[AJDC]

I am based in the USA and I have never found any of the ME3 cheaper than any others in J or F. I visited Doha last October and I had to take a combination of AA/QR with ticket plated on AA; as the nonstop flight on QR was over $10,000 in J. The AA/QR fare was $3000 with a stop in Madrid. t

Regret to hear that you were downgraded. The $150 refund seems a bit strange, but to challenge it you would need to know a bit of fare construction. If you are not trained to at least Level II, this may be difficult. What I would do is to book your original trip all in J and see what the fare is and whether or not the trip was priced as a through fare or if there are fare components for each sector. You may then be able to perform some sort of fare comparison of what the true down grade to J should cost.
Best of luck

[SimonS1]

All a load of hot air here really.

It is completely unclear why the traveller was downgraded and without knowing the fare calculation it is impossible to know whether the calculation is right or wrong. But as the response stated the traveller can refer to Aviation ADR if unhappy.

As far as cheap tickets are concerned, isn’t that the case with most airlines these days? It wasn’t long ago that I saw BA advertising tickets for Paris to USA via London for £260. So what?

[capetonianm]

Yes, Simon, and I did make that point initially about the fares. It is not unusual for a discounted premium fare to be only fractionally higher, and sometimes even lower, than a full fare in the next cabin downwards. It’s one of the many odd things about air fares, although when you look at it it’s not that odd since the comparison between a deep-discount non-flex fare in one class and fully flexible fare in a lower class is not really valid.

It might also be that they paid a heavily discounted F fare, and the difference between that fare and the C class fare may have been the amount they were refunded.

I am curious to know why someone has reported my post #990702 for ‘inappropriate content’ since it is nothing more than a quote from a national newspaper.

[AlanOrton1]

Capteonianm – that could have been me inadvertently. Apologies.

[LuganoPirate]

I’m not a big fan of Emirates, and indeed they are not always cheaper, and I accept the criticism about UAE politics in general, however, most countries have things to be ashamed of and if I based my travel on politics I’d either have to swim or buy a rowing boat.

Since Swiss abandoned Lugano, and now having to leave from Milan, it means I have to change somewhere, so in the case of my travels to South Africa and New York (where EK fly direct – no change of aircraft) EK is a very viable alternative. Flying EK to Cape Town means one change in Dubai, rather than having to clear immigration in JNB, collect cases, check them in again and throw myself at the mercy of SAA. Kulula also fly but same thing but then I’m cramped and have to pay extra for all my baggage.

EK collect me by car and bring me to my hotel and vice versa. The staff are kind and courteous (yes I know they are likely underpaid, conditions etc, but a few of our students went to work for them and had nothing but praise, so maybe subjective). The entertainment beats anything offered by LH or LX. The food is excellent. The seats more comfortable (apart from the 747-800 of LH, but that only flies to JNB) most of the planes are newer, and they have 3 flights a day ex MXP.

Lufthansa remains my favourite airline but I cannot in all fairness knock Emirates.

[Author]

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