Great recipe! All others in similar predicament, take notice. ;)

I've found that faking Tourette's syndrome is remarkably effective at keeping your additional personal space.

(not meant in any way to make light of the condition!)

Offering your blathering seatmates a handful of ambien or immovane also seems to shut them up...

I was in the "centre" seat, as described on the A321 it is a fold down crew seat, the centre seat (E) and the window (F). So in this particular case, the stragety don't work.

I have had the concierges set aside a whole centre row for me on some LHR-YYZ flights, but folks glare at you none the less when you try to "hold the fort"!

1 How are the other North American or other international airlines, if there is an equipment change, and the plane is "downgraded" (ie less business class seats), and if loses a confirmed upgrade of the original plane? Especially for an upper tier frequent flyer program member, would the airline pro-actively approach the airline, in terms of the options, or would the passenger have to approach the airline to discuss options?

2. If I as a SE have a tango plus fare ticket, and have successfully upgraded at the beginning of the 7 day upgrade window, and then I am downgraded with an equipment change, do I have the option of being able to change (even with a SE desk agent at the airport or on the phone, or with a concierge agent)? Obviously, if I have upgraded on a latitude fare, I have some additional options, if this scenario arises.

So is it fair to conclude from this that a "confirmed" upgrade is not what it is advertised to be, i.e confirmed?

Dictionary.com defines "confirm" as "To support or establish the certainty or validity of" or, "to establish the truth, accuracy, validity, or genuineness of".:confused:

My favourite line to discourage chatters:

CHATTER: So, what do you do for a living?

YOU: I'm a fundraiser for a reclusive religeous cult. Let me get up and get you some literature....

Chatters? Three words: Bose QuietComfort 3

I had the same downgrade from a A330 to a 767 on a Latitude upgrade at purchase YYZ-YVR and was called early in the week by the route controller prior to officially making the change. He offered me confirmed business on any of the flights that day with open seats. Unfortunately I couldn't travel at a different time, so asked him to move me to J for my next morning flight to HNL on a T+ fare and that I would travel in the back to YVR. He gave me an exit row n the YVR flight and spoke with the route controller on HNL who moved me and my traveling partner to J, so I saved the coupons and we cost 50% COS on the 2nd leg, so I was pretty fine with the outcome.

Lesson here is ask and you might get.

That is a great idea.
I also find that "forensic tax auditor for revenue compliance" as a job description usually leads to no further discussion.

I've been downgraded twice from SFO to DEN, on UA, where the aircraft went from a 767 to 757. I was using my 500-miler upgrades and my seats were confirmed 100 hours out. When I went to check-in I found out about the downgrade.

The first time, they had re-seated me on the 757 in seat 16D (asile, Y+, Exit Row) and gave me a confirmed Regional upgrade confirmable from anyfare at time of booking. The second time I did not get any regional upgrade but she confirmed me in First, without the use of any of my certificates, for travel from DEN to ORD.

Cheers

I have been downgraded with paid business class three times FRA-VCE on LH in the last year. I am also a LH Sen level member, which requires the same number of miles as AC SE- unfortunately with LH it is only "middle tier"- what happens is that in the event of a number of misconnects (which can happen with FRA is busy) they first protect the HON level members on the next flight, and then SEN level members according to revenue level of the ticket- as I frequently am on D or Z fares, and the number of SEN members on these flights is actually very high- I am usually SOL. The option is to delay to the next flight- but that can sometimes be the next morning, or at least two hours away. FYI- there is no compensation in the event of a misconnect. Twice I have been downgraded due to overbooking at VCE-FRA: in this case the compensation is 300 EUR cash or a 400 EUR travel voucher for LH tickets, and a esperesso with the very good station manager for LH at VCE. Given the flight is one hour, this seems to be good value.
Interestingly enough, it seems they do NOT downgrade frequent flyer mile tickets (which are booked in I class for business) as they do not want to give cash to a customer on a "free" ticket.
The carrier that seems most generous in the event of Involuntary downgrades is BA- we all know the famous MCO story on this board- but I was flying LGW-VCE and for some reason unknown was downgraded on a paid Club Europe fare- they refunded the entire price of my roundtrip ticket in cash (which was about 650 EUR). Note with BA I am only a Silver cardholder, which is roughly equivalent to AC E.
I was once told of an involuntary downgrade FRA-PEK on LH: given that PEK was not my ultimate destination anyway I rerouted through PVG and was upgraded complimentary to LH F, and also received the bonus ponts as if it was an F ticket (not an error-the GA told me this would be the case).

Back to the unfortunate situation of the OP: would they not let you go on the next flight (which I believe is 1 hour later)- or was that unpractical and/or sold out also?

I am not sure which one is lesser evil: chatter or grossly overweight seat mate.

Right you are. This is the kind of service I think we should be able to expect, and that AC should strive for if they wish to retain the goodwill of the customers. In these circumstances I would be satisfied.

If I were to show up at the airport with a "confirmed upgrade" and be told I was downgraded after spending the extra $ on a Lattitude fare so I could use the cert, I would be far from satisfied.

It's good to see that some here have had positive experiences with AC when being downgraded. However it would be nice if AC made a policy in regards to downgrades and followed through with it every time.

How do you know there is no policy on this?