YYT82

I only realized I did in fact experience a few deflated seats AFTER I had my official confirmed deflategate. It was on a TPAC flight when I woke up to a bad hip pain, and I checked the cushion, it felt like there was nothing between the cover and the bare frame underneath it. So I alerted a crew member, still not knowing if that's the way it was supposed to be. (On a few other previous TPAC flights, I checked the seat cushions mid-flight and they felt the same way, so I thought they were normal.) When the crew member came over to check it out, he said "oh it's deflated". That's when I knew they were not normal.

As to how bad the pain was? It really depends on the person. Like I mentioned, I had trained my body over the years to be able to sleep through any condition and on very rough surfaces. To me, I'd have no trouble sleeping on airport benches, although I do occasionally feel a bit of soreness in my hip bones afterwards. The deflated seat felt a bit like that, and the only reason I felt the hip pain on that TPAC flight was that my hip was on the only portion that deflated and had no support. All of the previous deflated seats gave me the same soreness sensation as sleeping on airport benches, and because I was used to it, I didn't even think to report them to the crew members and instead thought there were nothing wrong with the seats, just me.

Someone who's always slept on comfortable surfaces may suffer much more if they sat in a deflated seat and will likely notice immediately, so YMMV. To me, it was mostly just uncomfortable, but I'm still ticked that AC has known about the widespread issue and hasn't shown much initiative to get the problem resolved.

And to those who wonder - since my officially confirmed deflated seat, I have not stepped on an AC flight since. I'm not about to put myself through that until AC has replaced the broken seats. Even though it was just uncomfortable for me personally, I have the right to choose to spend my money where I see value. For now, that value doesn't exist with AC J, whether paid or eUpgrade. And yes, I did receive the standard eCoupon compensation, but I still have lots of time to use it so I'm not in any rush to play Russian Roulette.

skybluesea

delete

YYT82

skybluesea

delete

cricketer

Just experienced this on DEL-YVR today. Had no issues on the outbound, but the back of my seat lost its cushioning early on the return. The lead FA (SD?) came over and did the reset mentioned in the wiki above - I took notes, and had to reset multiple times during my attempt at sleeping. When I eventually got up and mentioned the frequency of the issue, they offered to move me to a vacant seat, but at that point there were just 3 hours remaining and I was well entrenched in my pod. The crew were excellent, but let's just say that my back has seen better days. I wasn't given a compensation form - didn't occur to me to ask for one on board. What's the best avenue to write in a complaint?

sameruval

It's now mid-April, and I was wondering if any of the more experienced AC travellers here who have their finger on the pulse know whether the fabled seat repair/replacement solution has been cleared by regulators/Boeing and whether we can expect it to be rolled out anytime soon?

(Unlike most of you, I've only flown J once for my honeymoon last year, but experienced a lower lumbar deflate on the flight back. We're planning on taking other products for a couple trips we have lined up, however being based in YYZ, AC is usually the most convenient way to go which is why I've been following this thread.)

yyznomad

The online complaint form is probably best avenue now.

Given that you were given an alternative (moving to another J seat) and declined, you might not get any compensation, but YMMV.

cricketer

Fair - but I was given that option 11 hours into a 14+ hour flight ... possibly my fault for just waking up and resetting instead of getting out of bed and complaining more volubly. Not particularly concerned about getting rich from this, it's more a matter of principle, and the presumption that every extra complaint will help nudge AC towards acknowledging and ultimately resolving this.

yyznomad

Won't hurt to try the online form then. I'd give a it a go if I were in your situation.

fast passenger

My wife flew AC31 YYZ-PEK and AC12 PVG-YUL this past week. I had informed her of Deflategate after reading about it here (and cancelling my own AC reservation—see my post earlier in this thread).

The seat was fully inflated and 100% comfortable on AC12. However, she definitely experienced at least a partial deflation on AC31.

She said the seat felt fine on boarding in Toronto, but she woke up midway through the flight when it was in flat bed mode and it was deflated and hard in the middle of the bed, kind of near the lumbar area if it was in seat mode . However, she said it wasn't excruciating, just uncomfortable. She thinks that if she hadn't been informed about Deflategate beforehand, she might've just assumed that was how the seat was supposed to feel.

I think that AC is getting away with this because most passengers, especially those who don't travel in J often, don't realize it is actually a problem—only frequent fliers and those "in the know" after reading this thread are aware that they're not getting what they paid for.

EDIT: My wife liked the brand new terminal where the AC gates are at LGA, and enjoyed her experience at the YYZ lounge. She thought the FAs were great. But she said that she wouldn't fly in AC J again until this seat nonsense is confirmed to be a thing of the past.

YVRtoYYZ

The last 45mins of AC859 seat 8K on FIN 842 C-FGHZ went flat.

saaveraward

Boarded EWR-YVR, back portion of the seat above the lumbar was flat. Captain notified. No open J seats. BA tech called on board. Seat reset from the rear base. Proper inflation through the rest of the flight. Did not impact pushback time.

capedreamer

saaveraward

Same problem YVR-YYZ, keypad reset worked

doubleflier