My spouse and I are flying EWR-YYZ-FRA-DBV on AC Business Class (Lowest Reward) in late June. When we originally booked, the EWR flight was DEP 18:00 / ARR 19:35, which allowed for a comfortable two hour connection in YYZ before the 21:35 flight to FRA.

I just received an email informing that AC has retimed the EWR-YYZ flight to DEP 18:45 / ARR 20:26, which means a 1 hour, 9 minute international connection in YYZ. AC says that the minimum int'l connection time in YYZ is 1 hour, so technically this is feasible but I have never transited through YYZ, so I want to make sure this isn't crazy. My understanding is that US-YYZ-Intl connections don't have to pass Canadian immigration (please correct me if I'm wrong here). And if the first leg is delayed for any reason, we might be in trouble.

Additional considerations:
- I am United Gold / *A Gold
- There are theoretically other options to DBV from EWR, including the UA EWR-DBV nonstop (although this would require us to transit from terminal A to C very quickly), and a variety of UA/LH options through FRA/MUC - would AC rebook us on *A partner flights in the event of a misconnect?
- The weather in NYC/YYZ is usually pretty mild in June, but if thunderstorms are going to impact flights, it would likely be in the evening

Alternatively I could ask AC to put us on an earlier (16:30) flight to YYZ. I'm not necessarily dying to spend 5 hours in YYZ - I just discovered that the Signature Suite is not open to "lowest reward" business tickets - major frowny face to AC for this!

Appreciate anybody's insight here.

Welcome to FT!

The direct option EWR-DBV would of course be most convenient, but I take it that there was no award availability when you originally booked? Also, you say this would require you to transit from A to C at EWR; are you starting your journey somewhere else, and is that on a separate ticket? That could throw up some issues as well.

To your original point, UA Gold / *G isn't going to make much difference in this case. It is tight, but doable in just over an hour. I don't know what later flights there are out of YYZ to FRA/MUC that evening on AC or LH, but AC would rebook you on one of those if you did miss the original flight and all of this is on one ticket. There is, of course, the distinct possibility that another flight on this itinerary is retimed, so keep an eye on it, but no reason to worry now.

Thank you! Long time lurker in these forums, happy to have joined.

Very astute observations! Yes this all started when we tried to redeem a boatload of Amex Membership Reward Points, and AC Aeroplan had an excellent bonus transfer offer last Fall. And keep in mind, UA is not an Amex transfer partner. To your point, the Aeroplan award options on the UA nonstop out of EWR were poor (for Polaris, they did have Y open), but we found a decent deal for F on AC metal, albeit with the slightly whacky routing.

We are originating from CVG - so yes we'll need to buy a separate ticket. We may actually come in a day or two early to visit friends in the NYC area, which would minimize the risk. If we did fly in the same day, I would be sure to book with plenty of extra time, as I'm well aware of the risks of connections on separate tickets. The entire EWR-DBV itinerary on AC is on a single ticket.

My comment on transferring from A to C is more in reference to the fact that AC departs from A, and UA's DBV flight almost certainly will be departing from C, where virtually all of UA int'l flights leave from at EWR. And UA's DBV flight leaves at 19:20, so it would require us to know about an AC delay well in advance to have any chance of making it if we're sitting in A. But to your point, it sounds like AC would not put us on UA anyway.

The options in YYZ are not great if we miss the 21:35 to FRA. Assuming schedules operate as currently planned, all of LH's flights are gone already. AC has a 23:50 to LHR, and TAP has an 23:00 to LIS. Both are unenviable options - I guess LHR would be preferred as there would be some options to get us to DBV late on LH or OU (Croatian), space permitting.

I suppose we will wait a bit to see if there are any other schedule changes. "Tight but doable" is probably okay since there are some fallback options.

OK, it sounds like you have this all pretty much in hand. I'm still not quite sure I understand the A-C at EWR reference. If you are on the direct flight EWR-DBV, then you wouldn't be on an Air Canada aircraft at all. You would come from CVG, possibly the day before, and just have a direct departure from C.

Tight but doable is indeed the best way to describe it. If you can in any way reduce the number of flights that would be great, but I guess you are left with what you have booked. Keep an eye out for space on the direct flight, is probably my best advice. Oh, and AC doesn't have F, just J, but in most respects equal to the new Polaris seat on UA.

Check the on time performance of the evening EWR YYZ flight. AC barely performs over 60% overall and those short flights are some of the worst

I would be very worried about getting stuck in YYZ due to ACs abysmal on time record, especially if there arent many options late at night.

Doesn't YYZ have a priority lane for *A G for security check? I thought there was one and I keep seeing on a board about Nexus, Star A G etc. But every time I have tried to get there because of queues on the other lanes, the staff always ask for me if I have nexus and sent me back to the long queue.