I was on LH471 last Saturday that went mechanical. pax were being rebooked on the same flight for the next day, but some pleading/compliments/puppy dog eyes resulted in me being routed via LHR on AC's last flight the same day, and then on MS to CAI from there.

When i got to the AC checkin counter, the agent refused to interline my luggage all the way to CAI saying AC had no interlining agreement wiht MS. I asked her how that was so since MS was Star Alliance .. to which she replied "I dont think so". she then asked a passing AC employee, who also agreed that MS was not Star Alliance. obviously nothing could convince her otherwise, so i ended up getting out in LHR, and rechecking in with MS there.

BTW - AC and MS miles both posted to my account within days.

Q 1 : does AC have an interline agreement wiht MS ?
Q2 : MS is *A. if a random travelling idiot (OK, an SE like me knows that, why doesnt AC checkin staff ?

Unreal.

That's where wi-fi becomes a great tool. I would pull out my laptop and open the staralliance.com page for the agents.

I would have called a SUpervisor over. But believe me some of the Superviosrs are not all that knowledgeable either. I have once had to call AC on the phone with an UG issue at check in on a BD flight number with AC metal. SO calling AC and then handing the phone over to the agent would have been your best option.
So this is how an SE is treated???

Nobody has adressed the first pertinent question: Does AC have a baggage interline agreement with MS?

Sure, it's logical they would with all *A members, but that dosn't mean AC actually does. In the absence of such an agreement documented in the AC system, the agent was right and all the pretty logos on a *A page or Aeroplan card are meaningless.

Andrew will be able to answer this question. I know hat AC has interline agreements with NH not sure about MS since it is a new addition to the alliance.

I found the following on ac.com but I am not sure if it means that Etkt interline = Luggage Interline as well.

Electronic ticket partners


With the implementation of Interline Electronic Ticketing (IET), passengers travelling on more than one airline can travel with one single electronic document. Air Canada currently offers Interline e-tickets with most of its Star Alliance partners as well as many other carriers, thus offering its customers a global, seamless Star E-ticket product.

Star Alliance Interline E-Ticket Partners
CA Air China
NZ Air New Zealand
NH All Nippon Airways
OZ Asiana Airlines
OS Austrian Airlines
BD British Midland
LO Lot Polish Airlines
LH Lufthansa
SK Scandinavian Airlines
FM Shanghai Airlines
SQ Singapore Airlines
SA South African Airways
JK Spanair
LX Swiss International Airlines
TP Tap Portugal
TG Thai Airways
UA United Airlines
US US Airways

Non-Star Interline E-Ticket Partners

JP Adria Airways
AM Aero Mexico
SU Aeroflot Russian Airlines
PZ Aereos Del Mercosur
YN Air Creebec
AF Air France
AI Air India
JM Air Jamaica
MK Air Mauritius
AP Air One
TN Air Tahiti Nui
AS Alaska Air
AZ Alitalia
HP America West
AA American Airlines
AV Avianca
JV Bearskin Airlines
BG Biman Bangladesh Airlines
KF Blue One
BA British Airways
BW Caribbean Airways
CX Cathay Pacific
KX Cayman Airlines
5T Canadian North
9M Central Mountain Air
CZ China Southern Airlines
CO Continental
OU Croatia Airlines
OK Czech Air
DL Delta Airlines
KA Dragonair
MS EgyptAir
EK Emirates
ET Ethiopian Air
BR Eva Airways
7F First Air
GF Gulf Air
IB Iberia
FI Icelandair
IR Iran Air
JL Japan Airlines
9W Jet Airways
KQ Kenya Airlines
KL KLM
KE Korean Airlines
KU Kuwait Air
LR Lasca
4M Lan Argentina
LA Lan Chile
XL Lan Ecuador
LP Lan Peru
MH Malaysian Airlines
MA Malev Airlines
MX Mexicana
ME Middle East Airlines
NW Northwest Airlines
PR Philippine Airlines
QR Qatar Airways
QF Qantas Airways
RJ Royal Jordanian
SV Saudi Arabian Airlines
UL SriLankan Airlines
TA TACA
JJ Tam Linhas Aereas
TK Turkish Airlines
VN Vietnam Airlines
VS Virgin Atlantic Airways
WF Wideroe

AC has regular (paper tix/baggage) interline agreements with:

If KVS can find the answer why can't AC staff?

Because they had a long day, feeling tired and want to go home!

(That's what one of the AC check-in agents told me when I was checking in for a SFO-YVR flight and was given the boarding pass of somebody else with the same last name)