pentiumvi

Anyone know the answer to this?

pitz

Yes to all of that, if offered. Except for the narrow exception of access to the Signature Suite if offered at your origin.

pentiumvi

Is there any thing special I need to do, any hoops to jump through?

Or do I just check-in at priority check-in counters and agents there will see the AP award is booked in J/F, but traveling on Y?

pitz

Yeah they should see that you're J waitlist eligible, and act accordingly.

PointWeasel

Most agents in Canada are pretty good in this regard.

The out stations are not, in fact, some -like MAD - deny everything you are entitled to on a redemption and will let J seats go empty when you are on a Business Class award redemption and only confirmed in N or X.

LeisureMiler

Except in my experiences as IKK booked in J and not all segments available, I had to talk to everyone to make the waitlist, the taxi driver, the airport information person, the check-in agent, the security lane orienting person, the boarding pass scanner, the gray haired first VP in front of me in the line in security going to Singapore, the...

You ge the gist.

Seriously, they can't seem to be able to transfer that particular waitlisting into the system, so that in one event, even after the main gate agent telling me J was full, my name was called 5 minutes later and I was handed two J boarding passes for me and Ms. LeisureMiler. In another case, even after speaking to concierge, I didn't make the list. Fortunately, I was staying with an IC in Calgary and she called a Concierge she knows and he got me on the list within minutes.

The reasoning to me is simple: an IKK or any other award flight booked in J is on par with a paid fare J. So its got priority OVER eUps and certainly over crew upgrades (passes or repositioning).

So I've just patiently explained that everytime at the gate, to the main gate agent... (or once through my friend to a Concierge), and if at the gate, got the seat up front, eventually, after much patience. That's happened even taking an earlier fight.

So, @canadiancow I'm not sure the order has changed, or that there is any order in most cases... Seems to me that particular instance is not handled at all by AC, meaning the AP tkt "J fare but no seats at time of booking" or whatever the official lingo is simply isn't accommodated in any talk between AC and AP systems, so that someone has to intervene manually in each case. Unfortunately, a lot of the manual handling ends up being done wrong. That is, they manually consider it as an eUp, not a paid J...

Everytime I've politely given that interpretation to the gate agent, I've ended up bypassing everyone, including people that already had a J boarding pass in hand. I'm really sorry for those folks, but I shouldn't have to pay for an IT incompatibility, when I paid good money for a seat in front. Reward flight / AP points, they've been earned. They are good money. The same way, I expect to be upgraded behind anyone who used points for a J seat if I paid to sit in the back and I'm using eUps.

I hope I make sense, and apologize in advance for some inconsistencies in my FT lingo. I lurk a lot, and am in awe as to how many of you know all the right acronyms. I probably simplified a lot of concepts above.

pentiumvi

Hmm, guess I may have gotten a bad agent.

Tried checking in today at priority check-in (YVR) but was denied any J ground service. I didn't bother trying to get on the upgrade/waitlist, as I have no status, and it was J0.

I'll try again on my return...

lcohen999

Here's the thing. Even if it is J0, make sure you are on the list. Misconnects happen. Last second cancellations happen.

I was 3 hours from flying on EVA to TPE (in J) and had to cancel. So this happens. Never discount your chance until the door closes and gate is pulled back

canadiancow

Agreed.

I was recently number 3 for 0 seats. Number 4 got the upgrade too.

pentiumvi

Is waitlist you board you lose?

And is it actually confirmed that being on a J/O Aeroplan redemption entitles you to J ground service with AC? Agent insisted that unless confirmed in J, no J ground service.

canadiancow

Debatable, but in my case there were 4 no-shows.

pentiumvi

Are you eligible for J ground service if the upcoming flight is Y only (DH8)?

rankourabu

Flew back in a long haul J ticket today. Of course ORDYYZ was only Y.

Downloaded the app, we were nowhere to be seen on the list. Check in agent had no clue what we were talking about, said check at gate.
At gate, they insisted we both must be super elite to to get on the list on Aeroplan tickets.

Since it was J1 anyway, I didn't bother anymore ...

The incompetence of this airline never ceases to amaze.

agjil

Yeah AC and Aeroplan actually have pretty good standby/waitlist policies but clueless agents are just killing the whole deal.
I've seen check-in agents, lounge agents, and even gate agents that claimed they were 100% sure about what they were doing when they were not handling Aeroplan standby/waitlist requests properly.
It is unbelievable.

canadiancow

What were you talking about? What did you say?

The fact that you were surprised you weren't automatically on the list makes me think you were saying things that confused the agents. I've previously posted the exact script you can follow with agents. It works quite well.