I just spent an hour on the phone with a patient agent at the Air NZ Contact Centre trying to book a complex open jaw itinerary from Canada to New Zealand. I selected my flights on ITA Matrix and fed them to the agent but she said she was restricted to booking only certain Air Canada flights because of an agreement between the two airlines. Specifically she said the agreement did not allow them to book my preferred flight AC472 YYZ-YOW (00:30 departure) except on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays; she said I could spend the night in Toronto and fly on AC444 (09:10 departure) instead. Her GDS would not show her the 07:10 or 08:10 departures either. I confirmed that all flights had availability and were within the MCT. There were similar restrictions on the YYZ-YVR portion were only certain AC flights were available.

Is this how two Star Alliance partners treat each other? Seems that even in the internet era I need a knowledgeable, Canadian-based travel agent to sort this out.