impossible to book on AC from some foreign countries
 

I am in Brazil which I visit 2 or 3 times a year and yet when I need to book a new flight on AC it is impossible. The site edition says to contact AC reservations but the link does not work.

I find this very unacceptable for anyone who is a frequent flyer, let alone a SE for 19 years like me. Frankly this problem has been around for years but AC has made no efforts to correct it.

AC you are losing out on a major ticket I need to purchase NOW to Asia. I cannot wait.

100k miler

I hear there’s this website called Expedia. Check it out!

Clear all your browser cache. That sometimes works for me.

But your basic point is true and AC is horrifically bad at this.

Since you have an Amex Plat, why not use Amex Travel?

VPN???

I know this sounds incredibly old-fashioned, but what about the telephone?

That costs like 20 cents per minute. PER MINUTE.

Have you ever had to deal with AC hold times?????

:p

If only Asia were served by other airlines...

I just VPNed to Brazil (Ip location shows Santiago, Brazil), selected location "United States" on AC's website., and tried GRU-NRT and was able to do a booking to the point of a credit card. So I'd recommend selecting United States (or probably Canada) and going forth.

The title is misleading. I have booked AC flight from many foreign countries. But yes, VPN is your answer.

I've booked tickets on AC.com twice this year from Brazil. Next week I'll try it again just to be sure they weren't flukes.

I don't think that is even necessary, as I just accessed from a Brazilian IP. However, I do think a VPN is a great thing for travel for unsecured wifi, getting around websites that hate whatever country you're in (GDPR, US copyright issues, maybe this, etc) and countries that hate whatever site you want to use.

I have had similar issues from parts of Europe. The AC mobile app usually works but doesn’t offer the same flights as via browser. Incognito mode sometimes works.

I've had this happen when I was in Colombia.

I THINK if you clear your history/cookies/cache and then just change the site version to the Canadian one (or whatever country your credit card is attached to) then it would work.

I tried buying a ticket on the US version of the site from Canada because it was cheaper (as I do on the Avianca site...don't tell them!) but every time I entered my billing address as Canada it wouldn't allow it. It'd just kick me to the Canadian version.

It's worth a shot.

I have never had issues booking AC flights on the AC website from "foreign countries". No VPN required.

Most Canadian mobile carriers offer "roam like home" types of products that are relatively affordable. I spent more than an hour on hold with AC in while in London this summer (I think I had to call the non-toll free number, which was pretty easy to find).

The only problem was that I needed to go up and down between my room, the lobby and the Hilton executive lounge on one of the higher floors, and for fear of losing the signal in the elevator had to use the stairs.

Or... use Skype or something similar.

I'd avoid Expedia or many other TAs due to issues if it goes wrong later.

But I just downloaded Skype and use the wifi to call AC when I was in the US and didn't want to pay whatever my carrier wanted at the time ...
And that was from a hostel with free wifi.

Not sure if this is the point of this or not but here in Switzerland - I now find it completely impossible to access the Canadian site. It forces me to Switzerland - where I would never have my tickets issued. I try all angles but the site completely does not even give me a choice after it selects Switzerland to change to anything else.

AC if you are listening - this is crazy - - people need to be able to choose and the forced Geo-Location re-direct is completely not helpful. . . Trust me . . I will never book on your site unless I can re-direct to Canada - and ticket in CAD - which is the denomination of my credit card.

Just tried from the Netherlands. No problem accessing the Canadian site.

I am in France at the moment and I have no problem accessing the Canadian site. Never had a problem either in Germany or Belgium, and I have a hard time believing Switzerland is any different. I suspect if you delete cookies and/or offload your browser and restart you will be able to access it. aircanada.com does weird things with their cookies and all that spyware crap. Geolocation does find I am in France, but the first page loaded allows me to pick another location.

I just tried from Australia. WOW? ...? OK it works with VPN.

I can only thank most of you but the issue is in at least Brazil, one cannot access AC Reservations or even Altitude/....I could b0k throgh another engine but I have a creidit I want to use on AC Medal. Here in Brazil I cannot even log into my Altitude account for e-upgrade purposes on my return flight. AC flys here from both YYZ and now YUL to GRU.

must state this is not the first time I have experienced this problem as I come to Brazil at least 2 or 3 times a year but this problem started about 3 or 5 years ago so it is on going without any action by AC.

as a long standing SE, I expect better service from my airline of choice.....air Canada consistently lets me down in cases like this. I realize I can use other engines, but why should I have to go to that trouble when AC is supposed to be my one and only airline? go figure!

Mr. 100k for 19 years as SUPERELITE is not pleased....25 yrs as Aeroplan member.