Involuntarily forced from business to economy

[opusman]

Has happened on other airlines as well. Especially QF

And QF don't deal with it any better than EK do by all accounts.

 

[timster]

And QF don't deal with it any better than EK do by all accounts.

viz .. "Emily's parents" .. all 100+ pages
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ram/downgraded-from-business-class-63686.html
(reminder to QF .. .this story is never going to go away ... unless perhaps the appalling downgrade compensation process is fixed).

 

[SydneySwan]

This sorry saga confirms my decision never to fly EK, nor any other ME airline, to Europe.

If I can't fly QF all the way to Europe, then I will choose CX, OR SQ

I tend to agree - this approach minimises risks somewhat although I personally put CX and SQ ahead of QF. I always fly to Europe the old-fashioned way via Asia and will continue to do so. This Europe via the Middle East malarkey is not for me.

 

[harvyk]

I find it interesting that in people's opinion getting onto the plane is considered automatic acceptance. One could argue that it was acceptance under duress, given the fact that the OP's friend was given no forewarning and had to make a snap decision or risk not getting home.

T&C's are not the be all and end all of the discussion. Something that you often see in contracts is the severability clause, in other words if any part of the contact is actually found to be illegal or unenforceable then the contract does not become null. This is effectively the lawyers way of getting a hall pass if a contract is not actually legal.

Further to this, contracts can not override the law. They can scream at you until their face turns blue that a certain T or C applies, and that's just not true if the T or C is overridden by common law. The only gotcha there is that where a contact states jurisdiction that's the laws which will apply.

So I would very much so be going after Emirates / Qantas, for the full price difference between the lowest cost Y seat and the price paid.

Disclaimer: Not a lawyer, however have hired lawyers numerous times in the past to work through contracts, and have used the above information to successfully challenge companies unfair decisions.

 

[TheRealTMA]

This sorry saga confirms my decision never to fly EK, nor any other ME airline, to Europe.

If I can't fly QF all the way to Europe, then I will choose CX, OR SQ

MEAs are no worse or better than other airlines. I got dumped from 1A on BA LHR - SYD with no explanation. (Someone mumbled something about a Tony Hancock needing a seat but... ) £500 compensation only.

 

[Mark3000]

Potentially dumb question but wouldn't the OP have a BP given to them in CPH for the onward flights to BNE? I haven't seen that mentioned anywhere. I am used to getting BP's for all legs at the same time when checking in. If so, the the original BP should have a seat assigned to them on check in at CPH. Seat selected at that stage should be irrelevant. The check in process should have assigned seat and any overbooking issues shouldn't have been OP's problem by that stage. Airlines usually don't mess with transit passengers that are both checked in with luggage already in the hold arriving for somewhere else. If this was a DXB stopover it I could understand it..

Also once in the event of any changes made should have flagged you on entry to DXB Bus Lge where you should have been notified of any issues. So if the OP got as far as the gate without notification there is a major stuff up here. Lots of little if's

I suspect some VIP's decided to get onboard in F and this had a knockon effect into J. Would be the only explanation that makes sense to me for this kind of monumental stuff up

Yes, I suspect you're right.
He did get a boarding pass in Copenhagen, and despite going through two different lounges in DXB, nothing was said. Unfortunately we were the last two to the gate I suspect.

This sorry saga confirms my decision never to fly EK, nor any other ME airline, to Europe.

If I can't fly QF all the way to Europe, then I will choose CX, OR SQ

I couldn't agree more, never again emirates for me. CX or SQ so much better

I find it interesting that in people's opinion getting onto the plane is considered automatic acceptance. One could argue that it was acceptance under duress, given the fact that the OP's friend was given no forewarning and had to make a snap decision or risk not getting home.
.

Thanks harvyk, yes I agree, it was totally under duress. He is a doctor who simply had no other option but to be there for his patients the next day.

Thanks to everyone for their input.
I emailed him today and he said he's still in correspondence with Qantas. I suspect he will end up with some paltry compensation and the take home lesson is to make them offer you something good at the gate.
I will keep everyone updated when I hear more

 

[esseeeayeenn]

I think the take out from these stories is:
If you can delay your travel, avoid boarding;
If you can't delay your travel, it's better to board with something than with nothing;
Because after you board you will get stuff all.

 

[Beasley]

Surely he would have been allocated a seat number for the flight?
If, so ....... how could someone else be booked in the same seat?

 

[Princess Fiona]

Surely he would have been allocated a seat number for the flight?
If, so ....... how could someone else be booked in the same seat?

Seat shifting is common place on all airlines EK are not immune to this.
They can and do move pax even after check-in.
In this case the OP's friend was moved from his seat by the airline after check-in at CPH.

 

[Beasley]

That would be extremely disappointing after going through the process of legitimately purchasing your air travel in good faith.

 

[suze2000]

Extremely disappointing? I would be... well LIVID doesn't even cover it. I hope the OP's friend gets proper compensation.

Also for the rest of us, is it possible that if he'd been the first to board, it would have happened to someone else?

 

[Quickstatus]

Extremely disappointing? I would be... well LIVID doesn't even cover it. I hope the OP's friend gets proper compensation.

Also for the rest of us, is it possible that if he'd been the first to board, it would have happened to someone else?

"Proper" depends on your perspective. The airline would say yes. Passenger definitely no.

Time of boarding may not necessarily influence the risk. If they needed one seat they would have picked a single traveller. In the other QF case discussed in AFF they picked an elderly couple.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Any outcome on this from the OP?

I do wonder how the financials work in these cases. QF took the revenue (understanding there is rev share on this route) but EK provided the service.
Most cases I've seen EK are willing and want to compensate passengers properly for overbooking. QF as per many horror stories here and FT - they don't give a ****.

So if EK downgraded the pax, does this mean EK reimbursed QF, and it's up to QF to reimburse the pax? If so, there is likely a discrepancy between EKs financial contribution to QF and QF's contribution to the passenger. This could create a scenario where Qantas has profited from the downgrade.

Also sounds to me as if the gate agent failed in their duty to properly consider other options (QF flight or other EK flights). This is likely against Emirates policy for dealing with a premium passenger.

I agree with others in that receiving the fare difference between Y and J is totally unsatisfactory.
The pax bought a business class ticket because they didn't want to be in economy, so econ was never a consideration.

Effectively meaning the pax didn't get what they paid for.
Short of Qantas refunding the difference and a heap fo points - I wouldn't hesitate to dispute the transaction with the bank.

If you need Mr. Specter cough kicking assistance, you know where to find me.

 

[dfcatch]

Has the OP initiated a chargeback yet?

If not - then I hate to say it - but stop asking for advice if you won't take it.

Chargeback should've been initiated the second he got into the Uber upon arrival.

 

[EmilyHoward]

The worst thing probably here is that the OP did not have all his options explained to him. If he had he would surely have delayed the flight. I cannot believe that someone is that important they have to get back to work the next day.

EH

 

[cove]

AA tried that on us once in the US and we had paid first class tickets. I overheard a wife of a very high status flier whine about not getting upgraded to our seats when I stood my ground and said No Thanks to a downgrade.
We negotiated a cash compensation before boarding a 747 in business rather than our paid for A380 First Class flight to LAX. I think we received 6 or 7 times the opening offer of cash compensation by standing firm.
Negotiate early and be hard nosed about it. It is too late once you have boarded.

 

[PLANT]

How long ago and figures cove? Thousands I hope?

 

[cove]

Yes Plant and then I invested a bit of the cash back in gift cards. It was thousands and the opening offer was about $1100.

 

[PLANT]

.....I'll have to contact AA....

 

[serfty]

MEAs are no worse or better than other airlines. I got dumped from 1A on BA LHR - SYD with no explanation. (Someone mumbled something about a Tony Hancock needing a seat but... ) £500 compensation only.

Was that from 1A to somewhere else in F, or downgraded to J or W or Y?

If so, then how long ago was this? If on or after 2004 then under EU261/2004 you were entitled to "75% of the cost of the ticket"; which at worst means ¾ the of total amount paid for the ticket pro-rated by the distance of LHR-SYD and the total distance of the ticket.

I suspect that would have been more than £500 ... if a reward redemption then it still holds but points/miles and/or value thereof needs to be taken into consideration.