yvr76

Hopefully the FA call button has been moved from the armrest. Have only been on the 77HD once in Y but lots of errant calls from people accidentally pressing it.

LockheedElectra

Bwahahaha! But with your idea there will be absolutely no ambiguity, and I could wear my special Blue Jays boxers.

QF NB

Congrats Ben Smith and the Air Canada team on taking delivery of your first 787, what a great milestone!

Now I would be over the moon if you could open a new Vancouver - Brisbane (BNE) service as it would be great to see Air Canada expand in this part of the world ^

nascar99

It seems like this Friday AC604 will be the first scheduled 787 Dreamliner flight so I moved my flight from YYZ-YHZ to Friday instead of Wednesday and upgraded to J. I am so excited to try this out. Any others flying on the 787 Dreamliner this coming weekend? Also if you are on this flight it is still R4 for upgrades.

PLeblond

I'm more than a little jealous. Fingers crossed for you that there isn't an equipment change. Enjoy!!

PLeblond

It flies again: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/ACA7087

Can someone tell me who I have to bribe to get on one of these 'break-in' flights. I don't need a drink service or luggage. Just give me a window seat upfront and I'll sit quietly going around in circles for a few hours.

Looks lit its doing touch and goes at YOW. Anybody getting pics?

TemboOne

Please clarify!

Are you saying that with PE not being available AC in effect refused to refund you?

What about the price difference between PE and the Tango fare available when you purchased your PE?

Was cancelling your trip actually an option within your plans?

You wouldn't by chance have been seeking a PE to J upgrade???

We all knew these early 788 flights were iffy, and as Ben Smith said, despite building in a substantial cushion in their summer schedule they have been and continue to be let down by Boeing delivery delays.

nascar99

Thanks. Knock on wood we don't get an equiptment change. Hope it's worth the change fee. Hopefully by Friday the crews will know what they are doing on the 787.

Mauricio23

And the curtain falls. This after months of AC stating that HD Y would not be the new fleetwide standard (Calin just repeated it in an investor's briefing two days ago). The 788, ladies and gentlemen, has HD Y, and so will presumably the 777 refit. In practical terms this means that, for the first time in 10 years, I will look at the WS reservations site for Canadian flights, and it'll be an open race for every other booking. Now you offer the same (lousy) product, you better be competitive on price. AC Mainline is now a low cost carrier in Y.

I appreciate the honest response. I would have appreciated the QR spin being left out of the response even more. JetBlue is a 4-star skytrax airline and their Y seating kicks AC's ... any day. So does SQ's for that matter. My butt does not understand Skytrax ratings, it understands comfort, and AC just dropped to the bottom of the pile.

Skiguy

pure hyperbole.

Sean Peever

Ben did contact me offline yesterday and offer a refund which was a great offer and I am very glad Ben is here now! However, I could not accept his offer as my scheduled travel in a few days and prices for last minute (as expected) are high.

Also I don't want to go too far off topic so I don't intend to keep going over this issue and I will consider this my last post on the topic (if you would like to know more just PM me)

However, since I am sure there are some people in the same situation, or considering putting themselves in the same situation with the 787 schedules I will answer the questions!

To answer your questions:

1) Yes, I am saying that, on multiple phone calls over a 2 month period to the SE desk.

2) r/t difference between tango and PE was about $500.

3) No, my plans were to always take the trip, switching carries to Virgin Atlantic or British Airways in PE was however absolutely an option

4) I asked for either an 'upgrade' from PE to Latitude (which I did not expect to get), as I would have been able to confirm J for minimal credits. OR I also said I would accept a full refund. Both were denied to me on my multiple calls between March 25th and April 30th.

In the end, after many many many hours of calls I was able to get them to give me a V fare. Of which I am wait listed to upgrade on the way there and have already confirmed upgrade on the way back. Chances are I will end up sitting in J which is great! I just ended up having to use 24 credits which I didn't really want to use all up. However, when my options became no refund vs sit in Y vs use 24 credits, the answer was obvious. And of course I'll have to submit and argue for my +25% COS miles once I get back.

Overall I'm actually a very happy SE with Air Canada, over 8 years they have been amazing and I'm one of the people here on the board who often comments positivity towards them. I also don't plan to have 1 incident in 8 years cloud my judgment of what has been a great ride. Sometimes, things happen. It's just too bad that this did happen the way it did.

TemboOne

You're voicing many of our wishful dreams, but of course it ain't going to happen

Right now 801 just did a second touch-and-go at Mirabel at 11.50.

Likely trying to get in as many training flights as possible before revenue flights!

imverge

OK... If the Euro Atlantic Airways crew operates the planes (eliminating AC employees) you best believe people will be very vocal, in-fact I predict CBC News will be all over it

TemboOne

Thanks for the detailed reply and very glad it's worked out for you.

Ben is obviously doing a fantastic job bridging the problem gap where folks desperately need help and get nowhere!

Really glad you had status and u/g credits you could use.

Fingers crossed for our HND PE flight as couldn't take a Tango or any Y downgrade.

Ben Smith

We've got an agreement with our Pilots Association. The relationship is governed by an agreement which is often more restrictive than Cdn law. Do you know of any other Cdn 763 operator with spare aircraft/crew in July? WS and WG do this every year on a greater pct of their flights and haven't been dealing with long manufacturer delivery delays.