Originally Posted by
theOtherHolmes
I have a related question:
we are currently booked, via Aeroplan, 3 seats on Etihad going MLE- AUH -YYZ all on Etihad.
If EY somehow, at least 24 hours before the flight, cancels the flight or changes the schedule resulting in us not being able to fly home on the specific date currently booked, will AC book us onto:
MLE- DXB (Emirates), DXB- YYZ (AC)? Right now this is only sold as cash fare ($2800
per person economy) on AC website. No award seats left whatsoever on the day we are due to travel back from MLE.
I am just nervous we’d be stuck paying $2000 a night for Maldives if the current booking has any issues….
[MENTION=650364]theOtherHolmes[/MENTION] - the generic answer is that there's no guarantee, especially as your proposed re-route includes opening up seats on Emirates. For the AC piece, I think you're in far better shape, AC/AP will absolutely be pretty flexible if a flight change renders a previously booked routing unflyable.
As an example, last summer my kids were booked to fly YYZ-FRA-FLR in J (booked with my points). Perhaps 3 months before the flights, the connection from FRA-FLR (previously booked on LH) was cancelled. I called in, and got no pushback at all moving them to the direct flight from YYZ-FCO (yes, not even the same destination airport - but within the 200 mile range that AC will consider as a valid alternate)
The key (aside from being aware & watching your flights; partner flight cancellations sometimes but don't always result in emailed notifications) is to know what you want when you call into AP. If you're calm, polite, concise, know what you're entitled to, and know what you want - there's a lot of flexibility in response to schedule changes.
All of that said, my hunch is that getting space opened up on partner airlines will be the hardest step - so I would explore a variety of options to get you back to an AC served station.