Help Getting From Toronto to Mozambique
 

Next summer I need to get from Toronto to Nampula, Mozambique (APL). I would like to book this itinerary through Air Canada so I can earn AQM and AQD. I’d like to book business class. The most likely route is YYZ - LHR - JNB - APL (on Air Canada and South African aircraft).

When I attempt to book it through AC, it comes to around $20,000 round trip because it will only allow me to book refundable business class fares. But when I search for YYZ - LHR - JNB, it offers me P fares and comes to around $5,000 return. So that final short flight, which is in economy anyway, is messing everything up. Somehow it kicks it to a whole different kind of fare.

Obviously the most economical option is to book this as two itineraries (YYZ - JNB through Air Canada and JNB - APL through South African). However, I am concerned about that APL - JNB flight on the return. If I book it as a separate itinerary and that flight is running really late or gets canceled, suddenly I’m in danger of missing my JNB - LHR flight and having my entire return itinerary canceled. There is only one of these APL - JNB flights per day, so it’s not like there are lots of options.

How do you handle these things? What’s the best way of protecting myself against the danger of having everything go awry because of one late or cancelled flight?

(I know I could possibly also fly through ADD and that it offers more economical options, but with the uncertain return of the MAX, and Ethiopian's history with it, I'm hesitant to take that option.)

I'd play around on ITA. There are definitely published P fares to APL that are likely under $5k all in.

Just checked on EF, lowest on AC is PRC90 at $4558 before tax.

Thank you. What do I do with that information (PRC90)? I can see that too…

You may find this site helpful. It's not as comprehensive or as detailed as possible, but it sure corrected a few misunderstandings I had and taught me many new things.

https://www.travelcodex.com/introduc...er-fare-rules/

You might also find option on TAP Air Portugal through Lisbon.

Yeah, thanks. It looks like the timing of that one may not quite work out. I'll keep exploring it.

It was helpful to read that article. But I'm still uncertain: Can I call Air Canada with this information (PRC90) or is that only relevant to a travel agent?

PRC90 is the fare basis for the P class business class CAD$4558 + tax ticket and yes, either a TA or AC should be able to access that fare and confirm space (subject to availability).

1. Read the fare rules and routing rules for PRC90, to make sure your trip qualifies for that fare basis in terms of min/max stay, advanced purchase, etc. If all requirements are satisfied, moved to step 2. If not, do the same for the next fare basis (PRC906, PRC907, for example).

2. Look into flight availability for the round trip availability. Look for the entire trip as a whole rather than breaking it up, as there may be married segments logic. Note the dates with P space available. If P is not available on the dates you want, try Z, and go back to step 1.

3. Call AC or travel agent, quoting the fare basis you find in step 1 and dates in step 2.

4. Good luck, ticketing is complicated, EF doesn’t work 100% of the time, agent may not be knowledgeable enough, etc.

Not sure how the pricing will work out but consider YYZ AC GRU SA JNB and v.v.
GRU is an increasingly popular connection point for JNB.

Thanks for the suggestion. From what I’m seeing I can’t buy those flights on an Air Canada ticket. My options are limited to connecting through Europe rather than South America.

As it happens, I’ve had little luck getting a ticket that will get me all the way through to Maputo at a reasonable fee. It seems that I may need to break it up into two tickets: YYZ - JNB and JNB - MPM.

Have you called AC? They can ticket lots of itineraries/fares that do not appear on their website. I've done this many times (but then I have little patience trying to get their website to work.)

If you are spending $5,000 use a human travel agency with a 24/7 emergency number. It adds <1% to the cost. They would have found the 1/4 of your $20,000 fare for you.

Agreed