Purchased Business on 787-8 and got an A320 instead! Refund?
Jun 19, 2019, 11:03 am
#16
Join Date: Jun 2016
Programs: air miles
Posts: 283
A: Not every flight between YEG and YYZ is flown by a 787. So I would think that if you wanted the lie flat seat it would incumbent on you to ensure that when making the change
B: If the delay was going to make you miss your connection, and assuming it was an AC to AC connection, why wouldn't you have AC make the change for you, perhaps they would have ensured that your change would have retained the same level of service as your initial booking, or offered a refund rather than request the change yourself
B: If the delay was going to make you miss your connection, and assuming it was an AC to AC connection, why wouldn't you have AC make the change for you, perhaps they would have ensured that your change would have retained the same level of service as your initial booking, or offered a refund rather than request the change yourself
Jun 19, 2019, 12:18 pm
#17
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: YVR
Programs: AC SE100K, Bonvoy Platinum Elite, IHG Gold, Hertz 5*
Posts: 2,132
This is a whole lot of fuss over a 3.5 hour flight.
Having said that, you were robbed of a potential 90 minute rest laying flat instead of being nicely reclined as you were on the 320 (to say nothing of the dated IFE you weren't planning to watch while you "slept"!) so you should threaten AC with a call to the CBC unless they give you a full refund and a $500 voucher for your profound troubles.
Give your head a shake.
PS - Thread title should read "Purchased Business on 787-8 then changed myself to an A320 instead! Refund?"
Having said that, you were robbed of a potential 90 minute rest laying flat instead of being nicely reclined as you were on the 320 (to say nothing of the dated IFE you weren't planning to watch while you "slept"!) so you should threaten AC with a call to the CBC unless they give you a full refund and a $500 voucher for your profound troubles.
Give your head a shake.
PS - Thread title should read "Purchased Business on 787-8 then changed myself to an A320 instead! Refund?"
Jun 19, 2019, 3:40 pm
#18
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: YYT
Programs: AC P25
Posts: 269
This is a whole lot of fuss over a 3.5 hour flight.
Having said that, you were robbed of a potential 90 minute rest laying flat instead of being nicely reclined as you were on the 320 (to say nothing of the dated IFE you weren't planning to watch while you "slept"!) so you should threaten AC with a call to the CBC unless they give you a full refund and a $500 voucher for your profound troubles.
Give your head a shake.
PS - Thread title should read "Purchased Business on 787-8 then changed myself to an A320 instead! Refund?"
Having said that, you were robbed of a potential 90 minute rest laying flat instead of being nicely reclined as you were on the 320 (to say nothing of the dated IFE you weren't planning to watch while you "slept"!) so you should threaten AC with a call to the CBC unless they give you a full refund and a $500 voucher for your profound troubles.
Give your head a shake.
PS - Thread title should read "Purchased Business on 787-8 then changed myself to an A320 instead! Refund?"
I think you’re due some compensation, the $300 AC itself values the upgrade from J to J sounds like a reasonable place to start.
AC charges a premium for lie flats, signifying that they recognize an extra value in The product over recliner J. I doubt the agent specified they were going to “downgrade” OP from lie flat to recliner, which they should have done since I’d assume his booking came with a flashy screen and a sleek looking, clean, lie flat pod while requesting 5e appropriate currency for the privilege. Maybe you and I and some others know the Ac schedule including equipment and seating layouts between YEG and YYZ, but it’s hardly appropriate for the airline to expect the vast majority of customers to know this, when the airlines calls both simply business class. a relatively minor inconvenience, but an irritating one when you were looking orward to some sleep, that could easily have been avoided with some minimal additional communication from both sides. From Op for what he wanted from rebooking, and agent for what exactly they were rebooking them to.
Maybe OP should have been a bit more aware and asked a question but it’s not a leap to assume one is being rebooked in an equivalent* seat. It certainly doesn’t warrant the rude, condescending post I quoted.
*equivalent meaning lie flat to lie flat. Not “Business”
Jun 19, 2019, 4:03 pm
#19
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Join Date: Sep 2012
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Posts: 44,346
I think you’re due some compensation, the $300 AC itself values the upgrade from J to J sounds like a reasonable place to start.
AC charges a premium for lie flats, signifying that they recognize an extra value in The product over recliner J. I doubt the agent specified they were going to “downgrade” OP from lie flat to recliner, which they should have done since I’d assume his booking came with a flashy screen and a sleek looking, clean, lie flat pod while requesting 5e appropriate currency for the privilege. Maybe you and I and some others know the Ac schedule including equipment and seating layouts between YEG and YYZ, but it’s hardly appropriate for the airline to expect the vast majority of customers to know this, when the airlines calls both simply business class. a relatively minor inconvenience, but an irritating one when you were looking orward to some sleep, that could easily have been avoided with some minimal additional communication from both sides. From Op for what he wanted from rebooking, and agent for what exactly they were rebooking them to.
Maybe OP should have been a bit more aware and asked a question but it’s not a leap to assume one is being rebooked in an equivalent* seat. It certainly doesn’t warrant the rude, condescending post I quoted.
*equivalent meaning lie flat to lie flat. Not “Business”
It really sounds like this case is an LMU or bid upgrade. What if you buy a $250 LMU, and then are downgauged from a 788 to a 320. Are you owed $300? $250? Something less? I think we can all agree it would be, at best, something less than $250.
So then the question becomes what you're owed if the LMU on a 788 costs $500 (or some other number greater than $300). Does the fact that AC charges a $300 surcharge in one scenario mean that should be applied everywhere? If you want a $300 refund on an LMU in this situation, then you're also tacitly suggesting that there should be a $300 surcharge to redeem Aeroplan miles on a wide-body in J.
AC does not value the upgrade from recliner to lie-flat at $300 in the general case. That clearly only applies on paid North American J fares.
I've been handed $100 because the SD didn't offer duty-free or PDB on SFO-YYZ, so I'd just write in about what actually happened, with no emotion, and you'll likely get something reasonable.
Jun 19, 2019, 9:08 pm
#21
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2019
Posts: 2
Thanks everyone for the replies. Much appreciated.
Sorry for the confusion. It was a paid upgrade for the first leg from YEG->YYZ which is why the second leg wasn't in J.
My concern was that I purchased the paid upgrade specifically for the lie-flat seat so I could rest more comfortably. A 4 hour flight means about 3 hours of sleeping time to me, so having that be useful versus disruptive can make a big difference. I had to be at LGA by 9am for a client meeting which is why I couldn't just take a later flight and stay with the original 787. I can't imagine that a business class upgrade fee to a lie-flat would be the same as a business class upgrade fee to a recliner, is it? That's where I was wondering if there's some leeway. If a bus upgrade on an A320 is let's say $90 and on a 787 is $290... well.. I would imagine the value to AC between the two is $200. So why wouldn't that value be to me, too?
If I bought a J on the A320 originally and then asked to switch to the 787 later, I would imagine they would charge me the fare difference between the two...
Sorry for the confusion. It was a paid upgrade for the first leg from YEG->YYZ which is why the second leg wasn't in J.
My concern was that I purchased the paid upgrade specifically for the lie-flat seat so I could rest more comfortably. A 4 hour flight means about 3 hours of sleeping time to me, so having that be useful versus disruptive can make a big difference. I had to be at LGA by 9am for a client meeting which is why I couldn't just take a later flight and stay with the original 787. I can't imagine that a business class upgrade fee to a lie-flat would be the same as a business class upgrade fee to a recliner, is it? That's where I was wondering if there's some leeway. If a bus upgrade on an A320 is let's say $90 and on a 787 is $290... well.. I would imagine the value to AC between the two is $200. So why wouldn't that value be to me, too?
If I bought a J on the A320 originally and then asked to switch to the 787 later, I would imagine they would charge me the fare difference between the two...
Jun 19, 2019, 9:59 pm
#22
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Join Date: Sep 2012
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Thanks everyone for the replies. Much appreciated.
Sorry for the confusion. It was a paid upgrade for the first leg from YEG->YYZ which is why the second leg wasn't in J.
My concern was that I purchased the paid upgrade specifically for the lie-flat seat so I could rest more comfortably. A 4 hour flight means about 3 hours of sleeping time to me, so having that be useful versus disruptive can make a big difference. I had to be at LGA by 9am for a client meeting which is why I couldn't just take a later flight and stay with the original 787. I can't imagine that a business class upgrade fee to a lie-flat would be the same as a business class upgrade fee to a recliner, is it? That's where I was wondering if there's some leeway. If a bus upgrade on an A320 is let's say $90 and on a 787 is $290... well.. I would imagine the value to AC between the two is $200. So why wouldn't that value be to me, too?
Sorry for the confusion. It was a paid upgrade for the first leg from YEG->YYZ which is why the second leg wasn't in J.
My concern was that I purchased the paid upgrade specifically for the lie-flat seat so I could rest more comfortably. A 4 hour flight means about 3 hours of sleeping time to me, so having that be useful versus disruptive can make a big difference. I had to be at LGA by 9am for a client meeting which is why I couldn't just take a later flight and stay with the original 787. I can't imagine that a business class upgrade fee to a lie-flat would be the same as a business class upgrade fee to a recliner, is it? That's where I was wondering if there's some leeway. If a bus upgrade on an A320 is let's say $90 and on a 787 is $290... well.. I would imagine the value to AC between the two is $200. So why wouldn't that value be to me, too?
What if upgrades on the 320 were $1000, but you got it free because of the situation? Are you also willing to pay the difference if it turns out the 320 cost more?
Edit: The fact that you think a transcon upgrade could even be sold for $90 says a lot. I'd probably pay $400 to upgrade on that route in a 320.
Last edited by canadiancow; Jun 19, 2019 at 10:05 pm
Jun 20, 2019, 11:35 am
#24
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: YYT
Programs: AC P25
Posts: 269
Does the LMU offer for such a flight show a generic business class or does it specify lie flat for those flights that have it?
subject to change, obviously.
It just seems a grey area, do they differentiate between pods and recliners, sometimes yes and sometimes no. But once you’ve paid cash expecting a pod, upgrade/full fare/note from Jesus, whatever, I think it’s not unreasonable to expect some return of cash when that pod isn’t available through the airlines fault.
subject to change, obviously.
It just seems a grey area, do they differentiate between pods and recliners, sometimes yes and sometimes no. But once you’ve paid cash expecting a pod, upgrade/full fare/note from Jesus, whatever, I think it’s not unreasonable to expect some return of cash when that pod isn’t available through the airlines fault.
Jun 20, 2019, 12:37 pm
#25
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Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
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Posts: 44,346
Does the LMU offer for such a flight show a generic business class or does it specify lie flat for those flights that have it?
subject to change, obviously.
It just seems a grey area, do they differentiate between pods and recliners, sometimes yes and sometimes no. But once you’ve paid cash expecting a pod, upgrade/full fare/note from Jesus, whatever, I think it’s not unreasonable to expect some return of cash when that pod isn’t available through the airlines fault.
subject to change, obviously.
It just seems a grey area, do they differentiate between pods and recliners, sometimes yes and sometimes no. But once you’ve paid cash expecting a pod, upgrade/full fare/note from Jesus, whatever, I think it’s not unreasonable to expect some return of cash when that pod isn’t available through the airlines fault.
Jun 20, 2019, 2:23 pm
#26
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: YVR/YEG/YYZ depending on day
Programs: E35K, FPC Platinum
Posts: 392
There was a dreamliner on YEG-YYZ?? I've never experienced that- and to have it as a redeye flight and then get downgraded would be me upset too.
But as with most posts here- I don't think you're entitled to anything.
If you get the "signature service" refund please post back here, that would be good to know.
Can't believe a dreamliner is on that route!
But as with most posts here- I don't think you're entitled to anything.
If you get the "signature service" refund please post back here, that would be good to know.
Can't believe a dreamliner is on that route!
Jun 20, 2019, 2:55 pm
#27
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2004
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Posts: 35,255
Widebody to narrowbody downgauges occasionally happen for NA. It is what it is. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(and vice versa)
(and vice versa)