Originally Posted by
canadiancow
The new executive pods are the worst thing to ever happen to Air Canada’s international business class.
I suspect the problem is more widespread than I initially thought, and I’ll explain this in a minute.
On November 4, I flew YYZ-MUC on a 77W. I sat in seat 7A. After landing, I got back on the plane and flew MUC-YYZ, in the same seat.
It wasn’t until an hour or so into the return flight that I started to realize I had a huge pain in my butt. The seat was completely deflated. I notified the service director, and he said there was nothing he could do - it required maintenance (I think this was incorrect). He offered me 11A, which I gladly accepted. However, it was also completely deflated! I remained in 7A, sitting on a pillow.
I wrote in about this, and was offered either 20k miles, or a $500 credit.
What a pain in the butt. Literally.
Anyway, fast forward to November 18, when I flew YYZ-MUC. Another 77W, but a different one. I was in 7K. The flight was great.
2 hours in Munich, and I got back on the plane, and approached 7A. The seat was completely deflated. I notified a flight attendant, and they reset the seat (there actually is a way to do this without getting maintenance involved). It re-inflated. The concierge and service director both said that there was an employee in business class, and they could switch us. However, the seat was feeling great, so I declined.
Before we got to cruising altitude, it had completely deflated again. I ended up moving to 8G, and that employee took my 7A. It was great! My butt was cushioned.
Fast forward an hour or two, and 8G had completely deflated. They reset the seat, and it was good for a while.
After dinner, I lay down for a nap. I woke up with - you guessed it - a huge pain in my butt. The seat had deflated again.
They reset it, and it was good until landing.
If we rewind to the first incident, you’ll note that I likely didn’t realize my seat was deflated on the outbound (I'm assuming it was deflated). I’ve found it’s not really something you notice unless you understand how the seat works. You’ll think “wow this is uncomfortable”, but not realize what the problem is.
So how widespread is it? On two aircraft, I’ve found 4 seats with a problem. And I’ve sat in 5 seats. My anecdotes are not sufficient data to draw conclusions, but the crew did say they’ve been noticing more problems lately, and I suspect that the incidents that are reported are a tiny fraction of the total number of deflated seats.
I’m going to write in again, and maybe get another $500 credit, but holy crap Air Canada. This is literally your pride and joy. And it sucks. Fix it. Even if there were a foam pad below the inflatable cushion, it would ensure that no one is ever sitting on a slab of metal.
Perhaps I should've written in more now that I see the type of comp you're getting. I've been subject to several deflated seats ever since the DreamCabins became abundant... I've lost count but I estimate approximately 50 to 60 times this has happened. Most of the time, however, I have been able to rectify the issue with the secret code trick. I actually do a reset on everything in order and usually it works. It took some experimentation but I think I have found a way that works 90% of the time.
When I used to bring it to the attention of the crew, only a few times they have actually tried something manual to fix it but it never worked. The remaining times where I've alerted crew, I am usually met with massive shrugs. Never ask a red-scarf to help - ask the red-scarves for the SD to assist (or ask the SD directly). Almost always the SDs will at least seem to care but probably won't be successful in fixing the seat.
Until now, my high success rate is based on DIY.
To the RCHHMP here, my apologies as the deflated seats are also my fault. Clearly they aren't AC's fault. 110% my fault.