Originally Posted by
Genouver
Thanks for the response. An AC phone agent told me everything hinged on missing the 45 minute MCT - AC would offer no assurance since I missed it by 3 minutes. However, she said that if I check in at YOW for both flights, then the segments will "marry" (my term, not hers) and AC will consider the two flights as part of the same journey and therefore they'll help me get to YVR.
That's been my experience, travelling same day with connections on multiple tickets.
I'm still a bit unclear on what happens if I miss my YYZ-YVR flight. Are you saying that if I miss it, then AC has no responsibility to put me on another flight? that, for whatever reason, that a passenger who misses a flight has no recourse? I would have thought the recourse would be paying a change fee to put me on a later flight...? Especially considering this is a J class.
You're bound by the AP fare rules as applicable to a business class reservation. Which are not necessarily the same fare rules as applicable to a full-fare paid-J reservation.
Assuming you don't hit IRROPS, run into a particularly grumpy agent, run into a string of significantly overbooked flights, etc., I'm convinced it will work out for you, despite technically busting the MCT. However, if those exogenous circumstances do hit, then obviously you might have somewhat more of an uphill battle or wallet-dinging event to get everything back in order.
I think what a lot of people forget is that despite the hysterics we often see/hear in the media, most people at AC are not out to get you, and most are willing to work as hard as they can to figure out something that works for everyone (and doesn't get them in trouble!). Lots of very strict policies that do not have a revenue impact are bent all the time, especially when there is no evidence of bad faith upon the traveller. If AC's computer shows you checked in, had both tickets linked as an on-line connection, and the connection gets busted, 99.99% of the time they'll do the 'right' thing for the customer.
Heck, if you had both tickets booked in J, or both in Y, there's even the possibility they would have put you on a non-stop if it was available out of YOW. They might still do that for you anyways on a mixed ticket, since the transcon segment is in J. Be polite, don't demand anything, and make sure you speak to humans instead of trying to do it through the kiosks which cannot properly link tickets together.