Do I have any chance of making this itinerary work?
Nov 19, 2018, 9:45 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Canada
Programs: Marriott LT Gold, IHG Club, Hertz Gold, Aeroplan, Avios, SkyMiles, Thrifty, AMEX
Posts: 985
Do I have any chance of making this itinerary work?
Background: I am helping some friends plan a trip to Europe next summer. Would love to ride up front. She has enough miles (or will) for 3 one-way J rewards, he has enough for 1. So not possible to book RT, have to be 4 OW tickets.
They are flying out of YBC. Going I can piecemeal an itinerary with an overnight in YUL. However, the return is the problem. I've found the perfect LX seats for the return, but my problem is that the ZRH-YUL flight arrives at 15:10, and the YUL-YBC flight leaves at 15:40. AE isn't even giving this as a possibility, so I'm going to assume 30 minutes is under minimum connection time. However, there's only one daily flight to YBC, which means waiting until the next day puts them over the 24-hour connection time. I'm pretty sure there's a 'next flight' provision that would allow for an exemption from the 24h rule, but would that same-day flight screw this up, even if it isn't a valid connection? I have visions of a sort of 'Who's on first' conversation with AE:
-"We can't book you, 30 min. isn't enough time"
-"So book me on the next day's flight"
-"But it exceeds the 24-hour connection time"
-"Isn't there a provision for next available flight?"
-"Yes, but there's an earlier flight"
-"Then book me on that one"
-"We can't book you on that flight, 30 min. isn't enough time"...
Is there any way of booking this?
They are flying out of YBC. Going I can piecemeal an itinerary with an overnight in YUL. However, the return is the problem. I've found the perfect LX seats for the return, but my problem is that the ZRH-YUL flight arrives at 15:10, and the YUL-YBC flight leaves at 15:40. AE isn't even giving this as a possibility, so I'm going to assume 30 minutes is under minimum connection time. However, there's only one daily flight to YBC, which means waiting until the next day puts them over the 24-hour connection time. I'm pretty sure there's a 'next flight' provision that would allow for an exemption from the 24h rule, but would that same-day flight screw this up, even if it isn't a valid connection? I have visions of a sort of 'Who's on first' conversation with AE:
-"We can't book you, 30 min. isn't enough time"
-"So book me on the next day's flight"
-"But it exceeds the 24-hour connection time"
-"Isn't there a provision for next available flight?"
-"Yes, but there's an earlier flight"
-"Then book me on that one"
-"We can't book you on that flight, 30 min. isn't enough time"...
Is there any way of booking this?
Nov 19, 2018, 9:59 am
#2
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: YYZ most of the time
Programs: AC SE100K MM, Princess Elite
Posts: 3,921
Background: I am helping some friends plan a trip to Europe next summer. Would love to ride up front. She has enough miles (or will) for 3 one-way J rewards, he has enough for 1. So not possible to book RT, have to be 4 OW tickets.
They are flying out of YBC. Going I can piecemeal an itinerary with an overnight in YUL. However, the return is the problem. I've found the perfect LX seats for the return, but my problem is that the ZRH-YUL flight arrives at 15:10, and the YUL-YBC flight leaves at 15:40. AE isn't even giving this as a possibility, so I'm going to assume 30 minutes is under minimum connection time. However, there's only one daily flight to YBC, which means waiting until the next day puts them over the 24-hour connection time. I'm pretty sure there's a 'next flight' provision that would allow for an exemption from the 24h rule, but would that same-day flight screw this up, even if it isn't a valid connection? I have visions of a sort of 'Who's on first' conversation with AE:
-"We can't book you, 30 min. isn't enough time"
-"So book me on the next day's flight"
-"But it exceeds the 24-hour connection time"
-"Isn't there a provision for next available flight?"
-"Yes, but there's an earlier flight"
-"Then book me on that one"
-"We can't book you on that flight, 30 min. isn't enough time"...
Is there any way of booking this?
They are flying out of YBC. Going I can piecemeal an itinerary with an overnight in YUL. However, the return is the problem. I've found the perfect LX seats for the return, but my problem is that the ZRH-YUL flight arrives at 15:10, and the YUL-YBC flight leaves at 15:40. AE isn't even giving this as a possibility, so I'm going to assume 30 minutes is under minimum connection time. However, there's only one daily flight to YBC, which means waiting until the next day puts them over the 24-hour connection time. I'm pretty sure there's a 'next flight' provision that would allow for an exemption from the 24h rule, but would that same-day flight screw this up, even if it isn't a valid connection? I have visions of a sort of 'Who's on first' conversation with AE:
-"We can't book you, 30 min. isn't enough time"
-"So book me on the next day's flight"
-"But it exceeds the 24-hour connection time"
-"Isn't there a provision for next available flight?"
-"Yes, but there's an earlier flight"
-"Then book me on that one"
-"We can't book you on that flight, 30 min. isn't enough time"...
Is there any way of booking this?
Nov 19, 2018, 10:27 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Canada
Programs: Marriott LT Gold, IHG Club, Hertz Gold, Aeroplan, Avios, SkyMiles, Thrifty, AMEX
Posts: 985
Encouraged by your posts. Hopefully when she goes to book (she still has a couple of transfers to do), she'll get one of the good agents...
Nov 21, 2018, 11:22 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Canada
Programs: Marriott LT Gold, IHG Club, Hertz Gold, Aeroplan, Avios, SkyMiles, Thrifty, AMEX
Posts: 985
OK, different question regarding the same booking. There's a possibility that my friends will be moving out of YBC before their trip next summer. If they book now to/from YBC, can they later change their tickets to drop the YUL-YBC segments while keeping the YUL-Europe flights, or would they need to cancel the whole itinerary and hope their J seats go back into inventory so they can rebook them?
Nov 22, 2018, 6:23 am
#6
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: YOW
Programs: AC-SE100K, AC-3MM, Marriott- LT Titanium, SPG RIP
Posts: 2,964
OK, different question regarding the same booking. There's a possibility that my friends will be moving out of YBC before their trip next summer. If they book now to/from YBC, can they later change their tickets to drop the YUL-YBC segments while keeping the YUL-Europe flights, or would they need to cancel the whole itinerary and hope their J seats go back into inventory so they can rebook them?
A family member just did this (dropped YOW-YYZ) to leave a YYZ-Europe award ticket only.
But of course it will involve a change fee.
Nov 22, 2018, 7:11 am
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Canada
Programs: Marriott LT Gold, IHG Club, Hertz Gold, Aeroplan, Avios, SkyMiles, Thrifty, AMEX
Posts: 985