Thought I'd update my situation here and also look for another answer. In the end it looks like ANA rescheduled AC9851 (with later departure and less time in the air) and I now have a legal connection on the outbound. So I'm pretty happy with this routing and it's the best Pacific option.

However, I chickened out on the return and didn't do AC9555 connecting to AC2 with only a 1:35 connection. Although I know it was a valid booking when I reserved it, my TA thought I would be a fool to try. Surprisingly I found a cheap flight back via LHR and I think with the new fares I should get the 50% bonus for my J out of London. Although I'll spend more time in the air, it's still better than the HKG option.

With this stupid connection window, AC loses out, as my BKK to LHR was purchased directly from TG so AC only gets the revenue from LHR to YYZ (which must be tiny since my entire flight was $2300 for J). If they had a reasonable connection window they would have had code share to NRT and full revenue from NRT to YYZ.

The 1:50 window for same terminal connections doesn't make sense. When I search for BKK to LAX on KVS I get a number of other carriers showing much tighter connections including UA to AA with 1:25, TH to NH with 1:30, and some just over an hour (NW to NW, JL to JL).

I understand that in June all *A will be at Terminal 2 in NRT and we now even have eTicket options through NRT. Do you think there are any chances of a reduction in the 1:50 connection window, or is this simply marketing to push me on another routing? Andrew any further insight?