What To Do If You Get Downgraded On Your Next Flight

It's fun to try to snag a free upgrade on your flight — but what about when you get downgraded instead? If you're expecting to spend your entire flight in a business class aisle seat and you find yourself stuck in a middle seat in coach, it makes sense to be disappointed. To find out what you should do next if you find yourself in this frustrating situation, Islands spoke to Victoria Fricke, owner of the luxury travel agency Vic's Vacations. Fricke warned us that it's very unlikely that you're going to get your seat back in most cases — but that doesn't mean that there isn't anything you can do.

"Every airline is different, but it's very easy to get refunded," Fricke said, explaining that they should give you the full difference in price from the day you bought it, ensuring you don't lose money on the downgrade. "I advise clients to set a reminder a month post-travel," she added. "Check to see if you at that time you've been automatically reimbursed for the difference. If you haven't, reach out to the airline to ask for the difference to be refunded. It's a fairly easy sequence!"

While you can be confident that getting a fast refund on canceled or delayed flights has never been easier, that doesn't mean it's fun to get downgraded. Fortunately, in general, you don't have to worry too much about ending up in a worse seat than you paid for. Victoria Fricke assured us, "The airlines truly are pretty good about honoring seats so long as there's not a disruption that causes you to be removed from the original seat map you were on."

There are some situations when they have no choice, however — at least if you want to get on the flight. Downgrades only occur when there's a schedule change or if the airline is overbooked. Fricke explained that because that often means that you're being put on different existing flights, all the best seats have been claimed by the plane's original passengers. If they want to get you on the plane, the airline will have to downgrade you so you can get on the flight.

There are airline reimbursement rules to take advantage of when your luggage is lost or you get bumped off a flight, but the rates under these rules don't apply to downgrades. While you're likely to get the difference between the value of the seat that they put you in and the one that you paid for, anything on top of that is not guaranteed. Victoria Fricke said, "Airline discretion on reimbursements is huge. Who did you talk to, how much did you stress your dissatisfaction (politely), and what is your status/loyalty to the airline."

If you're looking to get extra money for the inconvenience of being put in a worse seat, you're much more likely to get it if you're a regular customer. (This isn't necessarily frivolous; if you booked the best seat on a flight to get work done and then ended up in a seat without an outlet, you could reasonably be pretty annoyed.) If you fly with the same airline regularly and use its credit card, it might be worth seeing if you can get any extra compensation. However, if the reason you're on a new flight is that your original flight was very delayed, you may be owed something. Fricke suggested going to your gate agent and trying to see what they have available for passengers. They may be able to issue you a voucher themselves if the delay is significant enough.