Adam Smith

No, "flights to/from" means it applies to both origin and destination

However, this is a problem, since AC doesn't fly to AUH. I believe the 200-mile limit used to be in the tariff, without reference to AC flights to that station, but it would likely have been in the schedule irregularities section that has been gutted and replaced with APPR crap (and APPR is not helpful in this case, since they only have to re-book you from another airport if they have no alternate options within 48 hours of your original flight). I have only dealt with this on AC-operated flights since they eviscerated the tariff, so it hasn't been an issue for me.

​​​​​​So yes, that particular rule would not be applicable in this case. Apologies. You might still be able to get them to make the change free as a goodwill gesture, but it will require a sympathetic agent.

martinlu

Ah, of course. That's what I get for posting pre-coffee. :-)

Thanks. It won't hurt to ask; the previous agent had no idea and neither did I so it was a non-starter.

I appreciate this point. What do you make of situations where, e.g., you have an AUH-IAD-LGA-YYZ routing from Aeroplan search showing a "mixed cabin", where, e.g., all but the AC LGA-YYZ segment appear in J? The search doesn't show an option where this AC flight is also in J, for any price, even though looking up the LGA-YYZ flight on its own yields a not-particularly-expensive award flight in J.

Is this a situation where some kind of married segment logic is determining or is it a situation where you might ask for award space to be "opened up"? Can AP agents piece together separate flights like this into an itenerary?

painintheuk

On a delayed flight I once got an agent at the airport to change my destination from VIE to MUC since it would make a better train connection for me at the other end (I was actually ending up in Italy at the end of the day!). 221 miles and a different country. It was a paid ticket in PY. I guess that it just takes the right agent willing to work with a customer.

RangerNS

I think that reasonable agents can look at the price, load, etc, and be willing to do something that costs AC less. What is 21nm between friends if it saves one of them $500?

Bartolo

First, it seems (so far) that AC is reinstating the direct flight from YYZ to PSP in March. Two or three times a week departing mid-morning. Maybe it could work for you? I noticed the other day that Flair is already doing direct flights from YYZ for $159 one way. Although, not AC nor a partner. They fly Tuesdays and Saturdays from what I recall.

Best to avoid Denver in March. Lots of flights are cancelled due to weather. Too unpredictable. Last time AC tried to reroute me via Denver, they were expecting 8” of snow. I declined.

I’ve used the Fairmont at YVR. Right in the airport. Very comfortable. 90 steps (according to an AC agent who did not work at the airport) to US customs. She was likely correct but I did not count.

In addition to options mentioned by others, you also have Phoenix and San Diego. Drive from SD is about the same time as from LA into the desert. Using 15 you avoid the traffic mess around LA and most of the bad bits of I10. There are a couple of ways to do it (scenic vs quicker). Be aware there is extensive construction in the San Gorgonio pass which may (or not) cause issues. The work is mainly done at night. Phoenix is about a 4 hr drive straight thru on I10.

In the meantime the weather at PSP is spectacular. So much so, the snow on the mountains is rapidly melting. Definitely worth the effort 😊🌴🌵.

canadiancow

It's very different when you're booked in X/I/O and there's X/I/O on the other flights you want.

Also, that policy is almost 2 years old. It's been updated every 3-4 weeks since COVID started.

martinlu

Yes, thanks for this. The agent today explained that changing cities within 200 nm applies only as a recourse when there are no other options out of the airport in the initial booking. This is... not the case at DXB. Given the flexible award change policy still in effect, I was able to rebook into AUH-IAD on the longhaul in EY F though, so no harm done!

sofasurfer

Booked YUL-CMN and back last summer as 2 x O/W redemptions when AP had the book with confidence guarantee (canx and change for free). We've been keeping an eye on things, and right now seems that flights in and out of Morocco will resume on Feb 6th. That said, we're still weighing up options for our travel plans in March (including possibly shortening the trip or cancelling altogether).

However, I just logged in to AP and can't locate the bookings. So even if I wanted to cancel right now, it seems impossible to do so.

After some trial and error checking availability on my phone, it looks like there's no service until Wed 4th May. So does that imply no AC service until 3 months after things open up? Or is there some kind of frozen availability on the back end?

Not quite sure what my options might be, or how best to proceed. I'm out of practice with all of this ;-) and would appreciate any input/suggestions.

(other possibly useful info: no AC/AP status, just a TD AP card; the redemptions are in J)

ChrisA330

The timetable isn't showing flights until May 4 - as you have found. This is likely AC determining when it's commercially feasible to re-start these flights vs when they are able to start flying there.

In terms of your options - call AE. They can re-route you assuming award availability on partner airlines, or allow you to cancel.

tev9999

So my DUB-YYZ-DTW routing that changed from a connection time of 3:10 to 1:05 has now changed to 1:10 as the second leg shifted five minutes later. The AC website is no longer telling me it needs to be changed (or presenting a change button), but this part of the AC website tells me that 1:25 in the MCT for international to US at YYZ: https://www.aircanada.com/us/en/aco/...n-times.html#/

It also does not seem to be a bookable itinerary, but the individual flights are. Can I expect more change requests from AC or is this close enough to fly?

ridefar

Just posting this as an interesting data point in terms of what AC will do given schedule changes, cancelled flights, and invalid MCT on an award ticket.

Was originally: YYC-LHR-AUH-MLE-AUH-FRA-YYC in AC J and EY F and J. That was badly broken since it was booked 9 months ago, and had changed in many ways many times, and neither the outbound nor the return was possible after the changes so the ticket needed fixing manually.

Now: YYC-YYZ-AUH-MLE and return, all EY J except YYC-YYZ and YYZ-YYC. None of this space was available as regular reward inventory when it was rebooked. (Yes, Cow, I know that doesn't mean anything on AC metal anymore.)

Which violates at least one or two rules, I thought, but nevertheless... Note that I didn't ask for this, I just asked (more or less politely) if they could "fix it".

Adam Smith

Possible that one AC system hasn't caught up to another.

You posted earlier that your travel was on March 20. Still plenty of time for AC to make multiple changes.
But if you see something better available, you can phone in and get them to re-book you.

StuMcIlwain

AC shouldn't let you check-in if you don't meet the MCT. And even if you somehow do get checked in, with AC only operating one YYZ-DTW flight per day, I wouldn't attempt anything less than a 2 hour connection, let alone 1:10.

Actually, I'd be concerned even with 2 hours given AC's on time performance as well as delays at the airport.

AC didn't do something like change the date of your YYZ-DTW flight to give you a 25:10 connection, did they?

Bartolo

Have had three sched change notifications for an upcoming flight. All refer to the same change — a 10 min delay in arrival time. Is there any downside side to “accepting”? Doing nothing?

Have had them in the past but AC’s persistence in this instance has me wondering.

laner

I was booked on YYZ-HND in May on an N fare and that flight has now been cancelled. They auto rebooked me YYZ-YVR-NRT, with YYZ-YVR downgraded to Y. There is a non stop YYZ-NRT flight on the following day so I'm assuming I can ask to be put on that in PE if I want (or changed to a different YYZ-YVR that has PE), but there's also the issue of whether or not Japan will be open to tourists by May (not looking great). Does the downgrade and/or the fact that the new departure is >3 hours earlier than original schedule give me any additional rights? This was a great fare so my ideal outcome would be if they'd rebook me without a fare difference upcharge to different dates (say Sept or Oct), is there any chance of that happening? Or am I best to just ask for one of the above accommodations to keep the May booking fully in PE for now, and then as we get closer to departure just cancel for a Travel Voucher if Japan is still closed?