IrrOp: Credit where it's due
 

Two weeks ago, our AC885 flight (CDG-YUL) was delayed five hours with air conditioning issues (some of us even boarded initially, and we asked to deplane after roasting for half an hour). The delay compounded with our further connections, and we ended up arriving in YQR exactly 24 hours late.

Now, besides the obvious inconvenience of the delays, everything AC did was nice and efficient, and I want to congratulate those employees here. A brief recap of what happened:

• We boarded AC885 (CDG-YUL) on time, but soon after boarding was suspended (and we were having a "warm" welcome inside the plane). After about half an hour, we were told to deplane while they dealt with air conditioning issues.
• After little more than two hours of waiting at the gate, the agents gave away beverages and sandwiches to all passengers.
• AC885 departed 5 hours late. Before touchdown, we were told that all of us with connections had been rebooked for the next day.
• On arrival at YUL, employees were waiting for us near the gate, and gave us new boarding passes, hotel voucher (with meals), and meal vouchers (for $40, valid for a year).
• The next day, after enjoying a great buffet breakfast at the hotel (included in our coupons), we arrived in YUL, checked our baggage, and went through security. Our flights were YUL-WPG-YQR, arriving at 18:10.
• Immediately after security, I look at the screen and see AC8595 (our flight to Winnipeg) delayed by two hours; that was longer than our connection time.
• We made our way to the service agents at gate 1. When the lady saw our predicament, she immediately phoned baggage so that they would intercept our bags; she then worked for a few minutes and got us YUL-YYZ-YQR, now arriving at 22:10.
• She seemed really concerned about our situation, and either by need or by niceness, she put us on J for YYZ-YQR (we were on cheapest of the cheapest Tango tickets).
• Our seats for AC419 (YUL-YYZ) were both middle seats and quite apart; the gate agent apologized for this, but they were booking us less than two hours before take-off, so reasonable. At the moment of boarding, the gate agent said "ah, we were waiting for you" and gave us new boarding passes with two seats side-by-side.
• On arrival, our baggage came out promptly, having been retagged at YUL.
• After getting home, I submitted a claim under EU261/2004, and got a favourable response within 24 hours; the cheques arrived home little more than a week later.
• The EUR600 is a bit more than what we paid for each of our Tango tickets.

Anyway, other than the initial mechanical delay, everything AC did was as good as we could expect. Credit where it's due.

That's nice to hear.

Thorough write up and it sounds like AC did what they could to help you on your way (so to speak).

This is the only thing I don't like. Overbook Y and let PDM handle moving people around. Rebooking agents should not be changing cabins.

Other than that, I'm glad it went as well as it did, given the 24 hour delay.

It's interesting, isn't it - clearly AC has proper plans in place to deal with disruptive IRROPS.
Why they execute so poorly 4 times out of 5 is the head scratcher.
The procedure is in place, and it appears that the employees are trained correctly, as demonstrated in this case.
So why does it go so wrong, so often?

If they have the authority to make it 'right' for the customer, why not? Its not like confirmed passengers in J would ever be bumped to accommodate IRROPs Tango re-bookees.

AC needs more of this behavior, not less. The status crowd has a process by which it can obtain confirmed space in the J cabin on the T&C outlined in the program.

Because there could be a passenger confirmed in Y on that flight with a waitlisted upgrade.

My issue is that this jumps that whole "process by which it can obtain confirmed space in the J cabin".

I see this as no different than a GA upgrading their friend instead of you when you're at the top of the list.

They're making it "right" by getting them on the flight. They don't need to provide a free upgrade at the expense of other passengers.

I understand your perspective, but I don't necessarily agree that this is at the expense of other passengers. Someone who is waitlisted for an upgrade will get their upgrade if space is available - those are the terms of the programme. There are lots of legitimate ways that space can become unavailable just prior to departure which still result in someone at the top of the upgrade list not getting their upgrade.

A GA upgrading their friends is not OK, I agree. But this is not what happened here - the OP was stranded overnight due to AC, was already accommodated in a hotel and with meals (at AC's expense), and was originally rebooked in Y, the class of service they paid for. Then, when that re-booking looked like it would go south as well and OP might be stuck overnight somewhere else, the agent rebooked them on an itinerary which would hopefully prevent that and gave them a J seat (without OP asking or demanding this). Perhaps Y was sold out and J was wide open - I don't know. AC has already lost money on this booking due to the delay, EU compensation claim and overnight. If they can minimise additional costs to themselves while placating the customer as much as possible, then they've done well and provided what, in my view, is good customer service.

I'm sorry if you've not received a complimentary upgrade during IRROPS re-booking. I have. Many others have. It's never something I've asked for or expected, but always something that is appreciated

Where did you find this statistic?

I can't agree more.

Glad to see that AC was able to provide excellent service recovery, which seems to be rare these days - or at least we don't hear about it too often :)

Just curious if AC informed you ( and the other passengers) of your rights, and furnished you with the information as to how to make your claim,
or if you were left to do so on your own?

Thanks for sharing your positive story of service recovery. We tend to hear only the negative ones on FT and in the media.

Not a stat, anecdotal. I don't think AC keeps track of a "number of inappropriate IRROP handlings" metric ;)