Mileage Plus awards on AC

Dumb question probably but...

I see that the awards are basically the same on AC as with UA, so I should be able to book two award tickets to YYG for 25,000 in coach. Question: What are my odds of finding seats? How restrictive is AC with handing out award seats to their partners? What kind of restrictions do they attach to it? Can I change the reservations around like on UA without paying a fee (provided that the ticket has not actually been issued)? Just curious... I've never done anything on AC as far as using miles. Thanks!

Are you using Aeroplan or Mileage Plus miles for the ticket?

I'm using Mileage Plus miles for this.

the award seats available are the same ones that you would get if you booked aeroplan there is no difference. As for changes you would go by the rules of the mileage plus progam as that is who you are booking with.

You're right. It'll cost you 25K miles for each ticket. What dates are you travelling? You could check availabilities on aeroplan.com by clicking the 'Book Online' function near the top or let one of us know if you need help in checking.

If I recall correctly, if you are using your Mileage Plus points for AC awards, you can change your dates for free before departure. Once you start your trip, no changes can be made. You can only make changes to a Mileage Plus award after departure if it's UA, LH or TG.

[This message has been edited by Empress (edited 07-26-2002).]

Well since you asked...

I need one ticket SFO-YYG and one YYZ-YYG. I'm flying from SFO to meet my girlfriend in YYZ, at which point we'll be flying on together. I'm finding fares of $600+ USD from SFO and $300+ from YYZ, so this is definetly a situation where I'd prefer to use the miles. I guess I could buy the $300 YYZ-YYG flight for her, but that's way too pricey for my blood for such a short flight. Besides, if we're using miles, we do have a little more flexibility in the event that our plans change.

I'd like to go from 10/3-10/7. I'd probably leave SFO on the AC redeye to YYZ (10/2), have a 3-4 hour layover and then fly on to YYG, hopefully nonstop. Is that flight 648? It's not firm right now, so although I'm anxious to check availability, we haven't reached any kind of conclusion as to when exactly we would go. I think Autumn on PEI must be lovely, and neither of us have ever been before. I'm looking forward to going sometime soon, I hope, though.

[This message has been edited by bpauker (edited 07-26-2002).]

Thanks, Empress. I found availability for those dates on aeroplan.com. I sure hope it's still available next week. :-)

[This message has been edited by bpauker (edited 07-26-2002).]

Good luck.

There are plenty of reward Y seats on the red eye SFO-YYZ on Oct 2 and couple of seats on the YYZ-YYG on Oct 3. Looks like you're forced to stayover in YHZ on the return?

[This message has been edited by Empress (edited 07-26-2002).]

I'm not sure what I'll do on the way back. That nonstop between YYZ-YYG only runs on certain days, so if I delay the return one day, I can get the nonstop to YYZ on the way back (10/8). I'd prefer that... then I might even splurge for the Executive Class seats. I don't want to get exec class and then be on a Dash 8 the whole time flying around the maritimes. And I'd much prefer the bigger seat for that 5 hours SFO jaunt.

Actually if you decide to go for Executive Class and have time, you should try and see whether there are space for you to go via YVR (SFO-YVR-YYZ-YYG). AC flies international business class on YVR-YYZ-YVR on certain flights a day.

Executive Class on those SFO-YYZ is similar to domestic F on UA.

Yikes... thanks for the tip. :-) Domestic first is the pits. I once got an op upgrade from an AC gate agent when I was flying standby on an early flight. I even got the COS mileage bonus that I didn't deserve. I guess the agent felt sorry for me... I'm 6'7". Even an exit row can be uncomfortable.

Be careful of this, in that once you start the trip, the ticket is unchangeable (at any cost). I guess you do have flexibility before departure since it's issued using UA points, but then you're subject to whatever few seats AC decides to release, so that flexibility is largely an illusion!

Don't know about UA tickets, but AC awards allow one stopover, so you could stop in Toronto for a day or more, either on the way out or the way back.

andrew


[This message has been edited by Andrew Webber (edited 07-27-2002).]

Yup... same as AC rules. So you get one stopover or one open jaw on his ticket between Canada and US.