A funny thing happened at YYZ this morning...
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: YYZ
Programs: AC, AMEX, BA, WS
Posts: 164
A funny thing happened at YYZ this morning...
Girlfriend and I are traveling to NRT on JAL this morning, through ORD on AA metal.
As we're checking in at YYZ a supervisor comes over to the agent helping us and whispers something in her ear. Next thing you know we're being offered a free swap to a direct-to-NRT flight on Air Canada.
The only theory that we can come up with is that YYZ to ORD is oversold; still, that seems like a very expensive solution, for somebody.
Wondering if anyone here might have some better insight on this...
As we're checking in at YYZ a supervisor comes over to the agent helping us and whispers something in her ear. Next thing you know we're being offered a free swap to a direct-to-NRT flight on Air Canada.
The only theory that we can come up with is that YYZ to ORD is oversold; still, that seems like a very expensive solution, for somebody.
Wondering if anyone here might have some better insight on this...
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,438
Girlfriend and I are traveling to NRT on JAL this morning, through ORD on AA metal.
As we're checking in at YYZ a supervisor comes over to the agent helping us and whispers something in her ear. Next thing you know we're being offered a free swap to a direct-to-NRT flight on Air Canada.
The only theory that we can come up with is that YYZ to ORD is oversold; still, that seems like a very expensive solution, for somebody.
Wondering if anyone here might have some better insight on this...
As we're checking in at YYZ a supervisor comes over to the agent helping us and whispers something in her ear. Next thing you know we're being offered a free swap to a direct-to-NRT flight on Air Canada.
The only theory that we can come up with is that YYZ to ORD is oversold; still, that seems like a very expensive solution, for somebody.
Wondering if anyone here might have some better insight on this...
#3
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: NYC
Programs: AA 2MM, Bonvoy LTT, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 14,635
A funny thing happened at YYZ this morning...
Did you get oversold comp?
Perhaps they know the AA flight might be delayed?
It doesn't cost AA much to reroute (if anything) especially in economy since you already paid the economy fare to AA.
Perhaps they know the AA flight might be delayed?
It doesn't cost AA much to reroute (if anything) especially in economy since you already paid the economy fare to AA.
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Denver • DEN-APA
Programs: AF Platinum, EK Gold, AA EXP, UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 21,592
Double dip time
If you were planning on getting OW miles for your trip, make sure you ask for Original Routing Credit (ORC). Not sure about CX, but AA is very good about giving you miles for segments that you did not fly due to operational reasons.
#5
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: YTO
Posts: 594
I agree: oversell
I've been browsing for fares on that route recently and AA's metal ORD-NRT has been comically full for weeks. Fares skyhigh (YYZ-BKK-YYZ $2200 some days) and I think an oversell is the most likely reason for this outcome. Especially when you consider that AC fares during the same period have been very low: under $1200 YYZ-BKK-YYZ.
#6
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: ORD-LAS
Programs: AA
Posts: 102
Girlfriend and I are traveling to NRT on JAL this morning, through ORD on AA metal.
As we're checking in at YYZ a supervisor comes over to the agent helping us and whispers something in her ear. Next thing you know we're being offered a free swap to a direct-to-NRT flight on Air Canada.
The only theory that we can come up with is that YYZ to ORD is oversold; still, that seems like a very expensive solution, for somebody.
Wondering if anyone here might have some better insight on this...
As we're checking in at YYZ a supervisor comes over to the agent helping us and whispers something in her ear. Next thing you know we're being offered a free swap to a direct-to-NRT flight on Air Canada.
The only theory that we can come up with is that YYZ to ORD is oversold; still, that seems like a very expensive solution, for somebody.
Wondering if anyone here might have some better insight on this...
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2002
Location: NYC, USA
Programs: AA EXP 3MM, Lifetime Platinum, Marriott Titanium, HH Gold
Posts: 10,967
Wirelessly posted (Apple iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 6_1_3 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/536.26 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0 Mobile/10B329 Safari/8536.25)
Agreed. Be sure to get the miles to which you are entitled.
Originally Posted by SFO777
If you were planning on getting OW miles for your trip, make sure you ask for Original Routing Credit (ORC). Not sure about CX, but AA is very good about giving you miles for segments that you did not fly due to operational reasons.
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: YYZ
Programs: AC, AMEX, BA, WS
Posts: 164
I did not know this. Thanks for the tip!
#9
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Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: KHOU/KIAH
Programs: AA EXP | Marriott Bonvoy Titanium| Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 11,217
Is ORC valid if the pax chooses to fly the AC flight vs. AA metal? Thought it was only if involuntary.
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Denver • DEN-APA
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#11
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: SIN/PVG
Programs: Basement Lurker Club
Posts: 236
I've been browsing for fares on that route recently and AA's metal ORD-NRT has been comically full for weeks. Fares skyhigh (YYZ-BKK-YYZ $2200 some days) and I think an oversell is the most likely reason for this outcome. Especially when you consider that AC fares during the same period have been very low: under $1200 YYZ-BKK-YYZ.
#12
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: YTO
Posts: 594
I noticed this trend too, but in last month I've taken 5 US-TYO flights on AA and JAL metal and all the cabins have been less than half full. I was beginning to wonder if maybe something is wrong with their website since their competitors have been nearly half the price the entire time.
The JL partnership could use a tweak.
For one thing, JL flights have too few seats available for AA to sell, making BKK almost inAAccessible.
#13
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#14
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#15
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 23,021
As far as getting comped, your bargaining power isn't very strong when getting put on a non-stop flight as technically they can IDB you and not pay you anything as long as the flight arrives within one hour (or earlier) of your originally scheduled arrival.