Originally Posted by
SparseFlyer
DOT really says flying origin to destination both in US. If you start in SFO and end in YHZ, the centre wont matter. Unless you start doing throwaway ticketing.
Plus your stop is in YYZ (4h?) and you return to SFO (and we all know you can R/T on the same day).
I say do it. I doubt CBP will give you troube. And I'm sure AC will be ok with it. Just don't be a douche to agents, but be prepared to explain the same story several times lol.
I would expect you will have a hard time with AC a few times, but doubt CBP will care. AC is afraid of DOT, but CBP isn't.
Why dont you test run it once real quick and report?
Originally Posted by
CZAMFlyer
Better yet, plaster it all over a public forum known to the airline and have them made more aware of your intentions.
Originally Posted by
CZAMFlyer
Casting aside any implied yet unsolicited lesson in morals, my "advice" is this: don't get caught up in the mundane details. There are common sense rules to follow in our day to day lives. We all understand what those are by now, or at least we should.
Getting all bent over what the interpretation of some arcane regulation may or may not say is no way to live either.
Insofar as cabotage is concerned, the rules are in place to prevent a foreign carrier from transporting planeloads of people between prime domestic markets (UA operating YYZ-YVR or AC entering the JFK-LAX market for example). A single person flying from one city in the US to another via a third point outside the US - for the purpose of a contest in this case - does not violate the spirit of the law. It may or may not be 100% above board, but it does not inflict the damage the cabotage rule was installed to prevent.
I have no legal opinion as I'm not an expert in this matter. But I certainly wouldn't be fretting about such an upcoming trip if I were the OP. If you have to spend considerable effort seeking out an interpretation by reading obscure references - to no avail - I couldn't imagine Sally the harried gate agent in SFO would give one iota of thought to it either. As far as she knows, OP is flying to Toronto, no?
Okay my EYWv3 story may predate some of you. So here we go.
Massive IRROPS on our second last day resulted in a concierge escort from the inbound into YYZ to the domestic MLL, because we missed our flight.
There, she asked what we wanted, and I had an itinerary for her for the final day
YYZ-BOS-YHZ-YYZ-LAX
She confirmed this was acceptable as a "replacement", i.e. no change of funds in either direction. I agreed.
She got on the phone with res or a help desk or whatever, and came back to say it was booked.
We went to our hotel, then to Hooters.
The next day, we flew YYZ-BOS, no problem.
We went to the United Club, which required exiting and reclearing security. I spilled orange juice on my BOS-YHZ BP there.
So I had to get it reprinted.
The check-in agent (no, it was not possible to do this online) saw my "final destination" from BOS being LAX, and freaked out.
Several other agents were called over as she accused me of "sabotage".
They called the help desk, before a lead (at BOS, possibly station manager?) came over, saw there was 4 hours between landing in Canada (YHZ) and departing Canada (YYZ), and said it was fine, and let me go.
At this point, it became very clear that the system did not care. The agent cared.
However, CBP was waiting for me at the entrance to the aircraft (end of the jet bridge) in BOS, and wanted my passport (though they accepted my NEXUS card, which is pretty unusual for immigration purposes in either direction once you're "targeted"), and then searched my bags.
No other passenger had that treatment. They were there for me.
My conclusion is that AC called them and said "this guy's up to no good".
So forgive me if I'm a little more cautious this time.
As for "telling AC". I'm going to book my tickets through AC.com. All AC metal. If they don't already know what I'm doing, they're stupid.