Can business class passengers be downgraded to economy class without being reimbursed for the full difference?

Question

I was reading Flight Compensation Regulation of the European Union, Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 and article 10 talks about upgrading and downgrading. It mentions the following:

2. If an operating air carrier places a passenger in a class lower than that for which the ticket was purchased, it shall within seven days, by the means provided for in Article 7(3), reimburse

(a) 30 % of the price of the ticket for all flights of 1500 kilometres or less, or

(b) 50 % of the price of the ticket for all intra-Community flights of more than 1500 kilometres, except flights between the European territory of the Member States and the French overseas departments, and for all other flights between 1500 and 3500 kilometres, or

(c) 75 % of the price of the ticket for all flights not falling under (a) or (b), including flights between the European territory of the Member States and the French overseas departments.

In my experience, business class tickets are sometimes many times more expensive than economy class. Being reimbursed for 30% of the cost (or sometimes even 75%) might mean that after buying a much more expensive ticket and expecting to receive a business class seat, you might be downgraded to economy and still end up paying more than the regular price for economy class?

Am I reading that right?

Answer 1

This question is about Europe, but as a Canadian, I can say that here in North America they can downgrade you without any compensation.

Maybe it depends on why the downgrade happened? Like if a flight was canceled and you are rebooked on earliest next flight in economy because that was all that was left.

I was bumped out of business class on one trip here. It was from Toronto to El Salvador (5 hours), then El Salvador to San Jose (1 hour). The first flight was business, and the second one was supposed to be business (I even picked my seat) but the second plane got changed to a plane that had no business class at all, and instead of my row 1 window seat, I was randomly given a middle seat at the very back of the plane, not even a premium economy (which they did have). I asked for a window and the gate agent said an exit row window was open and it was good, but I received no money as compensation for the change of seat type. It was with Avianca air, a lower cost airline. I think it's in the fine print that the aircraft can be changed.