c3m5frssvt

Booked AC YYZ.YVR.SYD and return, selecting latitude fare on dates and flights (33 direct not available but 125/33 was) based on AC website indication 'seats available for upgrade'.

After booking fare, went to e-up account and both outbound YVR.SYD and return show 'you will be waitlisted'.

Went back to AC website and faked another booking and was still being offered 'seats available for upgrade'.

Called SE hotline and she went to her help desk who stated: "seats are available for upgrade, but it doesn't mean you can access them now'. (What, wait for gate e-up?)

This does not sound right. Not looking for insight on fare buckets, just on how to interpret AC website upgrade filter message in future.

thanks

canopus27

If you can share the dates that you booked, then we'll be able to take a look at the availability the system shows.

dr_torch

Just a guess, since I do not know the flight date - the website is probably showing space in R, but you booked latutude which should upgrade you if space is avaliable in P?

As canopus27 says, if you can share the date that the flight is on, then we can look into space for you.

james dean

same thing happened to me, booked Latitude YVR-CDG showing seats avail for upgrade, did the booking and my upgrade account showed wait listed for that flight.
Called the SE line and the nice lady said "her system shows seats avail for upgrade" she confirmed my upgrade (manually) and did the seat selection at the same time. She chocked it up the the website IT issue.

Adam Smith

This is not an uncommon problem. A week or so ago, I had the same problem, except there was no upgrade inventory available as the flight was P0 R0. Just crappy IT on AC's part.
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Latitude fare can upgrade using P OR R. If a flight is P0 R1, Latitude can upgrade.

Bartolo

+1; mere E75 at the time but exact same scenario. Seats were latitude for YYZ-CDG. Called in and told to write in. Three days later got the upgrade with a note to say they worked hard to get me this.

Plumber

I have has this before also.

The issue is usually not that P=0, the issue is often that R=0. As others have stated , you need positive P OR R space to upgrade a Latitude fare (but not both).

Most Agents don't seem to know (neither does AC IT) that you can upgrade a Latitude fare from P....most see that R=0 and just think it cant be done.

You need to educate the Agent and then they will do it for you.

Unfortunately there is no way to educate the IT system!

dr_torch

Thanks! I did not quite see it that way, but that makes complete sense now.

c3m5frssvt

After I posted, I continued on a long hold with SE desk who escalated. When the glitches were confirmed, they immediately gave me both upgrades. She said her expert told her the error was caused as the 2 processes (selling & upgrading) crossed multiple system interfaces, and there were (apparently) two independent glitches.

The outbound was R0/P0, but AC website upgrade filter offered 'seats available for upgrade' (1st error), however, after I bought the ticket, my e-upgrade account said 'you will be waitlisted'.

The return flight was R0/P>0 and thus the AC website was correct, but my e-up account failed (2nd error) and also showed 'you will be waitlisted'.

Hard to believe two different glitches in two different systems for my flight picks.

For interest, I went back to the AC website on my same dates/flights and the upgrade filter no longer showed seats available for upgrade on the outbound, i.e., they corrected the inventory-to-website connection. At least for that flight and date.

My dates were Sept. 27 out, Oct. 6 return.

I have expert flyer, however, I wanted AC to honour their website upgrade filter that led to my buying this fare. I had not bothered to consult EF until the upgrade account request failed.

Thanks!

Adam Smith

So, even though at least one flight was P0 R0, they gave you the upgrade anyway, just because the website had been telling you you would be upgraded?

yyznomad

Yep. An old problem that continues to persist. Plus it doesn't help with the useless and lazy Netflix-watching call centre agents still believing that Latitude must depend on R space, after a few years since this came into effect.

c3m5frssvt

Yes, because I made a buy-decision based on the info provided by the website. If I knew immediate latitude upgrade was not available, I would have explored other dates (and perhaps used EF to do so). Since website offered simple solution on first try, I didn't have any need to explore further or use other tools.

It was the right thing for them to do. Took a very long telephone hold, in addition.

ac777

I had the same problem in booking YOW-LHR flights recently. Website said seats available for upgrade, I bought the ticket and was told I will be waitlisted. So I bought a duscounted J fare... the P bucket. I could have called but went for the confirmed fare instead. I chalked it up to excellent AC programming and possible manipulations.

Adam Smith

You must have encountered some extraordinarily generous AC staff. I've experienced this situation multiple times and the response has always been some version of "the website's wrong, too bad, nothing we can do." Heck, I had a nightmare of a time getting an upgrade cleared the other day on a flight that was P1, including a HUCA.

It's certainly a good customer service gesture of them to give you the upgrade, but whether they were under much moral obligation is questionable, given you purchased a fully refundable fare that you could cancel without penalty after you found out the upgrade wasn't available (and you were probably within the 24-hour refund window even if it hadn't been fully refundable).

How are you certain it was P0 if you didn't check EF though?

james dean

One plausible explanation for booking on-line showing "upgrade avail" and when you confirm the booking and go to process your upgrade is that someone else is just ahead of you and by the time you get to your upgrade account the "avail seats" are gone, is that possible OR when you complete your booking the system protects your upgrade?? I mean sometimes it can take 30 mins to process your purchase other times it's done in 5 minutes...