jc94

Travellin_man

If I were you, I'd just take my bags and go to checkin and ask to standby. Worst case you pay to guarantee a SDC.

I've searched a bit last hour, and it would be great if someone could shed light on the apparent discrepancy between what the website says, and what web checkin does with respect to 'Standby Early' for non-triangle routes.

TM

FlyerTalker70

The screenshot posted mentions that standbys are free only for those RapidAir routes I described. Perhaps people's experiences are different, albeit I find it silly that AC charges people to SDC flights when other airlines offer that for free to their elites. If anything SDCs are a boon for the airlines. If you can fill an earlier seat that would otherwise go empty and create capacity for a future flight that they'll have more of an opportunity to sell, why not allow it? Penny wise, pound foolish.

-James

canadiancow

No one has touched on the fact that OP is not booked on YYZ-YVR, but YYZ-SYD.

This is, IMO, the only potential problem in this whole situation.

But as I have almost no experience with these types of flights, all I can do is hope the experts offer some insight.

FlyerTalker70

One thing I realized, which you should consider is that you're arriving into YYZ on a separate ticket. Should your inbound get delayed into YYZ and your miss your flight from YYZ->YVR (be it on the original AC33 direct service to SYD or the new flight you propose) you may very well be on the hook for making rebooking arrangements since they are separate itineraries (even though it's the same airline). It may therefore be prudent to add some buffer time to protect yourself against that incident (I typically add in 5-6 hours which some may find excessive but better safer than sorry)

Does anyone on the know what AC's policy is for missed flights/connections due to a delayed flight on a separate AC itinerary? Would they re-accomodate or would they simply treat it as a no-show?

Safe Travels,

James

pewpew

With no experience in this case, I don't see why you can't SDC from YYZ-SYD to YYZ-YVR-SYD. There's no publicly available rule against it, though there's no guarantee an agent won't make one up
For delays >2h where AC is at fault, they commit to rebooking you even on separate tickets. For delays where AC isn't at fault, they have no obligation to do so, but I believe they're generally pretty good about doing so anyways from what I've read here

FlyerTalker70

...and another thing how does baggage work on a long layover? Suppose OP has a 12 hour layover in YVR and has checked bags at YYZ for his flight to SYD, does he need to reclaim the bags or will AC hold it for him? I know certain carriers like UA have a time limit (think it's 12 hours) where they can hold your bag during connections.

-James

Travellin_man

Grrrr..ok

I'm personally interested enough in some of this stuff that I'll go early tomorrow and see whether the YOW concierges can shed some light.

TM

FlyerTalker70

If you could also ask what the policy is for same day change and stand-by for us *Golds it would be greatly appreciated. Tell 'em you've got a UA Gold elite k fare flyer who is considering switching some of their business to AC if the Same Day Change/Standby policy is favourable

-James

canadiancow

Huh?

The SDC/standby policy is based entirely on your fare, which is well-documented both on AC.com and on FT. Your *G status has no effect.

Adam Smith

If I were the OP, I would go to check-in, indicate that I was flying to YVR and SYD and wanted to get on an earlier flight, then ask what my options were. Might get a friendly agent who's willing to do a free SDC, or find there's a travel waiver or something going on that would allow it to be confirmed rather than standby.

​I wish I could tell you. There's a bit of a gap there on the AC site. We know it's free on certain routes, but on the other routes, is there a fee? Does AC offer it only if it thinks the later flight will be oversold and​​​​​​ you'll potentially save them money by getting on the earlier flight?

Your comments in this post are generally correct, but hardly germane, given OP has mentioned the timing of his/her flights, including reference to a 15-hour layover at YYZ if not catching an earlier flight.

It's not necessarily strictly time-based. AC generally will take your bag only 4 hours ahead at origin, but may hold it longer on a layover, as long as it's same (operational) day. There has been discussion in other threads here (you can use Google to search FT, you know) that 10-12 hours may be possible. But overnight (operationally) is a no-go, e.g. if you arrive at YYZ at 1:30AM and have a 6AM flight, AC won't hold the bag even though it's not that long a connection.

This is different than UA, who happily held my bag overnight at DEN for 10 hours or so a while back.

We get it, you're UA*G and you like to fly cheaply, but give it a rest, already.

SDCs offer additional convenience to travellers. Many are willing to pay for this privilege. By giving it away free, airlines may forego valuable revenue. Just like you may think they should sell a seat just a couple hours before the flight for next to nothing, since otherwise it will go empty, whereas they think that someone who needs to book a ticket last-minute must really need to travel and will therefore be willing to pay a high price. Neither philosophy is inherently correct or incorrect, but AC has mostly embraced the incremental revenue side.
​​​​​​
One caveat is that it has been said here that AC will allow free SDC or standby if the flight you're trying to get off is oversold, although I don't know that we've ever seen that policy in writing.

can lynx

Thanks for all the help everyone!

I can see that I'm not the only one a little confused on the rules for standby on non-triangle routes. I think the strategy will be to head to check-in at YYZ and just be as kind as possible and hopefully I can easily get on the earliest flight to Vancouver, either as stand-by or SDC. The splitting of YYZ-SYD into YYZ-YVR-SYD was a worry for me but hopefully a good agent can help me out there. If anyone comes up with any more info on the process I'm sure you'll let me and everyone else know.

expert7700

I worry about that too. Adding a segment to a ticket is difficult for agents to do and often results in paper 'coupon required' on one of the new boarding passes. IIRC, @canadiancow's friend was denied boarding due to an agent error and they didn't have time to fix it before departure.

AC treats AC33 as a single direct flight yyz-syd (at least on my Jan2018 ticket), so if you had applied eups, breaking it apart would also cause you to lose any preconfirmed eupgrade. If R space was unavailable yvr-syd you would be waitlisted and clear only after every single eup, nonrev, and standby flying the whole YYZ-SYD route.