mendy7511

I just got off AC91 (7A). The seat kept deflating, it would inflate when I reset it on the control panel, but would deflate again an hour later. I paid for J because of the red eye and I need to work today. Too bad I had to wake up 5 times during the night to reset the lumbar 😡

Plumber

lallied

chazbag

YVRtoYYZ

I have received calls from Customer Service apologizing for the deflated seat and informing me of the amount of AP miles that will be deposited into my account.

Adam Smith

Man, I'm jealous of all you guys getting discount codes and Aeroplan miles. Provided they were adequate, I'd much rather have those than the $500 eMCOs I got.

I wasn't offered any choice, just straight up given the eMCO.

I had heard from a reliable source at AC that the compensation was initially being billed back to the seat manufacturer. I wonder whether the shift to discount codes/Aeroplan miles means that they've hit the cap on compensation in that contract.

FlyerTalker70

Adam Smith

I typically buy 1-2 round trips to Europe, in J, for me and my wife, every year. Typically pay low to mid $3000s for P fares. So let's say, conservatively, $2500 of ticket price that's eligible for discount. 25% x $2500 x 2 tickets = $1250, which is >2x the value of a $500 eMCO.

A ticket paid for in part with eMCO may not be eligible for credit card insurance, which is a drawback, whereas discount codes are fine.

The Amex promos never seem to work out for me, because either the travel window or booking window doesn't fit with what I need.

mendy7511

No. I told him to let maintenance know. I just got the shrug 🤷.

canadiancow

My $500 and 25% were both around 12 months ago.

CZAMFlyer

Are any of AC's Canadian "valued customers" - those who buy business-class tickets - deciding to opt for alternate airlines? For many destinations in Europe and Asia, if beginning in, or connecting via Toronto, Vancouver and to a lesser extent Montreal and Calgary, there exist attractive alternatives. Granted, one might forego AQM/D/S accumulation, but at some point, surely value and comfort supercede loyalty to a product that fails to live up to your expectations. I understand a higher tolerance level amongst those who have been upgraded, fly for leisure or fly for the sake of flying, but if one must hit the ground refreshed n' running on the other side of an ocean, losing the Park Bench Lottery can make a tangible difference to one's performance and/or long-term health if a frequent enough traveler.

In more blunt language: why the heck do you continue to reward Air Canada? Want this fiasco resolved quickly? Fly with somebody else, and send AC a scan of your ticket receipt, or better yet, your status card with another alliance.

The local business crowd aside, I simply don't understand how AC hasn't resolved this issue by now, considering how they're pimping marketing themselves as a preferred carrier between the US and Asia/Europe to the traveler with means and options. The poor sap who flies between NYC and Australia, or from Cincinnati to Hong Kong on a deflated seat is unlikely to purchase a second ticket on Air Canada.

Bravada04

For a person that doesn't fly Business Class very often............I'm getting on AC29 tomorrow. So how do I know if the seat is deflated from the get go!

Bohemian1

@CZAMFlyer- Your point is well taken and I have begun flying on other *A partners when they offer a comparable schedule or cost.

Case in point is my next TATL trip where I'm flying TP. Their hard product is not quite as nice as AC's on a good day, but I'm almost 100% guaranteed that my J seat will be comfortable enough for the four or five hours of sleep I want. And I avoid having to scrap with customer service to get some form of comp when AC fails (yet again) to deliver what they promised me. So, less stress before, during and after the flight, which is worth something to me.

Even with more flights like these on other *A carriers, I'll still easily hit SE in 2019. But that's me and, while I have seen zero evidence from AC that they care about these defective seats, it's the only effective way I know to show them the same contempt they seem to show many of us.

But others may not have or may not choose that option. As always, YMMV.

24left

Well, if you sit down and it feel like a hard board, that's a clue.
If you lean back and feel metal rods, that's a clue.
If you board and the parts are inflated but deflate in-flight, you'll notice and feel it.

I've had maintenance onboard prior to my Nov AC 15 departure and that guy kept pressing the firmer-softer button (no pun intended). I told him that is not how to reset the seat. He kept at it so I told the SD he is wasting time, I didn't want him to hold up the flight so we would have to sort it later.

I had 16 hours of lumbar misery on that one. The 2 SDs tried all of the various resets because the rondelle reset didn't even work.

On the recent AC 4, the seat was deflated at departure, I reset with rondelle. It worked for 45 minutes or so, then deflated, then I reset again, last for just under 2 hours and so the game went for the flight.

On AC 101, nothing worked and as I noted, AC 101 and AC 4 were both fin 849 and I was not in the same seat, plus others on 101 also had deflates.

On AC 16 from HKG, nothing worked.


And as per suggestions of others on this forum in both public and private messages to me, it seems I fly AC too often and am thus on the losing end of the AC Deflated-Seat-Lottery.

I will have to decide whether I cancel upcoming trips, or take them but book nothing after that until AC decides to take this issue seriously in both the repair & replace department as well as not being so cheap in the compensation department.

More than one SD in the past year made some comment that I had to move seats because the deflated seat posed safety issue. So, how does that work on a full-flight? How does that work when someone paid $5,000 for a ticket and AC's view is "well, we got you there"? And how does it work when the same aircraft turns around to fly back and another pax is in the same seat that one SD decided was not safe on the outbound?

mendy7511

Maybe, we can be more diligent to post which seats on the form here so we know which ones to stay away from (Or specifically choose if you need compensation).