Elited

Yesterday, I personally experienced what seems to (we hope!) be a glitch that was introduced in the last few days into the gate standby list priority management tool that is used to determine who gets what open seats on AC flights. Despite all normal expectations, I couldn't get on one of three attempted earlier YVR-YYZ flights or a YYZ-YOW flight on standby even though I was supposed to have very high priority for standby being a points-paid D pax with status on top of it! I only had luck when I 'intervened' and made sure I and the agents understood fully what was going on (i.e. instead of just letting the normally-working prioritization system do its job).

As you all likely know, when you book a D-Class (Business Class) AE reward, one of the 'advantages' is that as long as they can confirm a J seat (D seat) on at least one segment, then you are allowed to standby with high (almost highest) priority for any free J seat on all your flight segments. I have had to take advantage of this a few times in the last few weeks and have had very reliable success in securing even the very last free J seat at the gate. The way the system is supposed to work, according to two different lead agents at AC is roughly as follows:

From Highest to Lowest Priority:
Cash Paid Full J Ticket (with unassigned/standby seat)
Aeroplan D-Class Reward Ticket (with only Y-confirmed or standby)
Y-Booked Pax in order of Status, Fare, and Check-in time

Well, sometime since ~April 5, it seems AC has changed the system to place "paid" D-Class pax in amongst the regular Y-Booked Pax with Certs, but because D-Class pax have effectively the lowest Y-class fares, it seems the system is dumping D-Class pax looking for their deserved J seat right at the bottom of the list. The agents I dealt with at two different locations (YUL call centre and YYZ Customer Service) have both confirmed that this is not how it is supposed to work (i.e. D-Class booked pax are supposed to be considered about as close to the top as a paid-cash J pax and should always trump anyone else trying an at-the-gate cert upgrade), and both said they had seen the system just start to do this differently (incorrectly) as of roughly the last two-three days! (And trust me, these are only the 'assertive', interested agents after direct questions, not just the run-of-the-mill checking-in whatever types.)

So, take heed! If you want to get that well-deserved points-paid J seat, you had better assert yourself at check-in to insure you aren't just plunked right at the bottom of the standby list.

And for all those who want to jump in here and say it isn't right for a point-paid pax to trump a status SE with a cert, all I have to say is hogwash - D-class booked pax are about as S.O.L. as can be given we can't even hope to book a J seat (unless it was available as D class at original booking) until at the gate unlike all cert upgrades which can be done days in advance and even pass upgrades that can be done 24hrs in advance.....plenty of time to be more than fair.

I really hope this is truly just a 'glitch' in some system upgrade and not a IMO) a very foolish policy 'decision' that has been made as it greatly, GREATLY devalues D reward bookings (as if you could have imagined that could be even possible!). I really hope someone from AC can look into this!

cur

Call AC and tell them this. Informing a web forum won't do ANYTHING.

DutchSE

The op put this out there to inform others of this potential problem. This is what FT is all about. So in fact it does do SOMETHING. Your post on the other hand....

makin'miles

^

It appears that the OP did inform Air Canada (call centre agent, gate agent).

Elited

Yes, indeed I did 'inform' them through the process of discovering the issue while trying to sort things out with me. However, I don't think they are 'empowered' enough to talk to the right people. I am hoping some well-known AC folks on here can help out, but I am going to be phoning Aeroplan to try and reach someone who will truly get someone looking into it as well as soon as I can find a free hour! (I suspect it will take a while with many 'please hold, I'll have to go talk to my supervisor' delays).

acysb87

[QUOTE=Elited


And for all those who want to jump in here and say it isn't right for a point-paid pax to trump a status SE with a cert, all I have to say is hogwash - D-class booked pax are about as S.O.L. as can be given we can't even hope to book a J seat (unless it was available as D class at original booking) until at the gate unlike all cert upgrades which can be done days in advance and even pass upgrades that can be done 24hrs in advance.....plenty of time to be more than fair.

...[/QUOTE]

I agree with you.I was a priority J seat u/g (with cert) last year SFO/YYZ.Someone arrived at gate appro.25 minutes before departure with a J award booking and only Y seating.This was changed at gate .I was notified that this was the last seat.I took my seat in Y(13B ).
I was/am OK with this process.I have maintained that if I absolutely require a J seat,I should pay for it.Anything else is still considered a bonus,even as an SE.

Academic

Elited: This is one where it would also be worth contacting "Customer Solutions" as well as the regular Aeroplan desk.

exAC

It sounds like the OP was trying to 'stand-by' for 3 earlier flights out of YVR AND get moved from Y to J at the same time?

Could this have affected things?

californiadreamin'

Yes. The higher priority as "paid" D standby for UG is for the flight booked/ticketed. If you wish to standby for another flight, it will allow standby for the class actually ticketed on the segment. An UG can then be offered if available once those confirmed on the specific flight receive their due.

Elited

This doesn't seem to jive with what I was informed of by two different Aeroplan agents on different occassions, nor the two agents I dealt with on Sunday who were able to help me 'discover' this new standby tool problem and help me get re-prioritized. I'm not sure what your involvement in AC/AE might be (sorry if this comes accross as being pompous), but it sounds like there are several 'theories' of what should happen and so far you're out numbered. I wish I could get an 'official' word on this though.

cur

Ok, so when we're at the gate, what are we supposed to do? Tell a GA with 50 other things to be done in 10 minutes that there's an IT glitch and that what the computer is telling her is wrong?

C.Y.A. = Cover Your ....

Elited

Cur, I'm not sure who this is addressing?! I really am not sure what you're trying to say.

However, if you were addressing this to me, let me respond by saying that it is precisely why I am bringing this up to their (AC/AE) attention in any way I can to ensure if this is a true gotcha that it can be addressed so that no one has to then try and add even more hassle to a GA's already (often) taxing tasks.

The fact that I chose to alert other FTers is out of my mutual respect for fellow contributors (we all know that not all posters are contributors) and my desire to bring anything useful and otherwise new to the attention of others to 'pay my dues' for all the other information I've been able to gather from here.

Now to try and continue to add value to this thread, let me update to say that after speaking today (again) with another set of AE and AP agents they have all continued to agree that the policy should be as I stated above and that they are not aware of any news of changes. The combined recommendation for my next steps were to:
a) Email "Montie" and "Rupert"
b) Email Customer Solutions
c) Try and do some more standbys on my flights I have booked for tomorrow and make sure to check and see what is happening on the standby list with the Lead Agents in the airports

So, I will wait to 'gather more data' tomorrow to see if this is a true change or some sort of one-off one-day glitch.

Stranger

Trying to look at the bright side here, at least what that seems to imply is that there now is a "gate standby list priority management tool."

Which is news to me, and presumably better than the random way your average KGB-trained YYZ gate agent who do it on his/her own.

Thinking a bit further, maybe this is simply yet another unpublish SE benefit. Priority for upgrades over standby business class aeroplan awards. Given that fro SEs there is instant KK so they are unaffected, sounds good to me. :-)

Cargoagent

Your average YYZ gate agent is trying to do their best with the tools provided.

There are some that have the KGB training, but their numbers are matched by arrogant Politburo member passengers.

TRAVELSIG

Now that is funny...