Drob1

Ok, that makes sense. Thanks.

The check-in counter and gate agent both said it was because we booked with points, which the Aeroplan rep said yesterday doesn't matter if it was paid or points, that it should not have happened. Seems what they say and what they do are slightly different based on other posts in this thread.

TheCanuckian

canadiancow Based on your fairly extensive knowledge of how all of this works, what would be your advice for doing all that's possible from a traveler's perspective to avoid having this happen?

mahasamatman

1. Tell the interloper that it's his responsibility to take care of the kids since your wife was booted to steerage, or
2. Become an AC employee.

Stranger

If this was a deadheading pilot, almost certain this was policy. And yes surely Aeroplan tickets for pax with no status would be picked first fo downgrading.

If this was some other employee than the gate folks were in the wrong.

Inclined to believe it was the former case.

mahasamatman

As per post #35, the OP has status.

RangerNS

He answered this with the priority list. Have status. Pay higher fare.

The GAs could have been lying, they could have been simplifying. Buying with points would surely have bought in the least expensive bucket. J cabin, but for sure not J fare basis. For "should not have happened", true. But was overbooked (which isn't necessarily oversold), and Transport Canada doesn't allow hotbunking, so something had to give.

Cheap tickets, low status. Not rocket surgery here to read the tea leaves.
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canadiancow

I would be inclined to agree with that, in the sense that you should have higher priority than any upgrades.

But:
1. Based on other experiences posted recently, it seems any fare basis with "AERO" is not given much credence
2. It's quite possible a 25K booked in J with points was the least "important" person in J

I can't give you much advice. As an SMR who almost never books and upgrades Y, I'm always VERY high up any priority list, so it's not something I worry about.

Have a backup plan maybe? Do you want to split your party between cabins? Demand to be flown in your ticketed cabin on the next available flight/itinerary? The best advice for any adverse situation is to know what you want if you can't get what you booked.

When I booked the last seat on DEL-YVR with points in December, it booked into full J, but the fare basis began with "I". That may have had to do with partners on the booking, or not.

I still struggle to see how "I" woudl be ranked below any eUp, unless there's (another) priority misconfiguration, this time with a fare ordering like JCDZPOEAYBMUHQVWSTLAKGIRNX instead of ...PIO... or something.

The Lev

Fixed it for you, although normally correct. I suspect it indeed was a deadheading pilot.

I'd have sent one of the kids to the back. :-)

Business class was fully booked prior to check-in. I suspect what happened in this case was that all 16 passengers were paid J, mostly booked through Air Canada Vacations, which sells J very inexpensively to "sun" destinations. If 12 of the 16 seats were revenue J tickets and 4 of the 16 were your family on AE reward points, one of you likely would have been low person on the totem pole. They would not separate a child, so one of the parents got the short straw.

Your wife should have been the first name to appear on the upgrade list, so if there had been a no-show she would have had priority over anybody trying to e-upgrade.


Anyway, sucks to be in your shoes but do write in to Air Canada and request refund of your points (you'll likely get back something like 30,000) and some sort of additional compensation (the infamous 15% discount coupon).

WildcatYXU

So, not only commuting pilots are entitled to J seats but deadheading pilots are entitled to J as well?
Occurrences like the one described in this topic this are really decreasing the value of FF programs. What are FF points good for if not to book seats that otherwise would be prohibitively expensive? I'm not talking about flights to the Caribbean. There I can book a package with a J flight as I've done many times before. I'm talking about flights like the ones I have booked for the coming summer. TATL to Central-Eastern EU. If I'd book the tickets now, the price of our tickets would buy us a compact car. This is where being an FF really helps. But do I really have our nice lie flat J tickets? If I can really lose them on a whim, where is the value? And yes, being able to upgrade the work trips that are mandated to be in Y by company policy is nice. But wait, if I can lose that upgrade anytime, where is the value again?
As far as the other perks go, I don't know. The lounges are sort of nice but nothing special. Extra luggage? Company pays. Priority during IROPS? Who cares, I'm paid for the time spent traveling.
We really need another full service/member of an alliance airline here.

Stranger

Commuting, no. Only deadheading. Used to be only captains but that might have changed.

canopus27

And this is why I believe the freighter aspect is behind a lot of the problems. If Air Canada have decided that they need/want to operate a one time freight run from (for example) Cancun to Calgary (because reason), then unlike a scheduled flight, the pilots required to operate the freight flight can't just operate the outbound flight to Cancun on the previous day. AC will have no option but to deadhead those pilots on a plane ... and if their contract says that they get to make that flight in J (as I think it does), and J is already booked full ... then someone is going to be unhappy.

WildcatYXU

The passenger was bumped on the CUN - YVR leg. AC does not have a base in CUN. So it really wasn't a deadheading pilot.

canopus27

These days AC is flying freight flights to all sorts of places that they don't have bases in.

Quail

If that's the business decision they're making, that's fine. OAL decide to overbook J from the outset.

How they handle it is another matter. Proactive communication and compensation would go a long way, vs expecting the passenger to spot a seeing a seat change on a BP and follow up themselves.

canopus27

We agree.