You can refuse the downgrade, and try again tomorrow.

and waste a day of holiday.

1-x=less days away from here

I'm going to dig out my 'contract', but I'm sure it said my ALT was firm J. No mention of downgrade, just firm J, upgrade F.

Still somewhat related to this thread, has anyone been offloaded from an annual leave ticket due to overbooking?

If so, how did that affect subsequent rostered duty and what were the repercussions from the company?

2 stories
 

An Indian mate was offloaded from his ALT and got a free confirmed ticket as denied boarding compensation to the same destination.
...
Our family arrived at a UK regional Airport for a return flight to DXB after Xmas on ALT.
We were told the flight was overbooked and asked if we'd volunteer to nightstop at EK's cost.

I refused and said very curtly "I have to get back to work. EK holds me to my contract all the time. I'm holding EK to its contract. ALT is contractual. Understand? So get me and my family on this aircraft now."

We got issued Boarding Passes immediately.

Reading back what I said, I feel embarrassed at how rude and nasty I've become after 4+ years in the Sandpit. I don't recognise myself.

Don

Yes, if you accept travel on the flight then you have used your ALT and that's the end of it as per the new policy. However, you do not have to accept the downgrade and can take denied boarding privileges.

Camel,

I can only suggest in future you have a copy of the relevant pages from the STM. It's plainly written now even if it wasn't then.

Turtle

I'd be at TICHs door to get the day back. The company would have lost me the day by not honouring the ALT.

I see our point Helen. However we use to be told that ALT had higher priority than other SLF. Now it rates only above a CAT C. Not too much of a problem when returning to DXB to not accept Y, but a huge pain in the bum when you're leaving.

Agreed Don.

I only hope that IF it happens a couple of times the cost and hassle would have some effect, but I may be having a fatigue induced hallucination :(

As has been said, seems to be mainly a DXB problem.

Also if they issue you a boarding pass with F/J they cannot downgrade you at the gate due to passenger upgrade. There are some stations lately that are trying to do that.:=

That's good to know. Do you have a reference so that we can wave something at them if they try that?

Where upgrade is not possible,
or where downgrade occurs,
travel in a lower class
will constitute use of the Annual Leave Ticket and no compensation will be
provided.

STM A5, 1.7

In blue means amended.... without any notice as usual.

Just a quick comment to all the readers who doubt what is said here in relation to EK is true. Although owned by the Government of Dubai via ICD, it is classified as a semi -government company. That means they are not subject to UAE Labour Law!! A Government owned entity that isn't subject to its own law. Hence there is no contract that can be enforced. Hence all the downwards changes. Some are sneaky like the ALT. For others they send a contract adjustment letter. (Sic) a bunch of crooks. So glad I left. Not a moments regret. Think carefully!

Good news is you are not government when government get a pay rise......oh wait there..

The important part is the comma. Ie "travel in a lower class..." so i take that as you can downgrade me but i can choose not to travel on that flight in that lower class. I can take the next flight or next day.
As i have not travelled in that lower class i have not used the ALT.

Problem is, you haven't travelled blackbird. It's part of your contracted entitlement. They can't sell your seat, and make a staff travel manual over rule your contract. Which is what they are doing in this case.

At the risk of being totally paranoid.....

Take a photo of the original boarding pass and keep the original if poss.

Proof if you decide not to accept and take denied boarding as the company will undoubtedly claim you have "used" the coupon.

Think I'll have to go and lie down in a dark cockpit!

Don, i agree with you, but i read it as if you travel in a lower class.....IMHO what they do with the seats is up to them. I havent travelled until ive accepted the downgrade and boarded the a/c. If i choose not to travel then the ALT is unused.

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.

Any routes in particular that this is happening?

I have no intention of going into the minutae of my contract (perhaps I should) but most expat contracts have a clause along the lines of

'This contract may be amended at any time as the company deems fit.'

So the contract, if that is the case, is never worth the paper it is written on. This is my third expat airline and the previous two had that clause - though they never invoked it.

No, you need proper travel insurance. I always sign up for worldnomads.com