YOWCDNFF

I've searched this thread and try to read into the tariffs and stuff but can't really find the definitive answer.

For domestic and US revenue tickets, it used to be that if there were no legal connecting flights available at your connecting point at time of landing, you were allowed to overnight and catch the first available flight on the next day and this was deemed a connection, rather than a stopover even though it broke the 4 hour rule. AP still seem to apply this rule for award tickets, but AC.COM prices those as individual segments rather than through fares. Has the rule change, or just one of those bugs on AC.COM?

Thanks

Stranger

AFAIK the rules have not changed for revenue tickets. I would not draw too definitive conclusions based upon what aircanada.com does.

In the past, in this sort of situation, I have either booked some itinerary that came out OK on aircanada.com, and then phoned them to change it, or I simply phoned them.

In one instance (although for a different issue), I ended up dealing with their fares desk, and they asked me, why did you buy a Y fare rather than a B fare. Of course, simply because the B fare did not show up on aircanada.com.


OTOH, it appears Aeroplan may have different rules. Although in many instances it should not matter since they allow stopovers in many cases.

Argonaut1000

I find also that whenever you use "multicity" that it automatically prices with individual one way fares - even though the segments should have been treated as connections and priced as one fare.

YOWCDNFF

Given that I am looking at a B fare, I will likely book something close enough on AC.COM and then call AC to modify.

Thanks everyone for the input

canadiancow

I wasn't able to price anything as one fare with an overnight stop on ITA when I was looking at EYW. Thinking about it, the only place I've ever seen that "rule" is people talking about it on FT. So is it actually a thing?

I don't see it in the fare rules anywhere.

hastuk

I flew from CDG to YUL to YVR a couple of years ago on a revenue ticket and was able to choose online the option to overnight in YUL before going on to YVR. It was offered without extra cost and made the voyage quite relaxed. Did the same going to JFK. I like to find these options so the jet lag is minimized.

And, I was able to use the Air Canada Hotel Stopover in YUL.

YOWCDNFF

On international connections (eg: CDG-YYZ-YVR), this is less of an issue as you are allowed a connection time of up to 24 hours (in this case YYZ, effectively creating a stopover if desired). If one flies YUL-YYZ-YVR or let's say YVR-YYZ-JFK, the maximum connection time is 4 hours, and the stopover program is not an option.

YYT82

For domestic and transborder revenue tickets, the maximum connection time is 4 hours, regardless of whether it's overnight. I have read some people mention the exception in the case of last in first out, and it is also briefly mentioned in Air Canada ticketing policy, but there was no detailed explanation of the exception so no agents/supervisor could tell you exactly what it is. I tried to get an agent from fares desk to overwrite my LIFO connection, but was told I was SOL, and that was just two days ago.

For international tickets, you are allowed one stopover exceeding 24 hours in addition to your international destination, and one backtrack in each direction not exceeding MPM, as well as a connection per direction exceeding 4 hours but less than 24 hours within Canada. Different fare classes may have different rules. What I stated above I know applies to Flex for sure.

biglinguist

Yeah, this seems to be an "enhancement" that came in at the same time AC changed the multi-city page to show more options for each leg (i.e., when treating each leg as a single flight on the choose-your-leg pages, they also started treating each leg as a single flight for pricing).

canadiancow

I've also had no problem doing it on international itineraries, but I tried six different domestic itineraries in the past week, and every single one broke the date if I stayed overnight. And those were with 1am arrivals and 5:30am departure, so not exactly far off from 4 hours.

BlueMilk

Last year, I twice booked domestic transcons using the last in, first out stopover. I was modifying a flightpass booking with the help of the resource desk and it was not an issue. This was before they changed the flightpass rules to block segment running.

canadiancow

Flight passes do not obey the standard rules. There are things you can do with them that aren't allowed on standard fares, and vice versa.

BlueMilk

I wholly agree. However, under the old rules it was my general experience, admittedly anecdotal, that to change a flight pass routing one must have conformed to the standard rules.

Brendan

I was told 12 hours by AC on Aeroplan tickets. Sometimes united.com gives up to 14 hours when UA miles are spent & AC metal is involved.

YOWCDNFF

That makes sense and is consistent on what I have seen on the AP site - even for one-way domestic rewards.

I was able to find the actual definition of stopover on AC.COM: http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelin....pdf?r=Tuesday, 24-Feb-15 14:42:25 (Rule 180AC)

Based on this, a stopover occurs arrives at an intermediate or junction transfer point and fails to depart from that point on:

a) the first flight on which space is available (fairly straightforward)
b) the flight that will provide for his earliest arrival at thenext intermediate, junction point or destination as the case may be

...and then it talks about the fact that it will not be considered a stopover regardless of what you do if you depart within 4 hours

Where I get confused is in the language used in b) (and I have read both English and French versions) and what this actually means...

I think I will just call AC and argue my case...