Thanks for everyones advice. I guess i will go with the later flights, the 2pm flight would be fanstatic but there is no wriggle room. I agree about the YVR immigration times, either its really efficient or painfully slow. I've made the trip to YVR a few times but never connected to a domestic flight.

I was going to work on the idea if i was late leaving auckland i could change the ticket before leaving auckland. However i know thats not foolproof either. Last June we got stuck on a taxi way at auckland after the cabin lights went haywire on the upperdeck. Instead of going back to gate the engineers came out to the plane on the taxiway so no opportunity to change tickets if needed. We never made up the lost time due to to strong head winds. At the bagagge claim in LAX there was lots of nervous people too and i dont really want to be one of them.

On the AC website it says you can make a transfer to a same day flight for $50 dollars with out paying the difference in the fare. Does anyone know if the easy to do or if i should just forget that option.

I cant wait for the sky train to be operational. As then i will be able to take the Greyhound up to Whistler rather than pay twice to three times as much for a shuttle for what is essentially the same product more or less.