Travel waiver for IAH?
 

Hi all, thanks in advance for help on a semi-urgent question about AeroPlan award booking on UA metal.

I’m on an AC award ticket and supposed to be flying from AMS-IAH tomorrow on UA as part of a return flight from Asia. (I’m currently on BKK-AMS on BR — hi from somewhere over the Black Sea).

IAH is closed today (but not tomorrow as of now) bc of snow. I don’t want family to be driving in to pick me up, so would prefer to wait a day. UA issued a travel waiver for IAH, but when I called, they said they can’t help bc I gotta go through AC who issued ticket. I can’t find anything on AC about Houston waiver. What should I do? For reference this is an award ticket where I can make changes for free (subject to availability).

Thanks!
1konsultant

As it's a reward ticket I would advise calling Aeroplan and asking them to make the change. Regardless if there is a published waiver, as IAH will be closed tomorrow they will have to reschedule you anyways.
Calling in should at least get you onto a flight that works for you.

There is a travel advisory on the AC Website right now for IAH for today AND tomorrow...should have no problem making a change...might even be able to do it yourself!

AC cancelled YUL-IAH for 1/20 given IAH closure on 1/21. AC ticket. Was offered flights on Thursday (3 days later!) by automated AC email about ~30 min after cancellation. Was able to check alternative options on AC.com easily, but unfortunately this was limited to J (original ticket class) and didn't give me Y class (which had more options). Had to call for that, which - despite being *A and J - took some 2 hrs for callback...

Will AC reimburse expenses? I took flight at 5am YQB-YYZ-IAH instead of 3:15pm departure ex-YQB... While I got in earlier, I had to cancel things in Quebec City and lost deposits etc.

3 days later? You mean when the airport is actually expected to be open?

Why would they reimburse your expenses, it's a weather issue resulting in IAH being CLOSED, not really in their control...but give it a try and let us know how it works out. I think you'd have better luck appealing to whomever you lost deposits to in YQB and see if you can get them back.

Weather was fine for original flight and IAH was open then, issue was that it landed 1/20 evening - before IAH closure - but AC knew it couldn't operate return leg the following morning 1/21 (when airport would be closed). So it was an operational decision not to strand the plane. Weather didn't affect the original flight except maybe indirectly.

Flights are landing at IAH tonight 1/21, but AC rebooked me for 1/23.

BTW I was offered 5am departure ex YQB at 11pm the evening before i.e. 6hrs before departure time.

Thank you, all! Wasn’t able to rebook online bc I had flown half of return trip (TPE-AMS), so I had to call in and wait for over an hour. Thanks to your guidance on AC travel waiver, I was able to get flight changed to same one tomorrow (23 Jan) when roads should clear up. Got same great seat in Polaris too.

For those in same boat, looks like IAH is open as of today.

Snowstorm policy?
 

Hey,

I have a hard time to find AC snowstorm policy - I can find the hurricane one but not the snowstorm one.

let’s say my outbound is cancelled due to a snowstorm and I fly the next day - will AC accept to delay my return by one day, at no cost? No specific example in mind, but anticipating my next few trips!

thanks

maxime

If a known weather event is approaching - like a hurricane, or a region-wide blizzard - AC will generally issue a travel advisory offering free changes on bookings to/from affected airports. So, for example, if Montreal's about to get hit with three feet of snow, they'd likely allow you to change a YVR-YUL for free, but not a YVR-YYC.

Generally speaking, the travel waiver's only going to apply to the affected flight - so, for example, if your YUL-CUN got delayed by a day, no, they're probably not also going to give you a free change to your CUN-YUL a week later.

When Does Status Update
 

I have a flight tommorow AC34 from YVR to YYZ and then a connecting flight to DCA. The inbound flight to Sydney AC33 is arriving two hours late and I am sure that my tommorow morning flight will be delayed as well, but status says on time right now. Will AC rebook my YYZ DCA flight. Kinda worried I won’t make that connecting flight.

They will deal with it. Almost certainly by the time you arrive in Toronto but it a worst case scenario they will assist you once you arrive in yyz. This is all assuming this is on the same pnr.

Yes, this is all on one ticket. Would I need to find someone in YYZ, or will the app auto-rebook me? I should speak to an agent at YVR tomorrow morning.

If the updated arrival time into YYZ shows you with a missed connection, by the time you arrive at YVR tomorrow, tha airport agents will be happy to rebook you. You may be better off with a different itinerary and connection so check out your options first so you know what you want.

You don't mention if you are in J/PY/Y or your status, but there are 2 flights tomorrow before AC34 that you could be asked to move onto if it looks like the inbound will be late. AC34 also looks quite full based on what they are willing to sell at the moment so it might not be a difficult conversation if they think the flight will be oversold. I'd suggest keeping an eye on 34 and getting to the airport early enough to move onto AC104 at 8:00 if that's an option for you.

I see that they have already updated the AC34 for tomorrow so AC will be happy to rebook you already. You may have already received notification. If not, you can call in now and they will rebook you. I suppose that you are on the 620pm from YYZ to DCA and you will now be forced to the 9pm making it into a late night. If you are travelling Y then there is space on the 8am into YYZ which enables you to make the initial connection. Alternatively, if you don't want to travel so early, you can take the 920am to YUL and connect to DCA for an arrival one hour later than you are booked, at 8pm. Both of these flights from YVR currently don't show any space in J. In that case, you can ask to be put on the 830am to Chicago and connect to DCA on United to arrive close to your initial arrival time, but you will lose your flatbad, if you care for the day flight.