nwflyboy

Please be gentle - I'm new to AC. And I *have* looked all over, but have not found a source of good info for these questions. If there is/are good sources that I have not found, please feel free to direct me there with a link.

I'm considering a domestic trip within Canada next year (YVR - YZP - YVR) - Air Canada Express / Jazz does this route. I'd like to book it as an award trip. I've looked for award availability on multiple booking engines but am seeing some pretty weird results. I'd probably want to book this trip using United miles, or I could transfer points into my (yet to be actually used) Aeroplan account. In any case, right now I'm trying to get my head around award availability, set my expectations, and reconcile what I'm seeing across different search engines with reality.

I've tried searching on United's website, Aeroplan's and ANA's. Are there any others that are worth trying?

I figured Aeroplan's website would be the most accurate, since it's (presumably) closer to the source of truth. Maybe it is, but I'm seeing just a few days of availability, generally in the first week of each month. Hmmm. OK, as I've skimmed this forum, I'm seeing that the Aeroplan website is not exactly held in high regard. Duly noted.

United's search engine appears to return the most encouraging results, but they are quite weird and suggest to me that they may have no basis in reality. United shows plentiful award availability on this route, in the first two weeks of virtually every month of the year. And zero availability in the last two weeks of every month. I am at a loss for any logical reason that would explain this pattern (the best two I've come up with: everybody gets their government checks around the middle of the month, so they fly off to Sandspit with their winnings; by the end of the month they go home...or, theory #2: the search engine can only count up to 15 - dates that involve higher numbers just error out...).

ANA's search engine only returns errors.

So, my questions...

1. What's the best search engine for Air Canada award flights?
2. Is there any rhyme or reason for how far in advance that AC award flights load into their system?
3. Is there any rationale I'm missing about the pattern I'm seeing for award availability on that route?

Thanks for your help.

pitz

Aeroplan.com

Usually 350 days ahead. Its fairly uncommon to see inventory added after the fact.

Basically you gotta beat the locals to the awards. YZP is what I'd describe as a 'high cost' destination, which is only served by AC with no other alternatives. Revenue tickets are very expensive.

Not sure how to explain your other findings, other than, the whole point of Aeroplan is that they endeavor *never* to give away a 'free' ticket when a revenue ticket could be sold. YZP may very well be the case of a destination where they've created some idiosyncratic rules to maintain the perception of value for YZP residents for the AP program, while still keeping tight control over things. The *last* thing AC/AP wants, especially for a high-cost destination like YZP, is for individuals to essentially buy AP points (at 2 cents/point = $300 + $100 in fees per roundtrip) and substitute such for revenue tickets (ie: $800-$1000 a roundtrip!).

Basically with AP, you gotta remember, just as you're playing the 'game' against them, they're also playing the 'game' against you. There are ways of winning, but they really would prefer you don't.

YOWgary

This isn't correct.

AC/AP routinely add domestic, short-haul Y and J well after the 330-day window.

Not uncommon to have difficulty booking a mRTW because the TPAC/TATL business segments came available well before the YYZ-YOW or YUL-YYZ positioning segments where Y or J would both be fine.

nwflyboy

Very useful info, thank you.

Fair enough. Really, to some extent, that's how it works with every program - the airline/program has every incentive to make it difficult for you to get what you want, and little reason to make it easy for you. Sounds like with AC/AP, they're just more determined/thorough and have put more effort into thwarting one's efforts to get value out of their points.

FWIW, today I'm seeing a 100% perfect match between the search results for availability on Aeroplan and United when searching this route across an entire year, so the results seem valid. The pattern I observed yesterday - plentiful, consistent availability every month during the first 2 weeks of the month, zero availability during the last 2 weeks of the month - is consistent though. That seems really strange.

Unless I see different search results soon, this destination probably won't work for us. I suppose we can always go to Paris or maybe Tokyo instead (I know, it's not Sandspit, but we will cope with the disappointment ).

Thanks again for the help.

CanadaDH

It's not 350 days out, but 355 days that they start loading flights. I can see a couple of available reward seats on that route in both directions, on both July 12 and July 13/2017, which are 354 and 355 days out from today. If the seats get snapped up quickly after release, then just book it as 2 one-way awards. Book the outbound when it opens, and then book the return later when it opens.

nwflyboy

Yeah, I'm thinking I've missed the opportunity for this round - I'm looking to do the outbound around 7/1/2017 and the return around 7/9/2017 (give or take a day or two either way). So I really needed to be prepared for this a couple weeks ago. Given that it's also both a major holiday, and the beginning of "high season" for summer vacations (best chance for decent weather along the BC Coast), I'm guessing the award seats get snapped up minutes after they load. I will probably just defer the plans for this trip another year, get prepared, and will plan to stalk the seats as soon as they load around the beginning of July 2017 for travel in July 2018.

Which raises another question...I assume that 355-day figure is for access with Aeroplan points, and access with United or other *A points is something like 30-days-ish later....which effectively means zero availability when booked via partners on hard-to-get routes like this. That's not a deal-breaker, I have Amex points I can transfer into AP in advance (as long as I'm confident I'll have some use for them). I can watch the loading pattern in the days and weeks leading up to my target date to be sure of that.

Thanks again, very good info here, much appreciated. ^

eigenvector

This isn't really helpful, but at this point your best bet is probably to buy a ticket on Pacific Coastal to Masset. It's cheaper (lowest published round trip fare is around $450), their customer service is better and you don't have the headache of trying to find award availability during the super-peak of the Canada Day holiday. Depending on your plans up on Haida Gwaii the transfer from Masset to Sandspit can probably be arranged fairly easily.

pitz

Along that same line of thought, there's the ferry from YPR to the island. And an incredibly scenic and cheap 3X a week daytime train to YPR from YXT, YYD, YXS, and even YEG or YKA if you don't mind a day/night in Jasper.

ie: YVR-YXS-{YXS-YYD-YXT-YPR train}-{YPR-Haida Gwaii ferry}-YVR

The train terminal = the ferry terminal at YPR.

Twickenham

FYI, Amex point transfers into AP is virtually instantaneous. So, if you see an award, you can transfer the points, log out of your AP account, and log back in, and the points should be there.

eigenvector

+1 on train + ferry as a delightful way of getting there if you have the time. The trip from Jasper to Prince Rupert is a gem that I fear won't be around much longer.

Low Roller

When you check the Aeroplan site, it will usually only show a few dates, but that is only for the fixed mileage rewards. You should also click on the "market fare" tab, this will give you access to virtually all available AC flights. Market fare usually requires more points than fixed mileage rewards BUT the taxes and fees are generally quite a bit less. Also, the amount of points does fluctuate, so it's good to check for reward flights when there is a seat sale on paid fares. I've actually seem market fare flights go for fewer miles than fixed mileage fares.

Bartolo

From recent experience with Market Fare, one can't control the fare class and typically it books into Tango. Can't access *G benefits for preferred seats etc without paying. May or may not be an issue for you but I was caught. MLL access not affected.