I'm Aeroplan (AC) Elite (* Alliance Gold). On 3 occasions this year, I've booked YOW-AKL-YOW in business using Aeroplan points. Each time, I've been told that the west coast segment on AC is not available in J, but that if any segment of the trip is in J, the whole booking must be J (50% more points required). I was also told to keep checking back until up to 3 hours prior to departure to see if J was available. So I booked at the higher rate to get the lie-flat (NZ) across the Pacific.

On every west coast segment (YYZ-LAX, YYZ-SFO, LAX-YYZ, SFO-YYZ), J on AC was actually less than half-full when I checked in - in fact, on 2 of the 6 segments, there was only 1 pax in the 14 seat J cabin. However, AC refused to seat me in J, even though I'd used J-level points for the flight (to their credit, many of the AC check-in/gate staff tried, but the system and their supervisors wouldn't allow it). When I complained, AC claimed it was Aeroplan policy, while Aeroplan claimed it was AC policy.

Essentially, it seems to me that this is a misleading, if not fraudulent, business practice. AC/Aeroplan insist on taking J level points for a service they have no intention of providing, regardless of actual availability. I've thought of complaining to the Canadian Transportation Agency or Competition Bureau, but have been put off by the horror stories of how AC treats pax (even Elite) who lay complaints.

On a final note, even the fact that I was travelling to AKL on one occasion to attend my brother's funeral failed to move AC. Because I wanted the quiet and space (there was only one other J pax), I ended up paying $1,600 for a new ticket so that I could use an upgrade certificate to sit in a J cabin for which I had already paid J points. And, of course, when the sole other pax was served a meal, I was told that none had been loaded for me, and I'd have to buy from the Y cart. Very classy!!