When AC introduces their new suites in Executive First will PAX be able to use upgrades to get those seats or will upgrades be restricted to the new J-Class lie flat seats?

Just wondering, any thoughts?

YEG_Flyer

There is no difference - the new lie-flat seats will be "enclosed" and are called "suites" ... If this is the product up front, than this is where you are going to sit when using an upgrade certificate - or am I missing something here?

By the way, any new details when the first 763 will be refurbished other than "this spring"?

My thoughts exactly.

On a two cabin fleet, that is your only choice!

I believe that AC is upgrading both the standard first class seat (in current planes) and replacing in some planes the J-class seat with the suites. In some of their aircraft configurations they have a first class mini cabin.

Reading the certs again, they upgrade to both Executive Class and Executive First. So I assume that they would be able to upgrade to the suites.

Executive First is the name for J class on international flights and Executive Class is for domestic/transborder. All our aircrafts are 2 cabin.

Andrew,

Thanks that clarifies things for me. I got confused by the Executive Class/Executive First. I thought the naming was used to denote differences in seating.

Yes, there are differences - the international J seats are bigger and more comfortable than the domestic/transborder J seats. The widebodies (333/763/777/787) will feature the new suites in Executive First and the narrowbodies will get new Executive Class seats (but nothing lie-flat and no suites). So you will be upgrading to either one of these seats with your certificate depending on the plane operating the flight.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry7100/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

Does anyone have any pictures?
Are we going to be invited to see the new interiors like we were for the Embraers?

http://www.aircanada.com/en/about/me...irst_exec.html

The wording/naming on certs have been like this for years, but no changes in how the 2-cabin system worked (never had a 3-cabin config).

Nice!

I would expect that these aircraft will have a higher than normal zeroing out of I-class inventory and upgrading will be at the gate. Since these flights will be the prime routes initially, these are already selling out pretty well in revenue J/C, so space will be an issue at the best of times. Don't expect to be able to upgrade on AC856/857, AC's prime YYZ-LHR run, or its prime YUL-CDG daily, or on the HKG, NRT and SYD routes. These will get the suites first and except during the off-peak business travel times between Christmas and New Years, and over July and August, it will be tough upgrading.

Once the fleet is fully converted, things will return to some normalcy, but by that time -- 2008 -- AC will have squeezed the flexibility of upgrade certs even further, so who knows what upgrading will be like from lower fares then?

I'm paranoid about this as well. Instead of seeing I2, I1, or I0 every day on YYZ NRT or YYZ HKG it will just be I0.

Hey, maybe they'll just get rid of upgrade certs...

I shall respond to your comments by borrowing comment from another poster at another thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...light=ac007):-

"..........It is Air Canada's plane they can decide how they want to make money. .......doesn't mean the AC is obliged to make it available for every route at any time and undercut their profit.

..............buy a cheap fare and take your chances or pony up the money for executive . If that doesn't do it for you, then switch carriers."

So when you see I0 and you are not an SE.............

(P.S. HKG is served by only A343 and A345, not 763. The former 2 types will not get the suite retrofit.)

Yeah, tongue in cheek, my friend... tongue in cheek.
I'm SE and plan to be SE for awhile, so the "I" thing is not a huge concern for me, even if it means aerolotto at the gate.