Can you force an overnight connection on an AE search?
 

i'd like to fly an early afternoon flight on LH out of LAX. I'd like to get from YVR to LAX the evening before to avoid any potential for missing the flight.

It seems that aeroplan searches only show same day connections even when there is availability for a flight the day before. I am also assuming that i am allowed a layover of up to 24 hours since it's an international itinerary. I can't use multi-city since it will be a one-way award.

do any of you know if there is there a way to force aeroplan.com to show me this itinerary or must i call in?

You would need to phone in and tell them the individual segments you want.

Easy to do, but pay the fee, you must.

Sometimes you get lucky and searching the day before will show you what you want, but I agree calling in is often necessary.

You need to call and pay the $30++ booking fee.

So is this how unreliable AC OTP is now? People book overnights because they have no faith AC will get them to their destination? :D

It's a miracle if AP shows me the route I want if it isn't on AC or LH and has a layover outside LHR, MUC or FRA when searching online... :mad:

You can also do a multi-segment booking and force the dates / connection for one direction (if you're booking RT) and you can get the routing directly bookable on the return.

AP website would be much easier if they allowed you to do 4 segments in the multi-segment page!

thank you all for confirming my suspicions. it isn't so much the $30 fee as much as it is holding for a long time before i get to an agent.

as i mentioned, i cannot use multi-city because i'll be booking a one-way. i wouldn't have to book a one way if aeroplan didn't price the entire trip as first when only one leg is in first.

Make sure to try Google flights search as well. I usually can find the overnight or 3+ segment oneway flights there that aren't available on AC's site, but the downside is you won't be able to use any coupon or promo codes.

How is this going to help on a one way award ticket? :confused:

I have not had problems with wait times in the contact centre for a long time...is this an issue again?

I was able to do just that with Aeroplan this week.
No OSL-YYJ availability, but if I break it down into OSL-YUL, YUL-YYJ, I get what I want. The last segment to YYJ is the next morning, but I'll deal with that by either standing by for an earlier YUL-YVR and taking the ferry or something else.
$30 fee was charged, and Supervisor assistance was needed, but it ticketed.

i had to call a couple of weeks ago for a different issue and hung up after half-an-hour. IIRC, the recording said that there were long wait times due to an update or something like that.

does your status give you priority? i'm just a lowly bottom dwelling flyer.

thanks for the data point, neighbor. good to know.

For my own experience I called last Wednesday evening around 7:25pm Pacific. Was on hold for about 20-25 minutes. Then took just over half an hour to ticket due to need for supervisor involvement. Total call time 1 hour.

They were exceptionally busy Labor Day weekend due to the changes.

Called to add an infant yesterday morning before work, it was 45min+, I had to leave for work and had to let my wife finish the call.

Called AC today and it was ~30 minutes but they have a call-back option that actually worked.