Whoops. I thought I was done with this thread, but I missed a couple of things. 2am posting will do that.

The first is a clarification about being ignored by AC FAs. I wasn't ignored after I moved to the mini-J cabin, although I wouldn't have bothered me to have been. No, I was steamed about the responses to my fourth request about the TVs -- the one where the lead simply offered my seatmate more coffee. That's were I was ignored.

More important is something else I learned along the way. I spoke of changing to the AC 3:45 flight on ORD-YYZ after the UA 2:45 flight was delayed until 3:00 and then 3:40. What I forgot was my concern about my connection to YVR remaining intact.

When I checked in with UA, I was re-re-re-assigned seat 1G, even though I had several times previously received 3D. (The significance of this will become apparent in a moment.) When the creeping/rolling delays began, I hussled over to the AC/Star Alliance counter in T2 and asked to change flights.

I then asked the agent if my YYZ-YVR connection would be OK, and was assured it would be. Being paranoid about these things, I called the SE desk a few minutes before the ORD departure and checked with them as well. The also assured me there would be no problem. So I got on the plane and flew to YYZ.

We landed on time, and marched the 20km hike to Customs. (Did I say km? I meant minutes. Must have been a Freudian slip.) Upon clearing formalities, it was first things first -- get the UA assigned 1G seat changed to something more preferable. I presented my UA/ORD generated boarding pass and asked for a change.

The agent gave me that raised eyebrow look. I had been offloaded from the YYZ-YVR flight. "Good thing you checked" was her response. I'll say. I did get my preferred seat.

I'm just guessing, but what I think happened was that after I no-showed on the UA flight, the rest of that itinerary was cancelled. So if you change your flights, especially at the last minute, it's probably worth your while to do what ever you have to to make sure your connection doesn't disappear. Asking the agent checking you in for the new flight to re-book you on the connection might do it.

These kinds of problems aren't normally an issue, as you often don't have that kind of flexibility. Of course, with an MHD J ticket, you have nothing but flexibility. Seems this benefit comes with a few catches, however.