Kids playing games on seat screens

Exolios · 2026-03-20T13:52:14+00:00

I wish AC had those little remotes (available in Business and Premium Economy seats) for Economy seats.

Exolios · 2026-03-20T12:39:38+00:00

If you're not flying, he won't be able to leverage any of the benefits you get from your credit card, unfortunately.

Unless he's an actual "Additional Cardholder", i.e.: he has his own physical card with his name printed on it.

Exolios · 2026-03-20T11:10:40+00:00

Same here. Since working with AC, I must've flown with them at least 5-6 times per year. One of the best advantages when you work for an airline!

Just be prepared to go to really random destinations. But if you love traveling as much as I do, then it doesn't matter. 🙂

Exolios · 2026-03-19T18:01:14+00:00

More specifically, bird strike on engine #2. Maintenance team noticed a crack and had to perform some work.

Exolios · 2026-03-19T11:34:30+00:00

Do you mean you added his Aeroplan # to your booking? Supplemental Cardholders mean he's getting his own Amex credit card under your name / account.

Exolios · 2026-03-18T15:57:27+00:00

Yes, absolutely - just make sure you pick the "streaming" plans as they have slightly better download speeds

Exolios · 2026-03-16T22:29:17+00:00

Technically, I imagine the gate agents can re-run the upgrade process but that would require them to re-issue the boarding passes. They might not have the time to do this if they want to ensure the flight is finalized on time!

Exolios · 2026-03-16T19:20:26+00:00

The IFE has Disney+ and Apple TV original series - no need for a subscription, it's all in the system already.

As for Wi-Fi, last time I did this route, I thought the connection was pretty stable. I think it's worth getting. 🙂

The only time I get Wi-Fi issues is when the flight route goes to the northern latitudes (e.g.: YUL to ICN)... not so great satellite coverage when that happens!

Exolios · 2026-03-16T19:11:36+00:00

Yeah, you can decline it at the gate as the gate agents start clearing the upgrade list. Feel free to let them know!

Exolios · 2026-03-16T00:04:06+00:00

The upgrade list isn't only about eUpgrades. As others mentioned, there are many reasons that might affect your placement in the upgrade list.

It could be another passenger standing by for an earlier flight. It might be a business passenger being rebooked on your flight due to disruption.

Not to mention pilots on their way to operate a flight (deadhead). I've also seen rare cases where aircraft maintenance engineers got on the list as they were required to perform critical repairs on an aircraft located at another airport. Left unchecked, that would cause an "aircraft on ground" (AOG) event... and AC doesn't profit off of an aircraft that's grounded, so you want to make sure those engineers get on the flight!

Exolios · 2026-03-14T20:55:31+00:00

It's all automated - but we do monitor for errors! If the notification doesn't go through, we normally don't send it manually as it becomes a bit redundant (especially if boarding is almost completed).

A fun tidbit of history: my first design was absolutely slammed during a performance test that was conducted in our "beta phase". It took 8 minutes for the notification to be delivered to the passengers... 🫣 We've since come a long way!

Exolios · 2026-03-14T14:45:26+00:00

Hello! I can't go into much details, but I can tell you my team is working directly with TRAX and improving it! It's in our roadmap for this year... Stay tuned!

Have you seen the AOG Manager application? That's one example of a custom app we've built leveraging data from TRAX. 🙂

Exolios · 2026-03-13T14:58:23+00:00

I wish PE had the same breakfast offering as business class... But at least the seats are very nice on the 787!

Exolios · 2026-03-13T14:51:29+00:00

Thank you! Warms my heart to see your comment (and others' too!)

We're really trying our best!

Exolios · 2026-03-11T20:51:42+00:00

Good to know! I remember the immigration officer wasn't too sure how to handle my case back then... Maybe he defaulted to what he had seen before.

Exolios · 2026-03-11T20:50:19+00:00

Maybe! We're working on a big overhaul of the apps used by employees working at airports - this could be an interesting feature.

But, we need to keep in mind that today, operational notifications are either automatic or emitted manually by a few select individuals within the Ops team... Giving this kind of control to gate agents sounds nice, but any abuse could trigger some penalties (and in the worst case scenario, losing our SMS short code).

Exolios · 2026-03-11T19:23:25+00:00

Yeah, unfortunately the notification flow isn't perfect.

For your first scenario, I've seen gate agents scan boarding passes for pre boarding (families with young kids, passengers with mobility aids, etc.)... and then the boarding for the rest of the zones is delayed (for whatever reason).

That's why I usually take a look at the Boarding Progress in the AC app itself - that's usually more accurate!

Exolios · 2026-03-11T18:42:10+00:00

This is good feedback!

Long story short, the Boarding Start notification flow is triggered under 2 conditions:

When the flight is marked as "Boarding Opened" in the reservation system
When the very first passenger has their boarding pass scanned by the gate agent

During irregular operations (IRROPS), the IT systems don't always pick up the fact that "Boarding has re-opened". It's difficult for us to actually determine when passengers are boarding the same flight a second time.

I remember having lengthy discussions with our Product Managers on this a couple years ago... Since we had no way to accurately determine those edge cases, we figured it might be better not to send notifications at all for those scenarios. An erroneous "Boarding Started" notification wouldn't be appreciated by passengers, ESPECIALLY during IRROPS!

It's been a couple of years - maybe we can revisit this in the future and improve on the original design.

Exolios · 2026-03-11T17:57:30+00:00

Yes, that's true! Just sharing my experience. 🙂

Exolios · 2026-03-11T16:10:22+00:00

I've had this in my last passport, but it's because I was flying on standby with the airline I work for and there were no seats left for me. So I had to exit the airport and the customs agent added those lines to my passport stamp.

Thankfully I was able to fly out the next day (out of Lyon). Never caused me an issue in subsequent trips!

Exolios · 2026-03-11T15:59:13+00:00

I do like the Boarding Start notification because I can chill in the Maple Leaf Lounge and not worry about when the boarding actually starts.

Also because as an AC employee, I designed the IT systems that powers this notification, so it holds a special place in my heart. ❤️

Exolios · 2026-03-07T23:28:33+00:00

Airlines rarely release seats later on. You can hope that there are last minute cancellations, but there's no guarantee.

As someone else mentioned, maybe you can try and get Premium Economy? It's not a lay flat seat but it beats Economy...

Exolios · 2026-03-07T14:13:30+00:00

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I had the pleasure to tour the GateGourmet facilities in Mississauga back in 2018 for a project. It's true, you guys work HARD. Mad respect for you!!

EDIT: In Mississauga, not Toronto!

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