drgmobile

Hello:

A colleague and I were recently top of an upgrade list but the J cabin was listed as full at 9 seats. When we got aboard, the J cabin actually had 12 seats and the plane left with two empty.

I've had this happen a couple of times recently, and I understand it could be happening fairly often for the next few months as Air Canada re configures its Embraer 190s with more J seats.

It doesn't sound like there are procedures to upgrade passengers on board. When we raised the issue with the flight attendant, she said she'd move us after we got into the air but (understandably) threw up her hands when the loud obnoxious woman behind me claimed she was on the wait list as well. As there were about six people on that wait list and this wasn't the time or place to litigate the matter, I let it rest.

This didn't stop the obnoxious lady and her boss from getting up and upgrading themselves to the seats after take off. Thoughts? People are going to notice empty seats so should Air Canada come up with a different way of handling it?

pitz

This topic comes up frequently. Part of the cachet of business class is that it doesn't go out full all the time, which maintains its exclusivity and keeps people paying for it instead of just making it clear to passengers that they will be upgraded. Catering items are often boarded in quantities that bear a semblance to projected loads, so a full J cabin might not have even been properly catered causing service standards to slip as supplies are rationed.

Its fundamentally unfair for staff to be doing on-board upgrades as the manifest supplied to them does not carry meaningful information on who is most worthy of an upgrade (ie: should a SE on a $300 ticket be upgraded over a last-minute non-status passenger who bought a $3000 ticket???).

More J seats in the E90? Good lord, why??

ChrisA330

E75s are getting more J seats. E90s are staying the same.

canadiancow

Usually DCS has the proper configuration, so even if they aren't selling the seats, they should be handed out by the GA.

You need to get the GA involved the second you board the flight.

An FA should never upgrade anyone, nor allow anyone to self-upgrade.

Even if they had let you upgrade, you would not have been charged the credits, because the system wouldn't have known.

YYC009

Could the empty seats have been noshow passengers? It seems once noshow passengers are offloaded that it is time to go, so there isn't time for the gate agent to start doing upgrades onboard; the flight simply leaves with the empty seats.

ChrisA330

What happened to the 3rd seat?

It showed 9 seats taken, but the aircraft had 12 seats with 2 empty?

YVRtoYYZ

What is the perspective on an eUpgrade - a privilege or a right?

My thought is that the J seat wasn't paid for therefore there is no entitlement to it, despite being on the waitlist. And that is honesty how I view my eUp requests, despite having a 100% success rate at this point.

canadiancow

This case seems to be a matter of a seat count mismatch between the GA's computer and what was actually on the flight.

If the computer had showed those 3 seats, they would have upgraded 3 people.

eUpgrade credits are a form of currency. If J is legitimately full, no reasonable person is going to have an issue of not getting upgraded. But if J is not full and there are no W&B issues, then yes, you have a right to that seat if you have a properly requested upgrade.

ridefar

Really? What is the logic behind having a smaller plane have more J seats? Both have 9 currently, so why would an E75 have 12 and an E90 remain with 9? Or am I dead wrong on some point ...

RangerNS

Part of the Air Canada theory of the cachet of business class

The US carriers have gone a different way. AC and the eUp system is what we have based on that theory.

SparseFlyer

Except OP said only 2 empty seats. So. Who knows I guess?

D582

I would assume because the E75s are staying in the fleet whereas the E90s are planned to leave. Also, the CRA/CR9s at Jazz are going to 12J too, so it makes the regional product consistent.

Seat13F_AC_CRJ

Could it be that the IFE was inoperable on those empty seats?
--
13F

canadiancow

I can't imagine someone would decline J on a regional flight for that reason.

jaysona

When upgrading you should always ask if J had boarded full. Many times the gate agent will respond with J has checked in full, at which point you should ask again with the emphasis on boarded full. If the gate agents says J has boarded full and you get on the plane and there are empty seats in J, go back and see the gate agent.

I have had to do this on a few rare occasions, but it does happen, especially on the Rapidair air flights and flights where they are rushing to board everyone to meet their on-tme departure targets.