Hi:

My wife and I are traveling to Rome this summer on an AC metal flight from YUL. The schedule indicates that it is a B767-300 series and I seem to recall the press release which announced the new service from YUL to Rome indicated that it would offer "super economy" rather than full business class.

I know that AC has operated similar flights to secondary airports in Britain with "super economy".

My questions:
1. Does anyone have any experience with "super economy" on a trans Atlantic flight?
2. Any suggestions as to how to secure an upgrade to the front cabin on such a flight.

Alas, I am Aeroplan Basic at this point.

Many thanks,

MBALLB

YUL/FCO does not have S (SuperComfort) class. The whole aircraft is sold as Economy class with passengers holding status getting row 1 - 6 (domestic business class seats).

You could call reservations and see whether you get a good agent willing to put you guys in row 1 - 6 now. Otherwise, your best shot is at the airport.

Empress if I may make an observation or rather a comment. I really hate it when people say if the agent is good or is nice they may give you an upgrade or preferred seat etc. This has nothing to do with being nice or being good. If someone bends the rules then there is a consequence. Say this person was to get the last 2 seats in that section. What happens if a SE then comes along and they don't have access to those seats? Then one of our best customers is screwed out of one of the benefits of being SE because an agent was "nice" and gave it to someone else who wasn't entitled. Also it is the same at the airport...."we were thinking if you were nice you might upgrade us" well guess what it has nothing to do with being nice. I tell people that and I tell them I find it insulting that they would insinuate I am being less than nice if I don't give it away for free. So many times there is complaints on this board of top tier members not getting their benefits and it is probably because some agent was being "nice". Empress please do not take this as a personal attack on you as it is far from it. What I am trying to say is why are people who work at the airports or reservations judged by wheather they will break or bend the rules?


[This message has been edited by Ace Cdn (edited 04-29-2003).]

Ace Cdn - this really goes both ways.

What am I supposed to think about agents who lies because they are too lazy to do things?

Just the past 2 weeks: I was booked on AC150 YVR-YUL and I saw someone I know on AC142 which is also YVR-YUL leaving 10 minutes later. So I thought I would try and get on that flight, I was well aware of how many J seats remaining before I walked up to the AC142 gate and asked to get on that flight. Without looking, without checking the answer was 'Business class is full on this flight, just go take your original flight'. Guess what? Flight left with 10+ empty seats in J.

More than one occasion - flying on an ineligible fare, go up and ask the gate agent whether they are handing out operational upgrades, answer is you're on an 'illegal' fare (that's the term some like to use), you can't upgrade and business class is full. You get on and see over 50% of the seats empty. Maybe a simple no would go better?

So if the above happen often enough, when you get an agent that is following the rules such as handing out comp upgrades in the right way, you'll think you won the lottery when they are just doing their job correctly.

So from my point of view - what exactly motivates the agent to do that?

unfortunatly there are too many agents who
are lazy and they don't do their jobs correctly. Although I have to
say there is some circumstances that I can
think of when my J cabin has been full and everyone checked in and I get 3 or 4 noshows
at the gate. I have had people ask about upgrades and I have told them no I am sorry it is full and they have boarded the aircraft. Unfortunatly in situations like this when the J class passengers don't show up then I usually don't have time to run onboard and upgrade people so the plane goes out with empty J seats. So to the SE in the back it looks like I was lying to them. Now I hardly think this was the case in your scenario because I can't see 50% of the people noshowing. Anyways I just had to rant a little I find that some of the gate agents are people who don't do gates very often or don't feel confident in what they are doing so they want as little stress as possible. That is no excuse for not doing their job but unfortunatley that is the way it is.

I did the YYZ Dublin on the S seating. It was reasonably comfortable--imagine flying domestic J for 8 hours--it is a tad bit uncomfortable but the pitch is better than Y. If you use award seats--they will charge you J points. The meals are the same for the whole plane. If you buy the tickets, it is cheaper than Y or M. You cannot use upgrade stickers to get the S seats.

Actually you could do that.

Mrs. passport and I are flying to Glasgow on AC852 Friday and wonder what is the best way to get two seats up front. Should I just call the SE desk?

You should be able to get those seats based on your SE status, so call the SE desk.

Provided that you're booked in H or higher and 'S' class is available (which it is for tomorrow), you can call the SE desk and upgrade with your u/g cert. There's no automatic upgrade to S class for SEs unless the flight is oversold.