Bumped to standby?
 

Did a quick search for a thread on this but couldn’t find the right fit.

Story goes like this: 6 days ago I booked a Y Flex (M) fare on AC236 YVR-YEG tomorrow 18 Feb. I selected and confirmed seat 13A. I also have the confirmation email with all of that info.

I checked in earlier today, and lo and behold, I no longer have my seat, and am actually standby on the flight (first on the standby list, but flight is full). There’s only a few of us on the list.

what may have happened here? I find it hard to believe there was no lower fare to be bumped than I (entitled as that sounds).

for context, I’m SE and it was a (very expensive) cash fare.

Call centre agent was friendly but at an absolute loss at to what happened.

Flight following mine is also full, and I’m carpooling with colleagues to YVR, so it is actually incredibly inconvenient. Seems the best case now is ending up in a random middle seat.

If you don't have a seat assignment, you show up on the standby list, and I believe your boarding pass says SBY (unlike the old GTE pre-1A).

It's exceptionally unlikely that a SE booked in Flex would be denied boarding, rather than someone with lower status and a lower fare.

But I can't explain why you lost your seat assignment.

Were you able to select a new seat?

I was unable to select a new seat during OLCI - it just said seat selection unavailable. Only moments later did I clue in that there was a problem.

And yes, that’s exactly what my BP says. No seat, just SBY.

This is normally a case where I'd say "call the concierge, and at least have them assign a seat for you", but you're probably looking at a 6 hour hold right now due to YYZ.

Yeah, it is definitely a "I'm not the one with the problems right now" kind of situation, given the chaos out east. But frustrating because it seems almost inexplicable, so it is more the "why" then the personal inconvenience.

What was the aircraft type when you booked? It currently shows 737-8. If it was 321, then fewer seats.

Might also entail the originally assigned seat does not exist in the new plane.

I am fairly certain it’s been a 7M8 all along, which does have 13A.

I’ll visit the concierge in a couple hours and report back. The route is absolutely jammed today (quite rare this time of year as us westerners know, especially when it’s -30 in YEG).

Withe the meltdown in YYZ due to the crash they have a ton of pax that were delayed and put on "next flights" probably those with EU connections etc, so even though your SE there might be MM or other SE with higher status that get precedence...it sucks though for sure!

It all worked out.

apparently the seat I booked got reclass’d as a crew seat.

they moved me to the top of the eup list, and a spot opened and I cleared, so all worked out.

still never got an explanation why I wasn’t just assigned a different seat.

concierge team was incredibly helpful; didn’t get names unfortunately.