getaround

For international flights SE benefits do not exist any linger for T-96H.

As far as I am concern they can remove this fake benefit.

ac777

I try and c heck KVS to see which flights have R9 or close to it and book on those flights but AC people can be very vigilant in removing R space at 7days. Also, if you are u/g at the gate they don't have to provide a J meal--saves them 15-20 dollars ( free meal from the BOB menu)

Neil791

Wish i had the option but as the majority of my flights are booked by my company its always a bit of a crap shoot to see what i'm going to get. Whats even more frustrating is when at T-4 plus 1 minute I see J/Z wide open and R0 and that doesn't even take into consideration the seat map showing 9 J/Z but we know thats not even accurate

rumblefox

I've had a couple more clear now at 24hrs but never T-7.

Neil791

Fingers and eyes crossed it works the same for me this weekend

Neil791

well, T-20 and still showing as waitlisted despite flightstats showing J9 C9 D6 Z6 and of course R0

looks like its down to the gate and the magical aero lotto...hope my chances are better than the Lotto 6/49
needless to say i'm not surprised to see the LMU cash grab for 'joe average' trumps loyalty to the brand...

thanks for nothing AC

Neil791

Update!

Seems i'm lucky today as I won the Aero-lotto on AC105 this morning from YYZ-YVR...why they had to drag it out with the useless waitlisting is beyond me (rhetorical) but as mentioned its nice to know that supposed loyalty to an airline gets you on a waitlist in favour of a 'once off' few hundred dollar payment.

At least i'm now 1/1 in the R Games ^

Away from YYZ

I am still on WL, requested at T-7d. R0 as usual... Will see when it gets clear.... Hope I am not SOL, see J dropped to 6 now.

HerpaYvr

OK so don't hate me but:

April 11 YVR - YOW - three days out received confirmation of upgrade

May 1 YOW-YYZ-LAX-YVR - first two legs were upgraded exactly four days out with LAX an hour before flight (no meal) but still scored some good food.

May 5 choose to fly in Y but J was open YVR-LAX-YUL-YOW all the way through

May 10 YOW-YYZ-YUL-FRA - first two legs were upgraded exactly four days out and FRA two days out.

I think I learned the system as I have only missed four upgrades since Jan 1st or I am simply been lucky? I hope when I am SE at the end of the month, my luck continues.

Mind you I am willing to give this aerolotto luck up for the real Lotto and paid j

jarusoba

This R game is perplexing.

May 15 YUL to CDG on AC870 is R5 J5. This is T-2

You would think when J is 5, they should zero out all R spaces...

ACA321

Flew YYZ-NRT the other day, requested upgrade at T-96, waitlisted. Checked J/C/Z availability and 9s across the board until an hour before boarding flight 1. On top of which, only 16 of 42 seats shown as taken on AC's seatmap for the last 9 days before the flight- when I began monitoring it. Still, no R space ever released, but won aerolotto at the gate. Some 15 J seats remained unoccupied on the triple seven, so obviously no previous demand, however AC still played the game of leaving the waitlist (largely, if not completely) uncleared before it got to the gate. Oh, and the best part? When getting my new boarding pass at the gate, there was a generous "ML*1" note in the bottom under observations. Can't help but feel that AC holds a grudge against its "valued top tier customers", even if they, like me, paid extra for this upgradeable fare. Big thumbs down to this practice AC. If you no longer wish to provide the benefit of upgrades, just flat out quit doing it. Stop jerking people's chains with these games.

In the end, I did get upgraded this time so do I have a right to complain? Yes and no. Yes because the process has become all the more unecessarily convoluted, and although I got the better seat and wine, I still only got a Y meal, so partial upgrade as for the published benefits. No I suppose because I still sat up front and got more sleep than I otherwise would have in Y. Still can't help feeling smacked around for going out of my way to keep flying AC when I can- which won't be often anymore given transpac tango and "partial upgrades" like I experienced when getting lucky and winning aerolotto. While UA may be inferior in some ways, they still have economy plus, which I can pay a small amount extra for and know for sure what I'll be getting.

Neil791

Of course you've got a right to complain, as do every other person who has shown loyalty to the brand to the point of acquiring 'bottom tier' status as if AC doesn't want to confirm upgrades for their supposed 'valued' customers than why offer the eupgrade credits in the first place??
As we know there is no consistency whether it be route specific or member specific, but one thing is for sure is that the new system is crap and it has alienated many people.

As they say...this is considered an 'improvement' in the eyes of AC so how can we be surprised?!?

Away from YYZ

Ha.. good for you! Not so good for me leaving a few days later...

14 May R9 J9
15 May R4 J4
16 May R2 J4
17 May R0 J6
18 May R0 J6
19 May R0 J7
20 May R9 J9
21 May R9 J9

(as of 10:00AM EST on 14 May)

thyeri

J=5 does not necessarily mean that there are only five seats remaining in the business cabin. Airlines use "cabin sizing" to manage their inventory and add virtual seats in the Y cabin when J is forecasted to have low demand. Basically it adds seats in Y and removes some from J virtual capacity.

For a low J demand flight, it makes sense to give as many R as possible.

Away from YYZ

So in plain text, that means they plan for some Op-Ups?