Bartolo

Upcoming transborder flight on AC metal. Used points, refundable tx. Aircraft down gauged from 788 to A321. So, now no pods or signature service. Cost more points because of the Signature Service. With a revenue tx I understand that a refund would be in order. Is that true for points tx in the new program?

wrangler

I was hoping the FT group could provide some insight into this issue I'm facing.

I had booked YYZ-YYC-YVR-OGG earlier this year when the non-stop YYZ-OGG flights had not been loaded into the system.

There has been a schedule change and my flight timings have changed and I am now asking Air Canada to protect me on the non-stop flights to OGG as opposed to accepting the schedule change that still routes me through YVR.

Air Canada says that since it was an Aeroplan booking, I must contact Aeroplan to confirm the schedule change and request the change.

Aeroplan states that I must accept the schedule change through YVR or they will have to re-price my reward ticket if I want the non-stop flight.

I thought once a schedule change is initiated by the airline, we are able to choose the flights that accommodate passenger as long as there is availability.

We are not looking for a date change or Origin/Destination change.

Am I misunderstanding the schedule change rules?

YYJMSP

just a follow up -- to make it easy for me, LH completely cancelled their flights (including EuroWings Discover) for that day. called Aeroplan and no issues with substituting the AC flight for that segment as involuntary schedule change, no additional collection.

they would not let me change to a different routing that was more convenient/direct without a price change, similar to what the previous poster is encountering...

canadiancow

The rule is not "whatever you want".

They'll often give you anything reasonable, but they're well within their right to do something like cutting out the YYC connection, allowing you to depart later and arrive at the same time, and let you take that, or accept a refund.

I think they realized a lot of people were deliberately booking A-B-C-D knowing there'd be a schedule change that would let them get the 200k point A-D for 25k points.

zappy312

How significant is your "schedule change"?

If you booked the YYZ-OGG nonstop and they changed it to something with 3 stops, leaving at 5am and arriving at 11pm, then you'd have a case to change it to a more reasonable flight. If you booked YYZ-YYC-YVR-OGG and there's minimal changes to the timings, then you're not going to get to switch to the YYZ-OGG nonstop without fare difference.

aacar

I have an Economy Standard reservation that had a schedule change greater than 4 hours. I found an alternative flight, but am being told I can't switch to it because it only has availability in Latitude.
Should it be possible to make this change?

Adam Smith

The lack of availability in Standard shouldn't prevent them from making a change, but you haven't shared any details about the route or the timing of the flights, and whether AC might have other, more legitimate grounds to deny the change.

canadiancow

If you're booked below Latitude, the policy only allows you to rebook up to M.

So yes, that is policy.

aacar

Route is YYZ-YQG, the 22:35 flight was cancelled and I was moved to the 18:15; I wanted to fly the next day instead.

Interesting, thanks - indeed, the flight I preferred was Y1.
I did call again and the agent checked with a supervisor who authorized the change, so I guess I got lucky.

Adam Smith

The policy can be overriden under the right circumstances, and the policy isn't always in keeping with the tariff (which now mostly cites APPR).

But it can be very difficult to get them to go against the policy, because that can create problems for the agents who do so.

Glad you got a satisfactory outcome in the end.

mjrobson

YYZ to PLS flight is fine
PLS to YYZ was cancelled

They offered to move PLS to YYZ flight to the following day.

I've been reading the schedule change guidelines / tariff / appr.. but it appears somewhat vague and unclear.

My takeaways;
a) Its more than 14 days, so no $$ compensation for inconvenience... but I could be wrong...
b) I should be entitled to a full refund for the entire ticket (not just the return portion)
c) Accept the flight 1 day later... I assume nothing from the airline for the additional night costs?
d) Alternate airline

What is not clear is the alternate airline bit around 'Alternate arrangements — within carrier’s control'(a) in the case of a large carrier,

• (i) a confirmed reservation for the next available flight that is operated by the original carrier, or a carrier with which the original carrier has a commercial agreement, is travelling on any reasonable air route from the airport at which the passenger is located to the destination that is indicated on the passenger’s original ticket and departs within nine hours of the departure time that is indicated on that original ticket,
  
• (ii) a confirmed reservation for a flight that is operated by any carrier and is travelling on any reasonable air route from the airport at which the passenger is located to the destination that is indicated on the passenger’s original ticket and departs within 48 hours of the departure time that is indicated on that original ticket if the carrier cannot provide a confirmed reservation that complies with subparagraph (i), or
  

Can you request they book you on an alternate airline to complete the return portion?

Thanks!

CanadianConnection33

Isn't more that people realized that the flights you book more than 5 months out are a fantasy? It is truly a rare beast to see the same schedule and class of service as was originally booked.

24left

In some cases, yes.

There are a number of posts on this forum from people who booked next spring and summer on what was originally B789 aircraft and expected a lie-flat pod or PY for e.g. and those flights are now a MAX. Some of the posters are not regulars on the AC forum so perhaps they don't know about schedule changes. Either way, even in the Before Times, I am not sure why people expect guarantees of aircraft. More than once a few have posted here that AC and airlines sell you a ticket and the only guarantee was to get you from A to B, not necessarily in the cabin or seat or on the aircraft you booked. But in the Now Times, well YMMV.

My most recent flight swap was an E75 swapped to a Q400. Everyone who was seated in J lost their seat.

Seby12

I am flying AMM-FRA-YVR-SFO in January. The YVR-SFO flight got moved/cancelled and now I have a 6.5 hr connection instead of the original 2 hr connection.

I looked at other options and the only thing that would save connection time would be the nonstop FRA-SFO on either LH or UA. I called AC to ask about moving me to this and they said it must have an AC flight number.

Is this actually the case? Can they not move me to another *A airline? Could I try to get on the nonstop at check-in in AMM?

Adam Smith

You're caught between the AC tariff, which references Canada's largely useless APPR and should, in theory, enable you to book what you're looking for ("must rebook you on the next available flight operated by them, or an airline with which they have a commercial agreement, on any reasonable route from the same airport" - see the second post of this thread for more) and AC's internal schedule change policy, used by its staff and travel agents, which basically says they should keep you on AC metal as much as possible.

So, to answer your question, can they? Absolutely. But will they? Hard to say. You will likely need to find a sympathetic agent and have them escalate it to a supervisor to get clearance to do so. This may require HUCA and a willingness to cite the tariff/APPR - i.e. show them you know your rights.

But a key challenge here is that it turns on the word "reasonable". APPR doesn't have a quantitative threshold you can cite to conclusively prove that AC's proposed itinerary is not "reasonable" but yours is.

The one quantitative threshold you do have in your favour is a more than 3 hour change in departure or arrival time, which is grounds for a refund under AC's own policy. If you can re-book with another carrier for a price you're happy with, you may want to consider having AC refund you and re-booking.

If you pay the (undoubtedly huge) fare difference, maybe. Otherwise, definitely not.