Hey all,

Hoping you can give me some guidance here.

So here's the conundrum I have:

Myself, E75K member, booked on a ticket with my company card, YEG to YUL to CDG.

YEG - YUL: AC176 - V class (economy)
YUL- CDG: AC870 - N class (Premium economy)

The eupgrade is available today for me to eupgrade the AC176 to business class for 10 credits. Can't do the YUL-CDG, must be 6 days out, and also- I don't want to pay the $500 surcharge.

In addition, my wife is booked on an aeroplan full business ticket (90k points) to CDG. She has mixed there, and full J on the way back.

YEG - YUL : AC176 - X class (economy)
YUL - CDG : AC870 - N class (Premium economy)


So I call up Aeroplan and ask if there are any business class seats for her on AC176. AP says no. I ask if she can add an 'please upgrade if space available' note and she says there should already be one there. She says my wife can ask at the gate at if there's room they can give her upgrade then.

My question is: can someone see how much J cabin space is available?

Should I upgrade myself, in the chance my wife gets the upgrade? Can I 'give back' the upgrade and sit with my wife in economy? That assumes the seat with my wife is even available at that time...

Should I just book it and send my wife to sit up front in J if we get separated...?

Right now we have 2 seats together in Economy

 

What date are your flights?

 

Can't give you loads without knowing the date

If your primary goal is to sit together, I would wait until you're at the airport before requesting an upgrade.

Then try to figure out how many people are on the list, and whether you'd both get it. If you can both get it, put in both requests.

 

Sorry! March 3rd!

D'oh!

 

Wife is leaning towards 'eupgrade it' so at least one of us has it.

It won't kill us to be split for 4 hours, besides we'll sit together for all of YUL - CDG together.

And theres a 'chance' we could be together in J

 

March 3rd
AC176 - J6 C6 D6 Z6 P6 R2 Y9 B9 M9 U9 H9 Q9 V9 W0 G0 S0 T0 L0 A0 K0

AC870 - J6 C6 D6 Z6 P6 R9 O8 E3 N0 Y9 B9 M9 U9 H9 Q9 V9 W0 S0 T0 L0 K0

So... decent odds for 176, probably lower for 870.

Cow's right - best to wait and try to e-Up both of you at the airport.

 

The surcharge on 'V' fare is $500 right?

The website for 'calculating eupgrades' has two categories based upon class ticket, but they all equal the same, so confused about that....

 

Let her suffer in the back, relax on champagne and OJ at the front, and test how strong your marriage really is.

 

Lol, our marriage is fine- we are headed to france, me for work, her for play-while I work.

I'm flying on company ticket. Flex fare economy whole way. She's flying on AP business ticket- full J the whole way back.

She's loving it so far.

 

$500 from all Flex fares and from PE, yes.

Flex fares are divided into "high flex" (M,U,H) and "low flex" (Q,V,W,G) - the eUp surcharge is the same regardless, but high-flex fares have a wider eUp window, and require fewer eUp credits, than low-flex fares.

 

Ah, that makes sense.

Wondered why the chart had a separation line there.

 

1) The "mixed economy AP ticket", for AC segments, entitles one to go on the waitlist for J space. This is not an 'upgrade', it is 'waitlisting'. It has priority over most other non-confirmed passengers for J.

2) Unless your upgrade is confirmed in R space, the wife, on the Aeroplan ticket, has a much higher chance of her waitlisted seat going through.

3) Avoid using the terminology "upgrade" for the Aeroplan mixed reward ticket when dealing with AC personnel. Use the term "waitlist". "waitlist" > "upgrade list". She 'paid' J fare, she's entitled to AC's best efforts to find her space. An 'upgrade', OTOH, is a courtesy.

 

Not according to Ben Lipsey.

 

Regardless of how you think it should be handled, AC treats these examples as an upgrade request. This was changed 5+ years ago. AC reps have confirmed how these are treated in the upgrade priority, and I've been on the upgrade list myself in this situation. Not sure why you keep saying that these are prioritized above upgrades even after the AC rep confirmed that's not the case.

In this situation, if OP's wife has no status, she would be on the upgrade list, but below other status pax. However, with the co-pays this year, upgrade lists on overseas segments are much shorter, so chances are better than prior years.

 

You can always give back your wife's upgrade, but why? It is a paid J ticket with points. If your wife's upgrades does not clear before the departure day, it is very unlikely she will be upgraded. Point tickets are the very last to get upgraded, even if they are booked in J.