Sorry we are starting out from YYZ to LHR via YUL

Yes, the long-haul business leg to Europe, South America, Asia etc must originate in YYZ. If you were flying YUL-YYZ-LHR, or just YYZ-LHR, you would have access if you were on an eligible business class fare.

Just to be clear even though we are flying domestic to YUL then LHR we can use signature suite lounge??

​​​​​​That is incorrect, no access to SS on the domestic leg.

While that is the policy, I think there should be some exceptions. Someone flying signature to BRU shouldn't be completely ineligible for the SS if they don't want to connect in Europe.

Edit: didn't think about the international departures area issue

That's not what I wanted to hear..LOL we should be allowed in and not penalized because its the only option we had to book to LHR via YUL and the other options were either a mixed cabin or huge amount of points to redeem for business class.

Not only are you not allowed, but you would not have access to international departure anyway.

Fair enough thanks.

Translation: "We didn't want to pay what AC wanted for a non-stop with SS access"

It wasn't the only option. It was the only option you were happy with.

Signature suite and chauffeured transfer if ticketed on United?
 

I’m traveling YUL-YYZ, connecting to DUB in paid business class (listed as P class on my receipt). The ticket was issued on UA stock.

Does anyone know if I’ll be eligible to use the Signature Suite or for the chauffeured transfer to the Signature Suite from a domestic flight? In the past, my tickets have always been purchased through AC but for since my return from LHR to SFO is on United, I ended up buying from UA.

Thanks in advance for your insider knowledge!

The ticket stock doesn’t matter. You will have access to the lounge. Limo service is not guaranteed, but you may also be selected to receive.

Does anyone have information related to the following? We have Business Class Flexible Reward tickets in I class booking on AC equipment from SFO to YYZ with a two hour layover followed by a night flight on AC equipment from YYZ to GRU. Since the flight reward tickets were booked through the United Airlines website using MileagePlus miles, it looks like we are excluded from the Signature Suite by the following language. Am I reading it correctly? Thank you.

They're not "busines flexible" if they were booked through a partner.

The booking for this reservation that is displayed on the Air Canada website, accessed by using the Air Canada booking code, and the printed itinerary from the Air Canada website, prominently state that these are “Business Class (flexible) tickets.” These words appear in large print taking up about 1/3 of the page just beside the flight information.

I know what you're talking about, but the fare brand displayed part of an overall murky naming scheme, it really sucks how confusing it is. This happens when booking through non-AC channels. If a Business Class Flexible reward was booked through Aeroplan (the fare brand eligible for YYZ SS), it would say: "Business Class - Flexible Reward". Note the hyphen and the word "reward". Also note the capitalization because it's an actual brand of fares that you can purchase (your other option would be Business Class Lowest)

Because you didn't book through Aeroplan, it's simply showing a slightly different naming convention to refer to your unrestricted business class award, that Air Canada acknowledges that they will transport you on.

A better example to reinforce my point would be through a recent experience where I booked an economy class ticket via Expedia. You might know that Air Canada has Flex (a restricted economy fare) and Latitude (an unrestricted economy fare) fare brands when booking directly through AC. When you book a full fare (Y/B) through an online travel agent, and look up the reservation on AC's site, it'll show up as "Economy (flexible)" (note no hyphen, parentheses, no Economy "Class", and no proper noun for fare brand) because the website doesn't infer the fare brand at this point when showing the fare you booked...probably because I wasn't presented with the brands when booking through non-AC

Your business class ticket happens to be a flexible ticket that UA sold you, but it's not the Business Class Flexible fare brand that AC sells you allowing you entry

Of course, all this is moot if you have a paid business class fare to an eligible Signature Suite destination, regardless of who issued the ticket. Air Canada can obviously detect that, and you deep down in your heart would know you'd be able to enter ;)