Rewards flight downgraded with no refund?

[VPS]

Yep get on the phone and be prepared to wait - be firm and persistent and if nothing makes you happy then HUACA

 

[shedboy]

Thanks again for the good advice.

 

[shedboy]

Took 3 more phone calls and a few more people who just wanted to pass me on, but finally found someone at QFF who was willing to help and who wrote extensive case notes for the people in reservations. After that, it was surprisingly easy for them to figure out and organise the refund. No alternative flights were available at this point, but at least they've lived up to their minimum legal obligations. Thanks again to all for the good advice & help with this.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Took 3 more phone calls and a few more people who just wanted to pass me on, but finally found someone at QFF who was willing to help and who wrote extensive case notes for the people in reservations. After that, it was surprisingly easy for them to figure out and organise the refund. No alternative flights were available at this point, but at least they've lived up to their minimum legal obligations. Thanks again to all for the good advice & help with this.

I'm glad you got a resolution.

What it sounds like is that somehow (either because of the time lag, or someone accepted the changes) the new flights in the lower class were finalised. Once this happens and the ticket is reissued for all intents and purposes it looks like your ticket is in business, and they'd be wondering what all the fuss is about when you're wanting first class. Especially if this all happened six months ago (most people would be on the phone traight away).

Someone's now done a bit of digging to look at the history of the booking and worked out what's happened. And as you say the refund is easy to work out. I wouldn't worry too much thatthere was any sinister motive here. Your booking just fell through the cracks. And remember than in many cases if there's a downgrade on one sector the overall price in points doesn't change, so refunds aren't always the norm.

You can keep checking for alternative flights.

 

[cqtiger]

just had plane change A380 to B787 first class to business. I cancelled outright as getting the extra FF points back was a nightmare