Originally Posted by 24left

A number of us have already explicitly stated in this thread that we do to want to swap seats with a non-rev. We have stated that we believe they work hard for their passes and deserve to chance to use them and sit in J.

On at least 6 TPAC flights since July (on 2 routes in particular), there have been a large number of non-revs (and yes, I have the numbers). Some of them told me how the passes work, and more importantly in terms of this thread, the rules associated with seats. Should a paying customer get a deflated seat, the non-rev is required to give up their seat. And this also applies to those on buddy passes.

Originally Posted by CZAMFlyer

I can understand asking a non-rev passenger to swap seats, but to me, there's an ethical issue with transferring your problem to another paying passenger, whether or not they upgraded. That upgraded seat came at a high cost in terms of previous flying, and is in effect, also 'paid J'.

Originally Posted by capedreamer

AC847 MUC-YYZ on 3/2. 1G seatback deflated upon boarding. FA did a rondelle reset. Fingers crossed...

Update: Seatback deflated again before the doors have even closed.

Update 2: Crew (led by very friendly and proactive SD Janine) offered to move me to 11D. Unfortunately, 11D also has a deflated back. Janine then offered to move an employee seated in 9G, but I did not want to trouble the gentleman. It's a daytime flight so I can manage.

Originally Posted by 24left

On a related matter, I will also suggest that anyone here who gets the idiotic answer I did recently on a long-haul TPAC - where the "experienced" SD insisted that not only had she never had a deflated seat on any of her flights, she also never handed out a form - to be full of it. Either she is a FA FOTSG or she was intentionally withholding the truth. I also decided to educate her a bit with just some of the things made public here on FT, and she repeatedly said "I was not aware of that". I have no idea what she really knew versus what she claimed, but there is not a single SD who I've flown with in the past year at least, who wasn't aware of this.

My view is AC is responsible for this mess by buying these seats, by not acknowledging the problem early on, by some crew denying there is a problem by insisting that your seat is not deflated, by being difficult about compensation (a coupon toward future purchase is not compensation), by having SDs claim they have no knowledge of deflated seats, by accidentally on purpose now having some flights with no white forms loaded, and by not properly communicating the progress of a fix.

Originally Posted by capedreamer

At that point, Janine proactively offered me the onboard compensation form. Moreover, she apologized profusely and inquired whether Air Canada has been communicating this issue to SE members. I shared some honest feedback: I encounter #deflategate all the time, and the reaction from cabin crews has been very inconsistent. Some crew, like her, are proactive and apologetic and do everything they can to try to make things right, up to and including moving non-rev passengers and offering the compensation form. Others, on the other hand, act like they've never heard of this issue and trying to get a compensation form is more painful than pulling teeth. I pondered whether there's a 'corporate' directive to avoid handing out forms if possible. Janine assured me that's not the case. In fact, according to her, they've been instructed to do the opposite: To be very upfront and responsive in addressing this issue. Whether or not that's the case, Janine is certainly embracing that mindset.