In the approaching days, I’m set to fly Tunisair, and I’ve just been shifted from business class to economy. While operational challenges do occur, I find both the manner of handling and the downgrade itself to be somewhat bewildering.
Tunisair has downgraded me without any rationale.
As I mentioned earlier, I’ll be taking a rather indirect path from the United States to France, flying with Air Algerie from Canada to Tunisia via Algeria, and thereafter connecting on Tunisair to France.
My flight from Tunis (TUN) to Marseille (MRS) was booked separately from the Air Algerie journey, and I paid for the business class ticket, which was quite reasonably priced. This flight is set to be serviced by an Airbus A320.
Well, before my journey, I received a notification indicating that I’ve been downgraded. The email was solely in French, not in English, and a translation reveals, “we are writing to inform you that your flight reservation has undergone changes.” It then lists the same flight I had initially reserved, but in economy rather than business class.
My Tunisair downgrade notification
What amuses me is that the airline behaves as if this situation is perfectly acceptable. There’s no guidance on how to request downgrade compensation or any related details. Furthermore, there’s not even an overt note saying, “oh, you’ve been downgraded.” It merely shows a new fare class.
I look forward to witnessing how adventurous that compensation request will be — I’m sure they’ll handle my refund in a very timely and generous manner. 😉
Do some Tunisair A320s lack a business class, or…?
Not to come off like a certain drama queen and self-styled multi-award winning figure who often claims to be “duped,” but… I genuinely don’t grasp the situation here.
For what it’s worth, I finalized my booking just days ago, and the flight was wide open — there were nearly no business class seats taken, and economy at least displayed the max inventory in all fare tiers (not implying the flight is completely vacant, but it certainly wasn’t fully booked).
Now, when I attempt to access the flight, it displays zero inventory across all cabins. The curious part is, both before and after the change, the flight is listed as being operated by an Airbus A320. It appears Tunisair has two variants of A320s — some include a designated business class section with genuine recliner seats, while others have a European business class setup, with middle seats blocked to allow flexibility for cabin size on each flight.
Does Tunisair also operate a few A320s where business class is simply never available? I’ve explored all the carrier’s routes, and amongst two dozen different flights, I discovered just one other flight where business class wasn’t offered for sale. If the cabin size can be altered for each flight, what’s the reasoning behind not providing it?
Even if we posit that this is an aircraft with a single cabin and no business class for sale, it’s still peculiar how the flight suddenly appears to be sold out. The flight previously had a surplus of seats, and switching to an A320 without business class boosts capacity even more. So, was there a significant last-minute booking, or something else?
I eagerly anticipate the double challenge of nearly certainly being denied lounge access due to the downgrade, and likely having to struggle for a refund (or at least waiting for months to receive any response).
I don’t get it, Tunisair?! (Yes, I recognize this is an A330)
To sum up
Flying in North Africa is always a multifaceted adventure, and my Tunisair experience is commencing before I even reach the airport. I just got notice from Tunisair regarding my downgrade from business class to economy, without any reason given and no procedures laid out for obtaining downgrade compensation.
Operational issues occur, but I can’t understand how I ended up downgraded from a completely open business class cabin, particularly when, as I understand, Tunisair typically employs a flexible business class setup on most of its A320s.
Does anyone have thoughts on this? Does Tunisair really operate flights in an all-economy configuration, or am I just confused?