Just called for an U/G on AC 123 for flt on Monday and was told, as I had seen, that no C was available. Asked agent to call flt control to see if they would give one of 25 seats still available for SE U/G. No dice--"we might still sell those seats"---and they are not totally sold out in back either.
No amount of civilized discussion could change their decision even with a supervisor involved. So this becomes my first aerolotto of the year and and if for some reason I don't get on,AC will miss my next two trips as payback for their stupidity or about $2000 in revenue. That's not anger, just calculated frustration, and taking my position as a very good customer to show them I will not give in to their blackmail. BTW every other flt that day is wide open in C but mine is the first flt out so they zeroed it out for whatever reason.
Boy, are they ever smart.

That's one of the flights that will always be zeroed out for Mondays. (AC167 is the other one on this route which will usually be C0 during the week)

You will get it without a problem, there are less than 10 people booked in J out of 36 seats. It's just stupid having to play the aerolotto with that many seats left with < 72 hours to go. You're lucky that the flight is not oversold so you won't need to worry about those with no seat assignments getting J.

Best of luck.

Yes, Andrew I do understand that but my frustration is the lack of employee authority given to an agent who knows she is dealing with an SE and even admitted the flt couldn't sell those seats right now.
And they wonder why morale stays low-when they set their employees up to take crap for their management stupidity.
All I ask is that when I call the SE desk they have the authority to care of the pax who pays them a lot of money. The concierges can mostly do it at the airport why not the agent on the phone?

I've encountered the same frustrating situation but I've handled it in a different way. My response: okay, so you won't sell me a $2000 ticket with an upgrade. Instead, I'll take a free (instant kk) D class seat. You don't want the revenue, AC? That's your choice.

It's not free is it After Burner? Don't they still make $25/instant KK from even their SEs? It's win win for them is it not?

You had mentioned this flight yesterday when we met. I think it IS time to start emailing Rupert about this. With this amount of open C/J/D space, there is no valid reason to not honour this major SE benefit. This is a totally unannounced change of benefit, as major as changing qualification levels or mileage redemption levels. While I agree with Empress that you will get on the flight in J, but also question why AC is now putting their best customers through a week of angst?

No, I don't really think it's win-win for AC. They gain $25 but lose $2000. The $25 fee is pretty miniscule in terms of the $ amount; it just represents an insult to this customer. That's okay though because I no longer feel any guilt over being a no show if my schedule changes -- something I would never have done prior to the $25 fee. If it's not convenient for me to call and cancel my seat, I won't bother. The $25 they've collected should cover any problem this causes them.

I know. I should have put

Is it RD or RM we should be writing or calling? AC sets the seats available for UG don't they as opposed to Aeroplan doing it. Yes, I do think its time to voice our opinion and see if the "new" AC gets the message of customer service and more importantly the message that they should be letting front line employees service the customer and have some discretionary ability to do so.
Could someone please post the relevent email/phone numbers?

Yes. AC sets the number of C seats available per flight. Nothing to do with Aeroplan.

parnel - YGM

I believe that they are still "testing the waters" much as they were in early October. The firestorm that ensued here (and probably elsewhere) may have caused them to restore most of the "C" space that disappeared on Oct 1.

But now that another month has passed, and the uproar has diminished, they are probably once again seeing how far they can push their members. My suggestion would be to fight back, fast and hard. While I like the Instant KK for SEs instead of buying a ticket, purchasing a ticket on another airline would be even more effective, particularly if you mail a copy of the ticket and boarding passes to execs at AC.

Zeroing out C inventory is a clever way of denying upgrades. AC can improve the benefits of SE and say they can upgrade from ANY fare and then make all the seats C0 and then start opening up setas 72 hrs prior--so they manipulate the system again!! I had this problem when they insisted somepeople may show up even 24hrs before flight and buy all their J seats at full price--This is called dreaming in technicolor!!

The zeroed out stuff is only part of my
b!tch on this issue. When an agent tells you there is no chance the seats will be sold but can't access the seat for a SE who is a premium customer of her employer that also tells me that management is not functioning properly. Not even the supervisor could overrule Flt control.