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Originally Posted by Far Siren
(Post 35551607)
Notwithstanding other commitments the following day, I would have refused to board... and told the GA they can waste 30 mins offloading me and my luggage or 30 seconds assigning me seats in PY. Their choice.
Thinking about how to handle this if it ever happens in the future, I'd probably be on the phone as soon as that seat change notification came in. There might not have been any suitable reroute options at the gate, but I'm sure there was a LIS-FRA/MUC/ZRH/CDG/LHR/etc.-YYZ a few hours prior. |
Originally Posted by canadiancow
(Post 35551619)
Thinking about how to handle this if it ever happens in the future, I'd probably be on the phone as soon as that seat change notification came in.
In general AC needs better automated reaccommodation especially when it comes to pax with status. Earlier this summer Rouge cancelled the Friday departure for my YYZ-LAS weekend trip... and the system automatically booked me on a flight combo arriving in LAS Sunday night, and flying back to YYZ Monday AM about 10 hours later. My traveling companion who has no status was put on a Saturday AM departure arriving in LAS Saturday mid-morning. And FWIW I was on a paid Comfort fare while he was traveling on points. |
Originally Posted by The Lev
(Post 35551414)
Maybe AC decided it would be cheaper for them to downgrade the J pax to Y and pay them compensation versus paying J passengers compensation for downgrade to PY and PY passengers for downgrade to Y.
When the seat change notification came in your first step should have been concierge phone number. |
Originally Posted by simd
(Post 35550827)
Very frustrated with AC.
Mrs simd and I (E75 and SE, respectively), booked on paid J ticket (P fare) under one reservation/PNR. Check in for AC 811 Sept 2 (LIS-YYZ), no problem. On the morning of the flight receive an email to say we have been reseated in PY due to operational issues. Arrive at check-in, get advised that the aircraft is now C-GOFV with no Signature Class, and get given boarding passes for 15A/15C. Soon realize that these are actually Economy and not PY, so at the gate go to the agent and request improved seating. Ask for a concierge but there is none. No option for PY, but both reseated in 23H/23K (exit row). Still not happy, but no options readily available at 60 mins preflight. At boarding, scanner reprints boarding passes - I am now in PY but Mrs simd has been reallocated 10F - economy class in the middle of a block, no aisle access or even a window! She requests PY, no go. Request old exit row seat back, no go. We both are very unhappy at being split up, despite being on the same reservation, as well as the double downgrade for my wife. I was even more frustrated to see (1) people with E50 tags on their carry-on in PY, and (2) numerous teenagers sitting in the PY cabin. While I realize that I don't know all their facts, I doubt that they are all E75 or higher, even if traveling with other SEs (as was my wife). I cannot think that everyone else in PY had higher status and were on a paid ticket and were on a reservation with an SE - all of which should have put her in that cabin with me - not to mention getting what would arguably be one of the least desirable seats on a longhaul aircraft. I didn't think that they would split a reservation like this, but evidently it does happen. I know this is a rant, and that we will get some refund to compensate for the change in class (thanks), as well as probably a discount coupon in response to my message to customer relations, but this just seemed to be particularly bad service, and far below what I think they should be providing to loyal customers.
Originally Posted by simd
(Post 35550901)
....
I intend pushing this further. This will not go away easily. |
By all means, do not let them get away with this, and work the compensation options aggressively to be made whole. Clueless contractors are not a valid excuse. Did you tell the agent the downgrade was unacceptable? Or when the email arrived, did you call AC and tell them you are in paid J and will need to be rebooked on a partner airline with business class seats? That's where I would have started - refuse the downgrade and push them continuously to get me rebooked on another flight with the business class seats I paid for.
I received the email on waking up, and at that stage the notification stated that we were both rebooked in PY, which was the better option at that stage (best available cabin on that aircraft). By the time I realized that the reallocation was to Y, which was after check-in, it was too late for alternative routings, even though I did request them. My primary beefs are (1) false information on the rebooking email, which stated we were in PY, and (2) poor handling of us as status passengers on a paid J ticket during IRROPs. If the original email had stated we were in Y, I would have been more proactive in calling and requesting alternative routing, but it only became evident when I checked Seatguru in the lounge. Maybe it is my fault for not flying PY more often. |
I would like to think it will not be difficult to claim and receive compensation for this. It is such a clear case of downgrade that I expect they will easily give you what is owed and such a clear case of poor handling after the downgrade that I expect they will also give you something beyond what they legally owe you. But please do let us know.
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Originally Posted by canadiancow
(Post 35551619)
Thinking about how to handle this if it ever happens in the future, I'd probably be on the phone as soon as that seat change notification came in.
There might not have been any suitable reroute options at the gate, but I'm sure there was a LIS-FRA/MUC/ZRH/CDG/LHR/etc.-YYZ a few hours prior. Of course I had not realised until this thread that AC doesn't follow its normal wide body seat numbering system on these birds, so like OP, I would not have known that row 15 was Y not PY. |
Originally Posted by Changeup2000
(Post 35551297)
This scenario makes me think AC’s practice of canceling a flight and immediately adding a 2xxx with the same schedule might be suitable.
Woke up at 5:00 AM for a 8:30 flight, found a series of emails changing flight 105 to 2105 all sent around 3:30 AM, which resulted in losing 3 exit row seats and being seated at the very rear in what must be the worst seats in the plane. |
Originally Posted by IluvSQ
(Post 35552385)
Yes, I had that 2 weeks ago.
Woke up at 5:00 AM for a 8:30 flight, found a series of emails changing flight 105 to 2105 all sent around 3:30 AM, which resulted in losing 3 exit row seats and being seated at the very rear in what must be the worst seats in the plane. The latter is extremely useful for someone having paid J ticket but got downgraded. |
Originally Posted by The Lev
(Post 35552270)
I'm now travelling in a "PY" seat that was a regional J seat for Singapore Airlines l
To me even a one cabin downgrade is a major issue that requires a significant amount of compensation especially if I was denied rebooking on another airline in J. |
Did you try calling the concierge? I had the concierge fix a problem once when contract staff in Maui screwed up once.
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Originally Posted by canadiancow
(Post 35551619)
And if the next person says the same thing? And the next?
Thinking about how to handle this if it ever happens in the future, I'd probably be on the phone as soon as that seat change notification came in. There might not have been any suitable reroute options at the gate, but I'm sure there was a LIS-FRA/MUC/ZRH/CDG/LHR/etc.-YYZ a few hours prior. Since it is increasingly becoming the case that neither happens consistently, one is often left in the lurch. |
Originally Posted by TheViperOne
(Post 35551659)
I suspect this is very likely the case from the automated system. A more experienced AC gate agent or concierge would’ve had this fixed before boarding. Unfortunately, some of these outstations with contracted employees are just downright brutal. Even in the USA I’ve had atrocious experiences with UAL agents on an ACA flight ignoring ACA policy to benefit IRROP’ed UAL passengers.
When the seat change notification came in your first step should have been concierge phone number.
Originally Posted by bocastephen
(Post 35551686)
By all means, do not let them get away with this, and work the compensation options aggressively to be made whole. Clueless contractors are not a valid excuse. Did you tell the agent the downgrade was unacceptable? Or when the email arrived, did you call AC and tell them you are in paid J and will need to be rebooked on a partner airline with business class seats? That's where I would have started - refuse the downgrade and push them continuously to get me rebooked on another flight with the business class seats I paid for.
Originally Posted by ac/elite
(Post 35553678)
Did you try calling the concierge? I had the concierge fix a problem once when contract staff in Maui screwed up once.
Here's another data point - my wife has subsequently informed me that the person sitting in the aisle seat next to her - i.e. a better seat than the middle seat she was given - was in fact a family member of an AC staff who was traveling on standby and was very grateful to have got a seat at all! My E75 wife on a paid J ticket got assigned a middle seat in Y while a standby passenger was next to her in an aisle. Hard to fathom. We have already (within 48 hours of flight) received notification of the refunds being processed and will be getting appropriate compensation for the change in class. Now to see what Customer Relations comes up with regards to trying to placate us. |
Originally Posted by simd
(Post 35554930)
My E75 wife on a paid J ticket got assigned a middle seat in Y while a standby passenger was next to her in an aisle. Hard to fathom.
There's no policy that produces that result, but there's absolutely a corporate culture that leads airport staff - and remote contract staff in particular - to conduct a rebooking operation like this from a standpoint of "the hell with it, just cram everyone in a seat and send the flight" when that should never be acceptable. Especially for a situation like this one, the equipment swap was known 8-10 hours in advance, so there's no justification for a last-minute scramble at the gate. Heck, one staff position at AC could have sorted out the displaced J passengers remotely before the outbound aircraft was halfway to Europe. |
Just out of curiosity, what were the seat numbers that you were assigned when you originally booked the flight in paid J?
When the aircraft change to an ex-SQ 333 was made, do these seat numbers exist on the new aircraft? Whenever I book paid J, I always go out of the way to select seats that are common across all fleet (eg. 1A, 2A etc). If I can't select such seat, I would not have booked the flight in the first place. I am also very weary of booking flights where only business class seats in the higher row numbers behind door 2L are available. Sometimes when aircraft swaps occur, the system attempts to reseat passengers into seats bearing the exact same seat number. If the attempt fails, then the remaining seats have to be get assigned manually (either by savvy passengers who use tools such as "Expert Flyer" to setup notifications on aircraft changes and can quickly login to grab a seat, those who are checking in online or via interline through check in by an upstream carrier, or staff at the local airport if check-in has already started) until fully allocated. Should the new aircraft have less business class seats than the original, then unfortunately passengers who are not quick enough would get downgraded or even offloaded. |
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