Complicated routing
 

I booked a reward ticket from BOS-TLV with some interesting routing and have a few questions:

1) My outbound routing is BOS-YYZ-TLV. The BOS-YYZ routing is on Air Canada "Jazz" (whatever that means). The YYZ-TLV flight is on regular Air Canada. When I get to Pearson, will I have to go through customs and immigration, recheck my bags, and go through security again? (my layover is 5 hours so I'm not overly concerned about it if I do)

2) My return segment is more tricky. It's TLV-BRU-IAD-BOS. TLV-BRU is on Brussels Air, and the rest of the segments are on United. I have a 7 hour layover in Brussels. Will I need to go through customs and immigrations in Brussels and recheck my bags? If I do, is there a place to store my bags for a couple hours so I can leave the airport and do something else?

I logged onto United's website to view my booking and it looks like all 3 segments are on one ticket. Will I only have one checkin at TLV and be issued all my boarding passes, or will I need to check in again with United at Brussels?

3) This reward ticket was booked with Continental miles. In the event something gets screwed up along the way, who is responsible for rebooking me and figuring out how to get me to my destination?

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this post, but I wasn't sure where else to put it.

I dont know all the answers. However;
2. Your bags should be checked all the way through to BOS. However, upon arrival at IAD, you will clear immigration and then customs with your bag. You then redeposit the bag for the BOS segment.
You wont need to clear Immigration / customs at BRU if you are simply in transit. You will clear immigration, customs if you want to go out of the airport. (however, your checked bags will still be checked through).

3. In the event of problems on the day of the flight, then the operating airline will have to help you. This becomes tricky. As I recently found out that operating airlines dont necessarily want to help people with tickets issued by partner airlines.

Good luck, Safe travels.

Welcome to FlyerTalk!!

1) Jazz is just the name for AC's regional service. Like Continental Express. No big deal, really. You will have to clear Immigration and Customs in Canada and drop your bags back off for the onward flight. With the long connection you have that won't be an issue.

2) Your choice on Immigration & Customs. Your bags should be checked all the way through but with 7 hours to kill I'd definitely leave the non-Schengen transfer area that the TLV-BRU flight will leave you in. You'll clear immigration at BRU but your bags (other than whatever you're carrying) won't. That makes it much easier to deal with. You can take the train in to Brussels or up to Brugges or to a number of other places nearby before returning to the airport for the flight to IAD.

Based on a personal experience, you will not need to pick up your bags in YYZ. I flew to PEK from EWR via YYZ on AC last month, and once I checked my bags in EWR, I did not see them again until PEK. My circumstances were the same as yours: originating in US, connecting in YYZ to a non-US, non-Canadian destination.

Thanks. This is good to know. Do you have to go to what would normally be the baggage claim area and through customs and back through security, or are you sent straight back into the terminal?

I did go through the baggage area, and then I re-cleared security. I must say that was the most pleasant experience I have had clearing security in YYZ, as all of my prior experiences in YYZ have involved US pre-clearance.