BA Business Class downgrade to Premium Economy

[iamfugly]

Hi All,
Recently completed the first of a return leg trip where myself and my daughter were downgraded from Club World to World Traveller Plus. Tickets were via points redemption using a 2-4-1 companion card voucher.
I have been given a Dear Customer letter from BA instructing to claim directly myself for compensation (nothing was suggested or offered at checkin). I have read some recent experience of this type of compensation claim so am not expecting an easy ride/fair compensation from BA.
Just wondering if I need to write anything specific to strength my claim (to avoid being given the run around with cat and mouse games)? Also just wondering what peoples recent experience is with this type of claim (via points with a companion card voucher).
Advice/feedback would be much appreciated.

Kind regards

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

Just keep it simple – ‘I was on Bookign ref XXX and we were downgraced so claim downgrade reimbursement’

Don’t ask for compensation as the regulation is clear that it’s reimbursement.

And that’s it. Don’t even mention checkin staff didn’t offer you anything as it’s not their job to it’s all done by customer relations after the fact.

The people who seem to have problems are those that write screeds of irrelavant information that just distract the claims agents.

[iamfugly]

BA Flyer, thank you for your reply. Point taken. Much appreciated….fingers crossed!

[jonjon2000]

Hi, Same thing happened to my wife and I last week. We were told the reimbursement was automatic however, which going on information above seems not to be the case.

If anyone could share the process they have followed to get a successful resolution to this I’d be grateful.

Where should the claim be sent? Email/postal address would be great as called BA twice yesterday and phone call cut off on both occasions.

Thanks

[strickers]

Quite a lot of detail on FT, Part 5 for downgrades.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/2146208-2024-ba-compensation-thread-your-guide-regulation-ec261-uk261.html

[NorthernLass]

If you go on to ba.com, they’ve made it pretty simple these days to claim for these things. You’ll either need to put in separate claims or provide evidence that you’re authorised to claim for all affected parties.

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

jonjon2000 wrote:

Hi, Same thing happened to my wife and I last week. We were told the reimbursement was automatic however, which going on information above seems not to be the case.

If anyone could share the process they have followed to get a successful resolution to this I’d be grateful.

Where should the claim be sent? Email/postal address would be great as called BA twice yesterday and phone call cut off on both occasions.

Thanks

There is a form on the website to compelte. They are very intuitive so have bookign ref, flight details to hand as once you put those in some fields get pre-populated,

[wookie192]

Let me know how you get on with this please. I’ve booked US trips in September in CW using Avios + 2-4-1. Really hoping it doesn’t happen as never flown business before so myself and my partner are really looking forward to it.

Be good to understand the outcome and what reimbursement you got. I’d feeling using the 2-4-1 for CW and being downgraded a bit of a waste of the 2-4-1 voucher

[NorthernLass]

The reimbursement is fixed by law at 75% of what you paid for the downgraded leg (on long-haul). The FT thread is probably very helpful, but there’s a lot of info here as well.

It’s quite rare, especially on well-served routes like the USA. If you were downgraded, say, on a NYC flight, you’d probably be able to negotiate a move to another service in the original cabin.

[jonjon2000]

Thanks for the advice all, appreciated.

Wookkie192, just in response to your point, We’ve been travelling for many years without any trouble so sure it will be ok, this was just our time to be affected

[TGLoyalty]

NorthernLass wrote:

The reimbursement is fixed by law at 75% of what you paid for the downgraded leg (on long-haul). The FT thread is probably very helpful, but there’s a lot of info here as well.

It’s quite rare, especially on well-served routes like the USA. If you were downgraded, say, on a NYC flight, you’d probably be able to negotiate a move to another service in the original cabin.

And just to be sure the 2-4-1 has value so you should expect 75% back of whatever 2 seats would’ve cost in Avios+fees

[ABA]

wookie192 wrote:

Let me know how you get on with this please. I’ve booked US trips in September in CW using Avios + 2-4-1. Really hoping it doesn’t happen as never flown business before so myself and my partner are really looking forward to it.

Be good to understand the outcome and what reimbursement you got. I’d feeling using the 2-4-1 for CW and being downgraded a bit of a waste of the 2-4-1 voucher

I wouldn’t worry too much as downgrading doesn’t happen too often. In fact the opposite has happened to me when I was a lowly blue and got upgraded on an award flight.

[Matt]

TGLoyalty wrote:

NorthernLass wrote:

The reimbursement is fixed by law at 75% of what you paid for the downgraded leg (on long-haul). The FT thread is probably very helpful, but there’s a lot of info here as well.

It’s quite rare, especially on well-served routes like the USA. If you were downgraded, say, on a NYC flight, you’d probably be able to negotiate a move to another service in the original cabin.

And just to be sure the 2-4-1 has value so you should expect 75% back of whatever 2 seats would’ve cost in Avios+fees

Make sure you claim for it, because that’s what you’re due. It is very unlikely that BA will pay it (for the companion voucher) without you taking them to CEDR though.

Also worth working out what you’re due from the cash you paid: basically subtract any proper taxes and fees (APD and airport charges) and then it’s 1/2 of 75% of the rest, assuming you’d booked a round trip. If it was a one way then it’s 75% of the total, if it was an open jaw then it’s pro-rated by distance.

[PixelatedPlatypus]

Our flight got cancelled last year – we got delayed by 12 hours and downgraded from business to economy. BA will not volunteer compensation and it was a right pain getting them to play ball. From start to finish it took them about 5 months to settle.

[NorthernLass]

What did you claim?

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

PixelatedPlatypus wrote:

Our flight got cancelled last year – we got delayed by 12 hours and downgraded from business to economy. BA will not volunteer compensation and it was a right pain getting them to play ball. From start to finish it took them about 5 months to settle.

Don’t ever ask for compensation for a downgrade.

You need to ask for “reimbursement” as that is what the regulation states.

[iamfugly]

So just to update on the comp offer from BA. Today I received the offer of an e-voucher of £600 (£300 per passenger) or £400 (£200 per passenger) cash compensation.
The email also noted: “Apart from the compensation, you’re eligible for a refund of difference in fares. So, I’ve passed on your details to our Refunds team. They’ll be in touch with you shortly.”

I am not entirely sure of what this is suggesting. Is the e-voucher or cash offer just an offer of compensation for an unsatisfactory service? Based on the sentence above, will I also be contacted to claim a refund of the difference in Avios for a one way fare between Club World and Premium Economy (plus the same for the 241 Amex voucher)?

One way Avios redemption for CW LHR to HKG is 100,000. One way for PE LHR to HKG is 50,000.

So based on above, on top of the e-voucher compensation, I should also be expecting a return of 50,000 Avios for each passenger? (or cash equivalent of the Avios)

This seems substantially less than the what I should be receiving under EU 261 regulations; 75% of the total Avios for both passengers, which is 150,000 each. BA is currently selling 150,000 Avios for £2,659. Therefore under EU261 I should be receiving £5,318 (£2,659 x 2)? Does this seem correct? Or have I miscalculated? The compensation seems a lot. Would I be successful if I took it to CEDR?

Appreciate anyone sensor checking my logic above.

Just to recap I booked Avios redemption for 2 from LHR to HKG using a BAPP 241 voucher on CW. I was downgraded on the outward journey only.

[JDB]

@iamfugly – I think you may be doubling the compensation you are expecting. You only get it for the sector on which you were downgraded, not the whole ticket, so if you paid 100k Avios each way, you should get 75k each, so a total of 150k plus 75% of the cash element not paid away by BA to any third party, but that will be very little on the outbound as the APD and Heathrow PSC account for most of it. They are getting close if you say they are offering the difference of 50k Avios (each?) plus £200 cash, so they will probably pay the rest if pushed without needing to go to CEDR.

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

BA will not give you cash when it was an avios redemption. They will only give you avios.

The only time they will is if you need to make a MCOL claim as MCOL can only deal with cash.

But you aren’t there yet.

Before doing anything else e.g. going to CEDR / MCOL I would wait until BA refunds get back to you and then revert back here with what their calculation is for further advice.

[marshy11]

BA Flyer IHG Stayer wrote:

BA will not give you cash when it was an avios redemption. They will only give you avios.

The only time they will is if you need to make a MCOL claim as MCOL can only deal with cash.

But you aren’t there yet.

Before doing anything else e.g. going to CEDR / MCOL I would wait until BA refunds get back to you and then revert back here with what their calculation is for further advice.

We had cash for an Avios redemption last year. Didn’t ask for cash but it was given. Worked out very favourable.

[ForestGrump]

In the (unlikely) event of a downgrade with a cash booking, do the tier points awarded also reduce to cabin flown?

[yonasl]

ForestGrump wrote:

In the (unlikely) event of a downgrade with a cash booking, do the tier points awarded also reduce to cabin flown?

You can request the original Avios/Tier points for the trip you had planned. This is the same as if your route changes last minute (for instance they make you fly a sector with a non OW airline).

This works for last minute changes. If the changes happened 6 months ago it may be harder to argue that.

Related question to the group: what would happen to PE passengers upgraded to Business after the TLV equipment changes? (Do they get PE or J tier points?)

[iamfugly]

JDB wrote:

@iamfugly – I think you may be doubling the compensation you are expecting. You only get it for the sector on which you were downgraded, not the whole ticket, so if you paid 100k Avios each way, you should get 75k each, so a total of 150k plus 75% of the cash element not paid away by BA to any third party, but that will be very little on the outbound as the APD and Heathrow PSC account for most of it. They are getting close if you say they are offering the difference of 50k Avios (each?) plus £200 cash, so they will probably pay the rest if pushed without needing to go to CEDR.

Thanks @JDB. That makes sense. Yes, 50k Avios for each ticket (if that ends up their offer) and the £600 combined e-voucher would be a satisfactory result.

[loonie]

I was downgraded with my husband and requested reimbursement – Premium economy to economy using a companion card on a Grand Caymen flight in January. I followerd advice and requested a reimbursement. After an argument, I have been sent £270 plus 137, 000 avios less various adjustments leaving under 100,000. On the same day, my account also showed a flight to New York (business)at a cost of 111,000. We did not book this, we have been told that it does not exist but is a further “adjustment” and the service adviser would not give us any method of disputing this – we now have less avios that we started with. HELP PLEASE

[NorthernLass]

I commiserate you on 12 hours in economy on that route, you were really unlucky I think 😬

What did you pay for that leg – was it off-peak? If so it would have been 47,500 avios plus 2 x £175, and the reimbursement would be 75% of this. Without actually doing the maths, the cash sounds about right. In terms of avios, BA has set a precedent of sorts by previously reimbursing both parties on a 241 booking, so you should have got 35,625 avios back each (?)

I *think* taking the adjustment into account they have given you 1 x the avios instead of 2, but then somehow mucked that up with further adjustments. However, go through your statement thoroughly as BA’s processes are very confusing.

Is this what you asked for? I would go back to them and argue that you should have got 2 x the 75% avios as well as the cash.