The CBC's Tod Maffin has a weblog (with audio - a podcast) called "How To Do Stuff", and in one of his segments he talks about "How to get upgraded to business class for free (Warning: Leave your ethics at the door.)"
Basically his scam is that you check in at the kiosk, indicate to the kiosk that you have an upgrade coupon (which you don't), and then go to the gate and wait until everybody on your full flight is seated, and board at the last minute and when the agent says "OK, where's your coupon", you hum and haw about how you must have misplaced it - and since the flight is full and it's about ready to take off, the agent will most likely let you upgrade without the coupon in the interests of time.
I hope someone from Air Canada catches on to mr. cbc podcast here and his encouraging people to scam the upgrade system, and sentences him to a middle seat in the back from now on.
If it works 9 times out of 10 for him why is he flying WestJet from YUL-YVR then? He starts out by saying he is on a 737 somewhere over Sask or Alberta.
The guy is full of crap..first of all when you call in for an upgrade they immediately look at your status to see if you fall into the upgrade window for your status.So if yiu have no status they won't even put you on the list. If you do have status there is a slim chance you can pull the wool over the GA but chance s are that if they see the scam they will bust you back and move someone else up.......even at the expense of time.
Imagine the public broadcaster telling the public how to scam a business...that guy ought to be fired for his ethics. If I was AC I would complain to the CBC about his method which was recorded in the LOO on a plane and that seems appropriate.
Great ,now someone at CBC is telling us how to lie and steal
This stuff is B.S. and I am very disappointed that my tax dollars are going to someone like this to report this garbage.
I hope this guy gets yanked off the flight.
first of all, he would have to be on the right fare type to begin with wouldn't he? still very low of someone to do.
True. Plus it would be interesting if 6 or 7 pax tried pulling this scam on the same flight. I would have thought that somewhere along the line in AC wouldn't the GA be questioned about the whereabouts of the UG cert that was to be collected?
Everyone knows that most CBC staffers fly in full-Y anyways. Maybe thats why this guy has a sort of delusional view of how upgrades work. And a huge sense of entitlement.
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What an idiot. Of course, because it's AC, in the minds of many, it's probably ok.
What next?
1. Here's the number to dial with Bell Canada to bypass long distance charges!
2. Here's how you re-wire your Rogers cable box to get free Pay Per View!
3. Here's the best way to get extra clementines in the box at Loblaws!
4. Here's the best way to break into a rich person's home!
5. Here's how to skim money and give it to other people in your political party!
First off this is shameless to have on the site and should be removed right away
That said I am in the minority here and really enjoy the CBC. I listen to it when I am on the road all the time. Still not a big fan of Sad Goat in the afternoons but if it was Sad Coww I might be
My guess is that someone from AC will read about this here on Monday and have a little talk with CBC
He starts out by saying he is on a 737 somewhere over Sask or Alberta. 
,now someone at CBC is telling us how to lie and steal 
