Shenanigans

Thanks. This was kind of my initial thought as well.
We transited through there in January of last year and had what we thought would be a reasonable enough layover time to get to a lounge but, as you say, we experienced immigration and security exactly as you described. We were there early morning and the rubber stamp immigration station wasn't even open. The line up was hundreds of people long and we went from thinking that we would get to a lounge to wondering whether we'd even make our flight. It worked out but it was horrible. As a result of that and the political strife I have been reluctant to go through there again but am having trouble finding First or Business Class flights to Melbourne out of North America except for Air China flights out of LAX and SFO.
This is also what we're weighing in that I've found SQ Suites out of PEK but would require an overnight in PEK which is perhaps asking for even more trouble...

Does the prospect of an overnight with, obviously, plenty of time to connect the next day and SQ Suites outweigh the negatives?

Thanks everybody for your feedback.

Edit: Just thought of the issue of visas for China. Do we need them if we're overnighting or is that still considered transiting?

rankourabu

You dont need a visa for transitting Beijing for 6 days. An overnight does break up a long journey nicely. I dont see what you mean by "asking for even more trouble"?

Happy

Have a mini RTW ticketed in Jan for travel in Sept/Oct. Fully expected there would be schedule changes before actual trip. So far to my surprise, the only schedule change happened on the last segment, a UA IAH-FLL has moved departure time to 2 hours later. All the rest of the itinerary that has TP, TK, SQ and BR, has not had a schedule change, so far.

The only reason I learned about the UA schedule change was when the Manage Booking on Aeroplan site no longer retrieves the itinerary details. Went to AC site to pull the itinerary instead, and saw it displayed 2 departure times on the UA segment.

I have not used Aeroplan before. In situation like that, AA and UA often reissue tickets to reflect the schedule change made by partners. When the changes are on their own metals, especially UA, often just revalidate the tickets.

How does Aeroplan handle the schedule change - reissue tickets or simply revalidate it? I want to get the experts inputs here before I call Aeroplan on this. TIA.

Stranger

Depends. But if there are two repeated legs, it means the thing has not been cleaned up yet. They will clean it up, probably sooner rather than later. Booking reference willremain the same, ticket migt get reissued, or not. At which point you *should* get an e-mail but in any event, you should be able to see if the ticket number remains the same, or not.

canadiancow

I wouldn't bother doing anything until a month or a few weeks before departure unless you want to use the schedule change to make other changes for free.

rankourabu

I've almost never had Aeroplan clean up partner schedule changes by themselves. AC flights, sure, revalidated even for a 5min change. Partner - the duplicates almost always linger for weeks/months/forever.

At this point, there may be more changes, UA schedule isnt firm yet for October, so you can wait, or call in to clean it up. It wont happen itself, and you want to have it cleaned up before it causes issues with any partners along the way.

Happy

Thanks for the feedback. I do believe it would not clean up by itself, and I do need to call to get it cleaned up.

The UA segment is the last segment of the trip, so hopefully it would not affect anything on the itinerary and I could afford to wait a bit longer.

I am inclined to wait till Jul or Aug to clean up the itinerary because chances are, any of the partners, i.e. TP, TK, SQ and BR - could have schedule changes for their Fall Schedules.

aznfreak007

china is not targeting on an average joe who transits at a chinese airport. unless you are violating a chinese rule or have some important link in china, there is nothing to worry about except changes pertaining transit rule. (ex: new rule requiring canadian passport holder to get a transit visa)

300rwhp

went through beijing last week customs took all of 5 minutes on a canadian passport.

aleks77

I have finally booked the honeymoon trip, not ideal but with less than 2 months to go, im happy with the results;

YVR-NRT - AC - Y (hoping to upgrade) - STOP
NRT-CAN - NH - J
CAN-ADD - ET - J
ADD-SEZ - ET - Y - Turnaround
SEZ-ADD - ET - J
ADD-NBO - ET - J - STOP
NBO-CAI - MS - J
CAI-IST - MS - J
IST-PRG - TK - J - 18 hour layover
PRG-ZRH - LX - J - 22 hour layover
ZRH-YVR - AC -Y (for now)

Total fees was $1700, not cheap, but considering I was willing to spend $1500 on 2 one-way cash tickets from NBO-SEZ, im really happy with the result.

Thanks to everyone who helped me out so much!

rankourabu

Hopefully the linghauls clear. AC Y may lead to immediate divorce...

Also, read up on the Guangzhou transfer, it's not as easy as other Chinese airports. I remember connecting, I think NH to TG and it was a nightmare. You couldnt.leave and had to wait while the transit people retrieved your bags, checked you in, and then brought onward BPs. Took like 2 hours of sitting in the sterile area.

in Seychelles, head straight for Praslin or La Digue, don't waste time on the main island.

canadiancow

I had pieced together a nice trip last night, after Aeroplan was closed. This morning, my domestic NZ flight AKL-ZQN (and the other slightly worse timed one) is now X0.

How is NZ at opening domestic Y space?

I only have two full stops I want, but since ZQN isn't the POT (that would be SIN), I don't think I can turn this into an open jaw to make it work.

I suppose I could make some other NZ city my stopover and position myself, but we're looking at 3-6 hour drives or several hundred in round-trip Y fares to make it happen. All because Aeroplan closed at 9pm PDT

Edit: NZ space came back, but it's phantom. Aeroplan agent is being great, but no joy with getting this done.

So question remains the same: Does NZ open space on domestic routes closer to departure?

allbrosca

Finally booked for 2 with some changes due to current availability and scheduling. Also changed one of stops from IST to WAW:

YYZ-YVR AC J
YVR-HND NH J
HND-KIX NH Y stop
KIX-PEK CA J
PEK-MEL CA J (had lots of flights on different days on SQ/OZ/NH to get to MEL or SYD but lots of phantom availabilty ARRHGGHH!) destination
MEL-SIN SQ J
SIN-WAW LO J stop
WAW-YYZ LO J
taxes and YQ $691 each

TeeZee

Hi, I want to go from yyz to bud on September 18. I'm stuck on that date due to commitments. I've tried (jfk, ord, bos..) but can't find anything in J the whole way, without AC nonsense. I want to arrive in the afternoon of the 19th. Guess my lack of flexibility is the problem? This is my first time trying this out. Thanks.

Smiley90

Wrong thread? Being stuck on a specific date with short notice, you're probably stuck with a cash ticket. The only award tickets I can see are Y+ on LO, no J.