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I recently booked First Class tickets using avios for 5 of us from LHR to Jeddah in December. I have subsequently booked all my hotels/internal flights etc based on taking this initial flight. Therefore I can no longer change this outbound flight.
I received an email today saying they have had to change our cabin and have moved us to Club World.
I will call BA to discuss but wanted to ask do I have grounds to make a complaint? Also the original booking involved a higher fare (but reduced avios) as it was a first class flight. Will they refund this difference in price?
There is a huge amount of information on this site about downgrading, and it’s also covered in UK legislation so make sure you known your rights before making a decision. If you choose to fly rather than cancel, the compensation you’ll be entitled to will very likely outweigh the fare difference.
You don’t have a legal right to re-routing in another F cabin (as opposed to if your flight was cancelled), however there’s nothing to stop you calling BA and trying to negotiate something.
It sounds like the aircraft may have been swapped for one without an F cabin, you can check this by doing a dummy booking for the day you are travelling, or checking the aircraft type and seating plan in MMB.
Any claim would have to be submitted after you fly. The fact that you paid with avios doesn’t affect your rights.
@DJJ – BA involuntary downgrade compensation claims have got a bit more complicated in recent times, but in principle you are entitled to significantly more than the difference in fare between classes, namely 75% of the Avios paid plus 75% of the cash paid (ex disbursements). It’s become complicated because BA disputes such claims on various bases including more than 14 days prior notification, that there wasn’t a downgrade because the operating aircraft didn’t have a first class cabin and if they do accept a claim the first gambit is to reimburse the difference (a bit messy anyway because of RFS for club but not first) and thus ignoring the the compensatory element.
It’s made all the more difficult because CEDR seems to swallow some BA arguments but more particularly because they calculate the cash on an entirely different basis even to BA and differently to the commonly accepted practice. If the claim does end up being disputed, MCOL is likely a better route.
As above, you can’t claim until after travel but it’s very important to get hold of the e-ticket or anything which gives you a clear breakdown of the cash paid.
The downgrade doesn’t give rise to any rerouting rights but while BA may voluntarily agree to move you to another service (if they haven’t just changed the aircraft serving the route) but if you can all travel in club and that large compensation, that seems a potentially attractive option??
It may or may not interest you to do this but when the same happened to me for a Doha flight BA offered me a free change to any regional airport that still had an F service – in your case Riyadh may still work?
@DJJ – BA involuntary downgrade compensation claims have got a bit more complicated in recent times, but in principle you are entitled to significantly more than the difference in fare between classes, namely 75% of the Avios paid plus 75% of the cash paid (ex disbursements). It’s become complicated because BA disputes such claims on various bases including more than 14 days prior notification, that there wasn’t a downgrade because the operating aircraft didn’t have a first class cabin and if they do accept a claim the first gambit is to reimburse the difference (a bit messy anyway because of RFS for club but not first) and thus ignoring the the compensatory element.
It’s made all the more difficult because CEDR seems to swallow some BA arguments but more particularly because they calculate the cash on an entirely different basis even to BA and differently to the commonly accepted practice. If the claim does end up being disputed, MCOL is likely a better route.
As above, you can’t claim until after travel but it’s very important to get hold of the e-ticket or anything which gives you a clear breakdown of the cash paid.
The downgrade doesn’t give rise to any rerouting rights but while BA may voluntarily agree to move you to another service (if they haven’t just changed the aircraft serving the route) but if you can all travel in club and that large compensation, that seems a potentially attractive option??
Thanks for all the replies.
We paid: 212.5k avios + £2500 for 5 tickets in F.
The equivalent club world was 350k avios + £512.50
Am I correct in thinking the equivalent J price is irrelevant and I should be expecting 159,375 avios + £1875 back?
It may or may not interest you to do this but when the same happened to me for a Doha flight BA offered me a free change to any regional airport that still had an F service – in your case Riyadh may still work?
Thanks for this. I think as we are planning to travel for pilgrimage, visa rules stipulate we must enter via Jeddah, so unfortunately Riyadh wouldn’t be an option.
Just keep hold or orginal tickets, and don’t reply to BA accepting the downgrade.
What’s that going to achieve? The entitlement is the same whether they formally accept or not.
Give You First a call. Had a similar situation to SFO – schedule/plane change meant downgrade. Happily changed us to fly out of LAX in F.
What’s that going to achieve? The entitlement is the same whether they formally accept or not.
Yes but it just removes one excuse for BA might try to weasel out of it
It may or may not interest you to do this but when the same happened to me for a Doha flight BA offered me a free change to any regional airport that still had an F service – in your case Riyadh may still work?
Thanks for this. I think as we are planning to travel for pilgrimage, visa rules stipulate we must enter via Jeddah, so unfortunately Riyadh wouldn’t be an option.
What visa have you got? I travelled to KSA for Umrah on a tourist visa, and entered via Riyadh. I had a separately booked onward flight to Madinah, but had to enter at RUH to collect luggage and re-check. I think the requirements to enter via Jeddah or Madinah is if you hold an Umrah or Hajj visa (during Hajj season). Double-check this, of course.
Coincidentally, I had an F flight downgraded by BA to Club World due to a change of aircraft, and I called You First to re-book, so you might be able to move it by a day or so either side, if that works for you (assuming there’s an aircraft with an F cabin on those days).
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