My wife flew AC31 YYZ-PEK and AC12 PVG-YUL this past week. I had informed her of Deflategate after reading about it here (and cancelling my own AC reservation—see my post earlier in this thread).
The seat was fully inflated and 100% comfortable on AC12. However, she definitely experienced at least a partial deflation on AC31.
She said the seat felt fine on boarding in Toronto, but she woke up midway through the flight when it was in flat bed mode and it was deflated and hard in the middle of the bed, kind of near the lumbar area if it was in seat mode . However, she said it wasn't excruciating, just uncomfortable. She thinks that if she hadn't been informed about Deflategate beforehand, she might've just assumed that was how the seat was supposed to feel.
I think that AC is getting away with this because most passengers, especially those who don't travel in J often, don't realize it is actually a problem—only frequent fliers and those "in the know" after reading this thread are aware that they're not getting what they paid for.
EDIT: My wife liked the brand new terminal where the AC gates are at LGA, and enjoyed her experience at the YYZ lounge. She thought the FAs were great. But she said that she wouldn't fly in AC J again until this seat nonsense is confirmed to be a thing of the past.
Last edited by fast passenger; Apr 16, 2019 at 10:16 am