Originally Posted by
ACYYZ/SD
Air Canada has been a proud and very visible supporter of the Canadian Olympic Team. If you have ever left town upon the conclusion of the Olympics (which I have) or operated a flight (which I have) there is a mass exodus with barely a seat to be had. Equipment was upgauged from the usual 3/4 weekly 787-9 to a daily 777-300 to accommodate increased revenue traffic.
For those saying that AC should upgrade the guy because they are using Olympic athletes in their marketing, consider that AC has paid for the privilege of the using the "Official Airline of the Canadian Olympic Team" moniker. So AC, by striking that marketing deal with the COC, *is* supporting our athletes, with a chunk of good old cash $. As part of that deal, COC may have received discounted rates for athlete/coach/staff travel to the Games, but evidently guaranteed J seating for gold medal winners wasn't part of the deal. Had it been, given that a J seat from Seoul to Toronto is not cheap at any time let alone on the last day of the Olympics, one might presume that the cash component of the marketing deal would have been smaller.
So is this guy mad that AC doesn't support athletes, or that it didn't support him personally with a J seat? Which would you prefer our Olympic team to get - money they can use to help all athletes train for the Games, or expensive luxury perks for gold medal winners?
As has been noted by @
24left and ACYYZ/SD, it's not as if there's empty J seats lying around for a complimentary upgrade at some ICN agent's discretion. To put this guy in J or PY they'd likely have to boot a paying passenger, so it would cost AC very real money.