Interlining at YVR?
 

Planning a RTW starting in Vancouver, with the first leg being YVR-NRT-PVG. I'm planning on getting a cheap one way ticket from Denver to Vancouver first, and on my travel date it seems like Frontier Airlines would be the cheapest bet.

My question is whether a 1.5 hour connection in Vancouver would be enough to make sure my checked bags and I get onto my Air Canada flight to Tokyo. I'm assuming Frontier won't be able to check my bags all the way through to Shanghai from Denver, so I looked up what YVR's website says about United States arrivals-International departures connections: http://www.yvr.ca/guide/around/conne...asp?id=usa2int
* All checked baggage is transferred for you by your airlines the day-of.

Does this mean I don't have to pick up my bags, go through customs, and then check in for my next flight at the Air Canada desk? If not, can anyone tell me what I would have to do/what the procedure is at YVR?

It means that YVR (the airport) offers this service to airlines at YVR that choose to pay for it. YVR advertises it on their web site to induce pax to plan connections via YVR (and YVR gets a hefty airport use fee, so this is great marketing for them). Whether any 2 airlines interline together on separate tickets is a matter of policy. AC will not interline on a separate ticket, for example (and documents this). You need to check with Frontier as to whether they interline at YVR (90%+ chance that they do not). Lots of other airlines do (AS and AA interline to CX, for example).

Without interlining you do need to clear customs in Canada and meet the check-in deadline for AC (as if you were originating at YVR). The deadline varies by the type of ticket you have on AC, but 90 minutes is not going to be enough.

Please continue to follow this thread in the FT Canada Forum.
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

>Planning a RTW starting in Vancouver,
>with the first leg being YVR-NRT-PVG.

You could also look at originating in Seattle. Sometimes on Air Canada SEA (-> YVR) -> NRT is cheaper than YVR -> NRT. You likely still won't be able to interline, but might find some options with a longer layover.

Cheers,
Geoff Glave
Vancouver, Canada