This is a miserable situation.
We contacted Qatar Airways to find out their involuntary downgrade policy and whether Bangkok should have downgraded a Privilege Club Platinum (Oneworld Emerald) Platinum member on a paid fare, but we didn’t hear back.
Airlines are usually last to inconvenience their top-tier frequent fliers and those on paid business and first-class fares.
The lowest return economy fare on Qatar Airways between Cairo and Bangkok is 254 euros, while the lowest business class fare (which books into the F CAI-DOH segment as these flights don’t have business) is 1492 euros.
We can’t find the right economy and business class fare classes to calculate the correct fare difference. You can always pick and choose the one yielding the lowest refund to the passenger, and I am sure this 220.39 is heavily skewed in Qatar’s favour.
The UK261 and EC261/2004 downgrade compensation won’t apply here as the flights are not operated by a community carrier or from the EU or EA. I would not imagine consumer protection rules to be very strong in Thailand, Qatar, or Egypt.
The reader is based in Australia, and they may have a case to sue Qatar Airways there.
This is on par with how Qatar, Emirates, and Etihad operate.
They are all fantastic in the air, but if something goes wrong and you need to rely on their common sense and sound thinking to resolve anything, there is usually silence and a rather terse reply from a “customer service officer.”
I don’t quite understand why Qatar wouldn’t deposit a nice amount of Avios to their Platinum member who was involuntarily downgraded rather than offering a laughable $125 as compensation per their policy for the Bangkok-Doha segment, in addition to the fare difference of $220.39 per their calculation, which may not even be correct.
I have previously encountered some involuntarily downgrades on award tickets on Qatar Airways, but never from a paid fare or someone holding a top-tier Privilege Club membership.
In retrospect, the reader probably should have accepted the rerouting on Etihad, although they would have missed the lovely first-class lounge in Doha.
