capedreamer

Well this was weird. So despite the failed online test verification, I was able to OLCI and receive a mobile boarding pass. Went through security and customs (new facial recognition from Global Entry was cool) with no issues. At the gate, I asked the gate agent if she needed to verify my test. She said just hold onto it. I’m onboard now and nobody ever took a look.

canadiancow

Unlike other Airlines, AC will generally let you check in even without proof of valid documents, which then need to be verified before you board.

The bolded airline will not issue you a boarding pass until documents have been verified, meaning a BP is sufficient for travel, but it also means you MUST be at the airport before the check-in cutoff.

I prefer AC's method.

But yes, I've found test-checking to have become a lot more lax on transborder routes lately, by both airline staff and border officials.

Technically speaking you "signed" an attestation that you had received a negative test (or were exempt for one reason or another), so you'd be in a ton of trouble if they were to do a spot check upon arrival in the US.

YVRtoYYZ

Only 20% of my check-in via the app has prompted me for a document upload. 100% of my travels is international. I just carry paper copies of required documents including PCR tests (even if not required). I find AC (or Contract) staff want to see the actual documentation anyway.

canadiancow

Since this was implemented, I've been asked 100% of the time for travel to the US, and 0% of the time for all other travel.

MasterTravellr

Do you get an email reminding you to upload prior to OLCI? I see it on the desktop site when I pull up my booking, but didn't get an email about it. I'm within T-72 hours; OLCI opens tomorrow morning.

canadiancow

I didn't upload mine because the Android app still won't let you upload a PDF.

But I got the approval email, and there's an ADOC SSR on my PNR, and the green check on my BP for my health document being approved.

So uh, I don't know if it worked, but I guess it will make my life easier?

Happy

Hi,
I will fly FLL-YYZ-CDG on Saturday. Now is the window I can upload the CDC vaccination card / France Passe Sanitaire to My Bookings.

Since I only transit Canada, the Pre-Departure test result is not required as long as I stay at the international transit area - this is shown on Canadian government website as well as in my itinerary on AC website. But I do need a CDC vaccination cert or the France Passe Sanitaire to enter France without a test. And I do want to upload the CDC cert / France Passe Sanitaire to the booking.

When I tried to upload the documents, the FLL-YYZ segment still lists the PCR test result as 1 of the 3 options. (Vaccination cert, Covid Recovery, and the last one is PCR test result)

I tried to upload my CDC cert which is JPEG file, as well as the France Passe Sanitaire which is a PDF file for both segments. Yet I got a Sorry, something is going wrong, error message on both.

Trying all 3 Air Canada telephone number, including the Montreal number (non toll free) for both reservation and web support, all gave the messages of "unable to put your call on hold" message. i.e. the call would not ever go through...

I would try again every few hours between now and Sat morning to try to do the upload though not optimistic.

Flying business class on both segments, though I dont know it would make any difference.

Any suggestion on this? Other than to show up at airport early to do the check in, right? I dont know if it would allow me to do OLCI when the Covid doc is not uploaded.

The Lev

You have another opportunity to upload the documents when you do OLCI.

I have been able to get boarding passes for trips to Europe without uploading documents ahead of time (you can skip that step in the online process). Note that my trips were direct Canada - Europe so YMMV.

emoose1

My docs have been consistently checked in person despite successfully uploading them and receiving approval.

Happy

Yours is different as you are leaving Canada. Mine is technically flying into Canada but does not enter Canada, transit only - but the system obviously does not make such distinction in the doc requirements online. I even got one email for each segment from Air Canada on the Covid requirement - despite they are on the SAME ticket so the system should not mistake the transit nature. But I guess it is too much to redesign the system each time when the Covid policy changes.

I figure that the actual documents still need to be checked by a human.

chrisny2

I'm having the same issue for a US-Canada-Europe flight. I guess I'll just show my French Pass Sanitaire at checkin.

On a lot of airlines, that's done via the electronic upload. That was the case for me a couple of weeks ago on LH: no human looked at my documents in person until the border guard at FRA asked to see my vaccination record.

Happy

The AC check in agent never saw a Passe Sanitaire before when I showed him the thing on my phone. After spending enough time on the Timatic, the agent asked if I had the "Statement of Honor". I pulled it out but also told him nobody ever asked for it at arrival. He said the system told him to check that doc so he had to. He gave a glance and saw I had signed it already, returned the sheet to me. That was the first and last time that "statement" was looked at. Seriously, I dont understand why on earth the French creates such a stupid thing.

That is probably EU is using a unified data base, which every member uses it to verify vaccination status of individuals who have obtained the Health Pass issued by a EU country. The QR issued by one member country can be scanned to another member's own AntiCovid program. It is fairly easy and straight forward for the EU airlines to verify the passenger's vaccination doc electronically. Not so for North American airlines, especially like AA which uses 3rd party program (VeriFly) that the reviews in the app stores are overwhelmingly negative.

canadiancow

Well I figured I'd do it again today.

My upload failed. The calf's succeeded. We used different tests.

So I tried again, and while the UI says "Something when wrong, please try again", the underlying error is:

Shocking that they can't write Python capable of doing this

The calf's test result time just says "12:11" whereas mine says "09:59 UTC".

Sigh.

capedreamer

While my Shoppers antigen test last month failed the automatic uploading, the same test worked for tomorrow's trip to Phoenix. Not sure if AC changed anything or the system is just total randomness. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

capedreamer

Got the reminder to upload my PCR test for an upcoming return trip to Canada. After clicking the "Review and Upload" button on the page for the booking in question, I see my name and then:

Sigh... why is everything so janky with this airline.