes on - first post ever touches a perfect FT nerve...then disappears forever...

C'mon guys.. fess up.. who was it?

:p

That said, I'd always been under the impression that premium cabins were not overbooked as a general policy, but now I see otherwise.

That's pretty rough being escorted out of the Premium Terminal. You'd think they'd show a little more class than that...

Isn't everybody's first post to FT a gripe about being downgraded? :) I'm laughing because my first post to FT was exactly the same - LH took my C boarding pass (given to me by UA), ripped it up in front of me unceremoniously, then put me in Y with a snarky comment "UA doesn't have the right to upgrade you on LH". No, no bitterness here