capedreamer

Hi AC FT friends - I think I made a big mistake and will not be allowed to complete my AMS-EWR-YYZ flight tomorrow (this was the only routing available when I was booking my open jaw YYZ-BER / AMS-YYZ a few weeks ago).

I now see some alternate routings via FRA and YUL (on LH & AC) available but the Aeroplan line is closed until 7am ET. I tried Concierge but they said they can't help because this was a points booking. I'm worried the current availability will disappear once the Aeroplan line opens.

Does anyone here have any advice for what else I can try? I need to get back to Canada tomorrow (or Saturday at the latest). I also have a valid PCR test taken yesterday and I'd like to avoid retaking (which would be required if the flight gets pushed to Sat). What a mess!

tracon

I assume you're trying to change the routing.
It's less than two hours to 7am ET.
I can't imagine all the flights will be gone by then.

Do you have enough points to make a o/w booking back to Canada?

capedreamer

Thanks. I do have enough points to make a new booking but given it's only 45 minutes away now, will try to do a change first.

The other thing I'm wondering about now is whether I should go:

(1) AMS-FRA-YYZ on LH for the TATL leg, or
(2) AMS-FRA-YUL-YYZ on AC for the TATL leg.

Option 2 has the advantage of potential Concierge support in the event of further unexpected surprises, but I'm not entirely sure if I'll be able to take the YUL-YYZ connection. I'm fully vaccinated and a Canadian citizen so I hope yes? It also happens to be a little cheaper points wise. But it comes with a 4 hour layover in YUL which is not great.

YOWgary

If you're vaccinated and Canadian, what would prevent this?

capedreamer

Apparently nothing. I just wasn't 100% sure because I've trying to read through dozens of different government websites for each country to make sure I check all the boxes this time.

Given this seems okay, I've just changed to the AMS-FRA-YUL-YYZ routing.

The not-very-helpful Aeroplan agent first tried to collect an additional 128k in points for this one-way change even with my Priority Reward because she picked the most expensive routing available (AMS-FRA-YYZ with the latter on AC). For reference, my whole round-trip ticket cost 64k. Then she tried to tell me it's not possible to use an eCoupon to pay the difference in fees (which is not true). Probably ended up incurring some egregious sum in cell phone charges waiting on hold as she interfaced with the ticketing desk, but at least it's done.

SK AAR

Why would you need to change the return segments AMS-EWR-YYZ ? Sorry but I don't get all the fuss. Did you just panic - or what is going on?

smartytravel

OP likely is not allowed to enter the US.

MSPeconomist

.....and the USA has no sterile I-I transit. Everyone must go through immigration and customs, although a very few airports can have checked bags tagged as as I-I so that they on't need to be retrieved in customs and then rechecked (dropped) immediately after exiting customs.

smartytravel

Speaking of which, why is that? How come the US has no international transit zones?

MSPeconomist

It might be chicken vs egg, but not many passengers attempt I-I transit in the USA. Also, USA airports generally aren't designed to facilitate this in that domestic and international departures and domestic arrivals are all mixed together, while international arrivals (except from pre-clearance routes) are kept separate until exiting immigration and customs. There's no pathway that would prevent an I-I passenger from "escaping" to take a domestic flight.

capedreamer

OP here. When booking, I, too, made this erroneous assumption. As a Canadian citizen, I’m allowed to enter the US. In fact, I just flew to LGA a few weeks ago. So when the most convenient and reasonably priced option came up as AMS-EWR-YYZ, I didn’t blink and was actually looking forward to flying United Polaris on a totally new type for me: the 787-10.

Only when I wasn’t able to complete online check-in at T-24 (after submitting all my vaccination, negative PCR, and ArriveCAN records), did I get the inkling that something might be wrong. The United app just said something along the lines of “unable to complete online check-in; please see an agent at the airport”. That’s when I got increasingly worried that I might be denied boarding if I waited to try the airport the next day. As later confirmed by others, that would have indeed been the case.

Thankfully, I was able to switch to this AMS-FRA-YUL-YYZ routing. Now here comes the fun part:

The FRA connection was going to be tight (LH1003 lands at 9:10 and AC845 departs at 10:10). We ended up landing at FRA 15 minutes late due to a medical emergency on another flight. Then we went to a remote stand (of course), and the stairs at the front didn’t work initially so they deplaned from the back first. J passengers ended up on the second bus, which had to wait for everyone else. Got to the terminal at 9:40, when AC845 started boarding at 9:25. FRA Concierge tried to call me a couple times to direct me to the departure gate, but between the line dropping and passport control getting annoyed with me for being on the phone, that was probably less helpful than intended. Ended up making it to gate B43 by 9:50 after absolutely racing through that ridiculous tunnel between the A and B concourses. I’ve made this sprint a few times before, but never with a mask! The Concierge agent was waiting for me at the gate and quite surprised I made it. Sitting onboard in seat 4A now and catching my breath.

Safe travels, everyone. It’s a whole new adventure during covid times…

SK AAR

Actually, it very common to be unable to complete OLCI now. They want you to collect BP at check-in desks in order to check your medical/vaccination/test certificate etc.

I'm glad you made the FRA connection. AMS-FRA LH flights are very often late...

capedreamer

Exactly. That's why I wasn't totally sure if this was really going to be a denied boarding situation or just a document check, especially when Aeroplan was initially difficult to reach and I didn't want to blow up my morning to deal with this. I wish unsuccessful OLCI attempts would make it clearer what exactly the problem is. That seems like a solvable tech problem.

Indeed. Have taken this route quite a few times before so was ready for the sprint. But part of me was (foolishly) hoping that FRA would be less busy during these pandemic times, thus eliminating the need to park at a remote stand. Apparently not. :/

nomadic.relief

I have done this mad dash in pre-covid times, sans mask, and without concierge "help" because I'm not (yet) that special. Glad you made it!

Unfortunately all it taught me is that these ridiculous connections ARE doable, so I keep booking them.

canadiancow

YUL was like that for quite a while until fairly recently. YYZ and YVR were much worse than they are now.

AC invested considerable time and resources with the government and the airports to make ITI transit much more seamless at their hubs, because they wanted the business.

I'm not saying it would be easy to make it happen in the US, but it would certainly be possible if an interested party had the desire.