DarkHelmetII

Not sure if I want to take a 5:30 PM flight or an 8:10 PM flight. Given fare prices and rules, would be cheaper for me to buy a ticket on each flight and pick whichever one I want day of as opposed to making a change. If I do this will Air Canada automatically cancel one? Is this a violation of the Contract of Carriage?

ChrisA330

Duplicate bookings are deemed as not allowed within AC's tariffs. There are mixed reports on whether or not they'll cancel one of the bookings.

aviationp

On separate flights, not an issue. Maybe consider not adding FFN until you made a decision.

jjclancy

This is not a duplicate booking; they're different flights.

ricktoronto

Does the 2nd one leave before the 1st one arrives?

Stranger

However with passes there are restrictions, just won't let you...

ChrisA330

From their tariff:

Duplicate bookings" - Carrier does not permit a passenger to hold more than one confirmed
reservation/ticket on the same departure flight/origin and destination for the same travel date.

I interpret the / as ‘or’ meaning same departure flight or origin and destination for the same travel date.

DarkHelmetII

no. Second flight leaves 7 minutes after first flight lands.

ricktoronto

Still absent a TARDIS they probably know you cannot get back to the origin in 7 minutes. Computers and all that. Good luck.

Actually if you have a TARDIS then just go there in the TARDIS. Avoid Daleks.

DarkHelmetII

what are TARDIS and Daleks?

DarkHelmetII

great call out, thank you. The question then is 'or else what'? I mean, do they automatically cancel one and purchaser loses unused funds on a nonrefundable ticket? Perhaps nobody here knows for sure but thought I'd ask.

BrotherBranwell

Exterminate!...Exterminate!

Adam Smith

I think the reality is that AC's systems probably aren't set up to flag this, even if it's contrary to the tariffs. I would also argue that the tariff is poorly worded, and while I suspect that ChrisA330's interpretation is correct, I could definitely argue it differently.

I have made and held multiple bookings in the past without issue. For example, couple of years ago, I made my wife two bookings to come join me in LHR on a business trip. One via YVR, one direct, since I could upgrade via YVR right away but not the direct. The bookings were in place for several weeks at least, with her Aeroplan number and everything. I even told the concierge about them a week out, and they helped get the direct upgraded morning of rather than waiting until the gate so that I could cancel the YVR booking.

I also made 4 or 5 YVR-YYC bookings last month for the Do. AC had some sale on that was ending the night I was booking and I wasn't sure what time I was going to want to come back the day after the Do, since I was waiting for a friend to get back to me. So I booked 4-5 different YVR-YYC flights for the day after the Do and cancelled all but one within the 24-hour period.

canadiancow did post recently about Aeroplan giving him grief for conflicting bookings, but that appeared to be because something went awry with one of the bookings and required manual intervention. So it's not impossible that they'll notice this and give you grief, but I'd say it's unlikely.

If they did catch it, I suspect you'd get a full refund, so the downside is probably limited.

LondonElite

Officially no, but for all practical purposes, it is unlikely to be spotted by AC's stellar IT.

DarkHelmetII

Got it. No guarantees in actual outcome but that was kind of my hunch. Thank you LondElite and everybody else.