Some air carriers - particularly those that specialise in long distance travel - offer many different ticket classes e.g. first class, economy, business class etc. Passengers who wish to travel in a 'higher' class usually pay a higher price for their ticket.
However sometimes even though a passenger has booked and paid for a particular class, the air carrier does not accomodate him/her in that class and he/she is forced to travel in a lower class. This situation is known as 'downgrading'.
What are you entitled to if you are downgraded?
If you are downgraded then your air carrier must refund a percentage of the cost of affected leg of your journey. The percentage varies depending on the distance of the flight concerned.
If you were downgraded on a flight of:
- 1500km or less then 30% of the cost of the affected flight must be refunded;
- 1500km to 3500km then 50% of cost of the affected flight must be refunded;
- of more than 3500km then 75% of the cost of the affected flight must be refunded.
Upgrading
Occasionally an air carrier will place a passenger in a class higher than that for which a ticket was bought i.e. it will 'upgrade' the passenger. If your air carrier does this then you should know that you are not required to make any additional payment.