Downgraded by Qatar Airways – what to do?

[harley]

Qatar have downgraded me from F> J due to an aircraft change. This is from Middle East>ASIA, so no EC261 applies i believe. The trip is in a few months so still some time. My inclination was to book for the day before which is still running First but there is no redemption availability. Have spent hours on the phone and they state that they can only book me on flights with redemption availbity even though they downgraded me and it is showing cancelled in booking. I pushed hard but got nowhere, they said they will try to call back but i dont think that will happen. What is the procedure here, is there anyway i can force them to book me on another F flight even with no redemption or if i took the J downgrade i assume they would refund the difference in avios but would there be anything else? I thought BA CS was bad but this is worse

[Lady London]

I think you’re stuck.
Call them again and beg. Rinse and repeat at intervals.

Find out when they have got an F seat they’d be willing to put you in in case you can make it work.

If I got annoyed enough I’d cancel the whole thing and demand everything back, perhaps tell them the difference does matter to you and if you can’t work out a solution ask if they can do this instead.

Though I’m not even sure you have a right to this.

This kind of thing is what you risk with Qatar – you book something acceptable and then they change aircraft or schedule to something much worse and you are trapped.

[Andrew J]

The silver lining is that you’re not missing out on much if you do fly J rather than F – the QSuite which you’ll likely be in people prefer to the open cabin of A380 and the food is almost identical in F and J – champagne quality, yes that’s better in F. Even the amenity kits are the same now. Al Safwa lounge in DOH you’ll miss out on though but otherwise it’s not the same as comparing CW and F on BA which is a world apart.

[harley]

Thanks all, HUACA worked and got a sensible agent who has booked me for first the day before, means i will have less time to look around doha but thats life. Now a prayer that they don’t downgrade that one closer to the time either! Know the Qsuite is similar but the one booked was the old 2-2-2 config so even worse!