This will have a hint of "thanks concierge" in it, but it's more appropriate here.

Today, I was booked YVR-YUL-CPH with the first segment AC 304, and a 55 minute connection.

304 is ... cursed.

But we pushed back on time! Then we taxied towards the runway, and stopped for a bit. Using in-flight wifi, I tuned into ATC, just as my pilot was saying "yeah we'll let you know, stand by."

A few minutes later an announcement came for "we're taxiing back to the gate".

My connection's blown, so I call the concierge. They can't do anything as long as I'm boarded, but they alert YVR. I check alternatives, and all the YVR-YYZ were J0. YVR-LHR was J0. But YVR-FRA would work.

We get to the gate, I stand up, grab my bag, and a FA runs over to say "no one's getting off".

Of course, shortly after, a concierge and GA both came to fetch me.

The nuance here is that I had a separate Aeroplan ticket for CPH-OSL, and they were not really keen to book me YVR-FRA-OSL. But in the end, they did, so I just finished a great breakfast in the Signature Suite. I'm getting to OSL about 30 minutes earlier than expected. And I got 15k points and a few dozen dollars back.

Due to 304's curse, I was extremely prepared for this possibility. But I never expected every YVR-YYZ to be J0. So I'm happy, even though I had to run around a bit more.

But the only way I got off the plane was by calling the concierge as soon as we started taxiing back. As usual, a little bit of proactivity can go a very long way into solving problems. There were 4 other CPH-bound pax on the flight. I have no idea what they're doing tonight.