nexusCFX

Hi. I had an Aeroplan booking for December on AC738 in J. When I booked, this was operating with the 787 and Air Canada is very clear to note that it "Includes lie-flat seats" when you book these with cash. Now I'm seeing that from the end of October onward this flight is gone and I've been moved onto AC756 which is on a 737. I would rather just pay cash and fly J on United's SFO-YYZ flight if I'm going to be on a 737 anyway.

Do I have any recourse here? I'd like to just get my miles and taxes back without having to pay the Aeroplan cancel fee but I don't know if that's possible.

I'd also like to know if anyone can confirm that the flight is indeed gone from the schedule and won't be returning for that time period. I seem to remember the flight number AC756 being run on a 787 in the past so could it be that the 737 is a placeholder?

chebert999

Which date? I checked for some random dates and AC756 says B737 MAX but that flight uses the plane coming from YYZ as AC737 which is a B787. So that makes no sense.

nexusCFX

Dec 24. Every date I check in Nov/Dec lists 7M8 now though. If it's using the plane from AC737 hopefully this is just a temporary mistake rather than an actual equipment change. In any case I do wish they had not loaded flights for AC738 if they weren't going to fly it though.

LondonElite

codfather

AC may give you some kind of discount on future travel. As the other FTers outlined above, the aircraft and seat type can change at the last minute without prior notice.

nexusCFX

That's fair since it's an award, although I don't think it would hold up for a revenue ticket since they advertise and sell the 787 flights specifically as having lie-flat seats. Going to call AC and AP shortly.

My main issue is that they sold me a flight that they then removed. It's not like this is an equipment swap. Also, when you pull it up in the flight schedule tool for Dec 24 it shows AC756 as a 787 at 12:10 even though what's being sold is the 7M8 at 12:35 so I'm just unclear on whether this is an actual change or some error.

AC*SE

Check your fare calculation. If you are ticketed on a flight operated by a 787 and then downgagued, and if your fare calculation includes an upfare for signature service, then you'd be entitled to claim that fare difference, but nothing from the base fare.

nexusCFX

Thankfully this is not a paid ticket. If I had paid cash I would be pushing for a refund or I would do a chargeback due to how the flights are advertised as I mentioned above.

YEG USER

A charge back would not be appropriate in this case if this were a revenue ticket; you'd only get a partial refund (unless full J in which case you can get a full refund regardless). AC has a policy on this. The link below is for international, there is also a tarrif document for domestic flights.

https://www.aircanada.com/content/da..._Tariff_en.pdf

Rule 30.A.1.a states that there is a surcharge of $315 that applies to lie-flat Signature Class seats (I assume the $315 is CAD).

Rule 100 D deals with carrier-caused refunds, including downgrade of service.

• Subsection 2.c.i states that you're entitled to fare difference, if applicable, if the change is made more than 7 days in advance.
• If the change is less than 7 days away, the table in subsection 2.c.ii would apply (note that Signature Class and Business Class are different classes on the table); in this case you'd get a refund of the $315 surcharge.

AFAIK for Aeroplan tickets, you redeemed a "business" class ticket. While you may have been seated in a better seat than typical business class seat, regular business is all you redeemed for. In the past IIRC AC has treated the lie-flat seats as a "bonus" for Aeroplan redemptions. You are not entitled to any refund (unless you paid a premium in the fare calculation as stated by AC*SE), but AC may offer you some goodwill discount for future travel. Aeroplan might also be lenient on change fees for such a situation.

Also, please note that things do change. Rule 100 D.d states "Refund can only be determined once travel is completed, and the appropriate class of service has been provided." You may want until after travel to complain as things could always change back; AC might be more willing to give goodwill compensation after the fact.

arf04

nexusCFX

Totally agree. In my case I am not owed anything by law or contract. Just hoping I might get some leniency.

As mentioned by someone above, for Nov/Dec AC is flying two 787s on YYZ-SFO every day and only one back, so I'm hoping it will switch back as I've never seen anything but a 772/787 on the ~12pm flight.

Stranger

Adam Smith

I agree with the advice to wait a bit and see how it shakes out.

OP, a couple of further thoughts, in case this doesn't go back to being a 787:

1. Your original flight has been cancelled and replaced with a new one with a different flight number. Practically, this should allow you to call Aeroplan and indicate that your flight has been cancelled and the re-booked flight is not acceptable, so you want a full refund. No need to delve in to details about why you're unhappy with the new flight and no need to worry even if the new flight is at exactly the same time as the previous flight. Historically, a cancellation like this has been essentially carte blanche to cancel/change.
2. If, for some reason, point 1 is unsuccessful, you also have recourse to the "schedule irregularities" portion of the AC tariff. Rule 80(C)(1)(c) defines "Substitution of equipment or of a different class of service" as one of the schedule irregularities. Under Rule 80(C)(4)(d), you can choose no longer to travel and request an "involuntary refund", which essentially means that you get a full refund without penalty.

Note that my comments in point 2 above differ from the advice provided by YEG USER earlier. YEG USER's comments assume that you decide to travel on this ticket, in which case Rule 100(D)(2)(c) that he has cited is indeed the operating provision. However, if you invoke Rule 80(C)(4)(d) to not travel, Rule 100(D)(2)(a) is the relevant provision regarding refunds. This states that "a full refund will be issued".

In summary: if you prefer to fly on the 787, wait it out a bit and see if it comes back. Once they reconcile the discrepancy between the outbound and inbound being different aircraft types, you should have your answer as to which equipment will likely operate it (always subject to further change, of course). If you prefer to fly UA regardless, just cancel now. My point 1 should be sufficient, but if not, point 2 should get you there.

nexusCFX

Thank you for the post. Super helpful. Thank you to everyone else who took the time to reply as well. I will wait it out to see how the plane discrepancy is resolved and act accordingly.
No, definitely not. It just comes down to not wanting to burn 25k miles to fly a 737, and in the case of switching to a paid ticket if I can't get a pod then UA P fares on this route are priced less than AC.

Adam Smith

Glad FT could be helpful. I hope the 787 comes back on the schedule for you. Keep us posted!