Schedule change, reaccomodation refused
 

Has anyone had the booking carrier tell them that they were out of luck when a schedule change broke a connection? I have an upcoming *A award ticket in C on AC & NZ. AC monkeyed with its schedule and broke my return connection in NRT. US (the booking carrier) is telling me to go pound sand because there is no other award availability for that itinerary on nearby dates. Is my ticket truly worthless now? Or are there some magic words that might help the agent figure out a way to rebook me?

I work for UA. If OA makes a sked change on a Star award ticket & problems arise, that carrier becomes responsible for 'fixing it.' If that carrier's not willing to help (hello, SQ!!), there's nothing we can do. UA will not open award seats on its own aircraft, even though we sold the ticket. We can search for current availability or offer a refund.

The airline can fulfill their duty by offering you a full refund. Other than that you are at their mercy.

There is a thread in the AC forum that deals with pretty much the same problem. It makes refrence to Rule CIC*77. I don't know if it applies across all *A carriers but since you are dealing with AC you may have success if you call their agents directly and have them review CIC*77. Rule CIC*77 applies to both revenue & Aeroplan bookings, including consolidators bookings.
The full text is in post#3 of this thread
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17335