Blackbird that is correct re
Under Ch2 - A2 Page 1 of 4 in Staff Travel manual "Points to Remember" section under ALT:
"CONFIRMED means that a seat is available and a booking has been made. Once confirmed these tickets are non off-loadable and staff passengers holding such tickets are eligible for denied boarding compensation if they volunteer to be off loaded, subject to specific circumstances & conditions"
Nothing about downgrade
But Don is more correct in that in the intro section(Ch2 -A1) its states that the Manual is advisory only and does not constitute part of your contractual Terms & Conditions.
In other words your contract is the rule, which is now being broken...again.
This is a really sore point for all of us and must be core point of forum questions going forward.
"Why are our ALTs class of travel not being respected?"
If all who read this and or pass it on to our colleagues on the line, submits the same question above - we might, just might, win a small but very important battle that we shouldn't even be fighting.
It's no1 on my monthly question list. Don't get lazy or cynical - just do it.