Questions and Answers

A few months ago I booked an award ticket (F) on LH with departure in April 2019. However, I was recently emailed by the airline – it says that they are having an aircraft change where a 3 cabin plane is substituted by a 2 cabin plane, and my first class tickets automatically became business class.
They did not automatically refund the difference in miles.
What can be done in this situation? Is it better to wait and see if there will be another aircraft change (still over 6 months before April)? Can I cancel the tickets without penalty? Do I have a right to be re-booked on another flight where my cabin of choice is available? At a minimum – should they refund the miles difference?

You’re right that at a minimum they should refund the miles.

Many of the airlines just recently made their winter schedule adjustments so it could be that in January or so LH may make another adjustment and put a 3-cabin aircraft back on that route. But I’d start looking around to see what other routes/times they have that 3-cabin aircraft to see if I could get switched to it as long as the timing works for you. There will be more available seats now than there will be in the future.

Since it’s an equipment change, you have a pretty good chance of getting rebooked in F if you can find a routing with F that works for you. As long as there is an empty seat (even if no award availability) they should be able to do it. If you used UA, or Lifemiles to book LH, you might need to do a three way call.