Hi All,

I have an Aeroplan reward trip booked and have a couple questions in regards to the following itinerary that some of you may be able to help me clarify!

1. Would the representative at YQF be able to check in and print all of my boarding basses for all 4 segments?
   
2. I am travelling in F for the UA and ANA flights, would AC be able to put an F priority sticker on my luggage and send it all the way to the end?
   
3. I have 1 hour and 15 minutes to transfer at YYC, would I need to exit OUT of the domestic gates, go to the UA booth and check in and go through security again? An AC representative has notified me that UA is very picky in regards to the 1 hour check-in policy...
   
4. If I do need to go to the UA booth, would they be able to print off my ANA boarding passes as well or would I need to go out of SFO arrivals, and check in all over again?

Thanks in advance, I have never done a trip with so many transfers before! Any tips, advice, help would be greatly appreciate!!

1. You probably can do on line check in for the whole trip.

2. Or at YQF.

3. In either case, if the last leg is too far away, they might not be able to check you in on that one. In that case inline check in might not work.

4. At YYC you will go through US immigration and customs, and through security again.

1. Possibly. Are you one one ticket the whole way through?

2. See #1.

3. Regardless of needing to check your bags, once in YYC you will need to exit security, pick up your checked bags, go through US Customs, drop off your checked bags, then go back through security.

Edit: largely made redundant by Stranger's quicker reply

Wow, thanks for all the quick responses! Definitely clears things up for me.

@adam.smith : Yes, it is a one-way ticket to Singapore with no stopovers/layovers in between.

I will be checking in online for all of the segments. I just want to make sure of all the technicalities so that I don't encounter any problems during the process. I guess I will need to exit YYC Domestic, and go straight to the UA booth then! I hope I have enough time!

Now since I already cleared US Customs in YYC, I would assume that I will not need to exit SFO to obtain my luggage and go through the process again for ANA? Or am I wrong?

Only if you need something from them, such as a priority tag. Otherwise, direct to US security.

No. Your luggage will be checked throughout at YYC.

Ah understood! I would like to get that priority tag Is the UA First/Business Priority, the same as the ANA First Priority?

Thanks again for all the clarification!

Why is the priority tag so important? The most important thing here is to get your baggage tagged all the way through to SIN. AC does not have F so the best they can do is put a *A priority tag on your luggage.

They should be able to do that for you in YQF no problem, but they may not be able to issue you boarding passes for the whole journey. You may have to show your baggage receipt in NRT at the transfer desk to get your last BP.

This is my very first F trip and I would like to collect as much memorabilia as I can to remember this , I know it sounds stupid but I would like to have some stuff to motivate myself so that I can fly F someday again!

I read that the ANA boarding gate might be able to print off my BP for my last segment?

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Nah, it's fair. I took an F trip on AA, CX, JL and BA and saved the F priority tags from it. Sometimes it makes my baggage come out faster when I fly OW, since the reps never remove the tags

You will probably find that ANA will apply a " First" priority tag while it is in transit
in NRT - you will find it on arrival in SIN.

In my experience, AC will probably issue you boarding passes only for the first 2
flights ( and possibly the third). You will get your NRT-SIN boarding pass in Tokyo.

Thanks for that info! I guess I will not need to worry about it at SFO then and enjoy the UA First lounge?

Would I need to exit out of NRT to get my boarding pass or will I be able to grab it at SFO/NRT at the gate or NRT ANA Lounge?

You would get it at the transit desk - after disembarking follow the signs for
transit, you will find the transit desk, get the boarding pass ( if you do not
already have it) then pass through security and into the departure hall.
Lounge is immediately after security.

1.Unlikely to get all BP at YQF (Red Deer). While YQF is a departure control system compliant station, the gate agent will have to complete an EDIFACT checkin (shift+F12 from the main checkin screen) for the ANA segments and they are unlikely to see this very often. Even if they get EDIFACT checkin, ANA system might refuse the checkin because the last segment (NRT-SIN) is not open for checkin due to being more than 24 hours prior to departure.

2. As stated above, no go on the F priority sticker. As for checking bags through to the end. Should be possible as AC DCS system can print out bag tags independent of checkin with final airline.

3. The AC agent at YQF should be able to get your UA BP, which you can use to get past UA checkin counters. However you will have to pick up your luggage in YYC and take it through US CBP. The luggage belt for USA connections is immediately after the Commissionaires look at your BP at the entrance to US CBP (don't go to the domestic bag belt on the arrivals level, instead the connection belt is part of US CBP on departures level). Look to your right as you pass the NEXUS line up entrance. Also on your left is Transborder duty free.

4. If you need to see UA checkin at YYC, this means the AC agent in YQF could not produce both the BP and Bag tag for the UA sector. In this case your stuck in YYC. There will not be enough time to walk to AC domestic bag claim. get you bags, walk back up stairs to the UA booth/checkin and make UA 1 hour checkin cut off.

Under this worst case scenario (e.g. you miss the UA flight) you would have to back to the AC ticketting desk to get a FIM (Flight Interruption Manifest) and get protected on either AC009 (YYC-NRT n/s) or AC207/AC003 (YYC-YVR-NRT) . Both the AC reroute optioin get you into NRT at the same time as the ANA through SFO. I would chose the one stop through YVR as AC003 is the 788 with better J class product.

Holy smokes that is a lot of information to process! I really appreciate your detailed insight. Do you think it will be better with no checked luggage? The trip is also during the Winter season so I guess I have an even larger problem with delays...

Would it be better for me to stay in YYC for the night? I could just skip my first segment YQF to YYC and just go there the night before eh? Do you think AC will let me board the last flight (4:20PM the day prior) if there is extra room?
(I really want to make the segments work since I really look forward to ANA First Square!)


If I do miss the UA flight, and get the FIM, would I be able to choose the flight options available? Could I request other Star Alliance flights or am I limited to AC products?