jonk

hi all--

i'm at my wit's end stressing out about this, so i'm hoping you'll have some suggestions on what i can do.

my brother and i are going to madrid using award tickets (me from SFO, him from SMF), originally through YYZ. well, AC cut their YYZ-MAD service on mondays, i guess, so on the return flight, the YYZ-MAD segment got moved to *tuesday* but the connections didn't get changed, staying on *monday*! (we were originally ticketed to return monday, 10/13).

of course, i didn't get a notification about this; i just happened to come across it while checking other things and noticed it.

i called united and i'm now routed back through FRA and YYC (ugh), but there's nothing available for my brother since i guess i took the last transatlantic segment they have for the day. the agent i spoke with said that he could spend the night in frankfurt, which really isn't ideal by any means. he said he checked availability through multiple european hubs, even business class (after i asked him).

is there anything i can do--any way of getting them to just give a seat in a revenue fare bucket or anything? basically we're just looking for a way back from MAD-SMF on 10/13 for one person.

thanks for any help you can give!

jon

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update: on hold with a nicer agent who's now talking to her supervisor. i hope that's a good sign...

Pegasus23

I too hope you find an elegant solution to this schedule change.

MarkXS

If the return TATL is the problem, then call UA and ask UA MP to contact their liaison at AC Aeroplan. AC created the problem and should be willing to help fix it.

Essentially the same thing happened to an award trip to MAD on AC after AC totally discontinues it this fall. AC told me that UA could call them and they'd work with UA to open AC space because AC caused the problem.

The bigger problem will be getting award space from MAD to FRA - UA has no LH availability and no leverage with LH to open it, because they didn't cause the problem and weren't in the original routing anyway. JK (Spanair) from MAD-FRA may work.

In my case for MrsXS, they were able to replace her MAD-YYZ(discontinued AC)-DEN(UA) with MAD-FRA(JK)-ORD(UA)-DEN(UA).

They also had offered routings back via Lisbon and Newark on TAP. If you don't need to be on the same flight as your brother, one of those options may work.

jonk

hi markxs--

thanks for your suggestions, and yeah, i'm assuming it's the TATL segment that's causing all the trouble. (fwiw, we don't need to be on the same flights.)

here's the latest update:

so i'm ticketed MAD-(JK)-FRA-(AC)-YYC-(AC)-SFO on the original date but the seats have not yet been confirmed (UGH--i hope they don't deny me!).

my brother is confirmed on the original routing (MAD-(AC)-YYZ-(UA)-ORD-(UA)-SMF) but on the day after (i.e., the incorrect date), but really *really* would like to come back on the 13th.

two agents + one supervisor have checked all possible routings and this is the best they could do (they were originally going to offer MAD-SFO on the wrong date, but luckily[?] we got MAD-SMF).

i was looking at staralliance.com but it seems their timetables are incorrect as it still lists AC837 on 10/13. i tried booking a one-way MAD-SMF on aircanada.com for 10/13 and nothing's available, so i'm thinking there's nothing AC can do on their end to help?

*sigh*. is this where the story ends?

jon

GoingAway

did you look into returning via Lisbon on TAP? There seemed to be a lot of availability (in C at least) when I was booking an award not too long ago. They kept offering TAP and I wanted LH, and ended up with UA for the moment.

jonk

just called; nothing through lisbon. grr. thanks for the suggestion, though!

Cargojon

US Air through PHL? MAD-PHL-SFO/SMF?

jonk

yeah, i was thinking about that; i'll call in a bit and ask. is it normal to have to ask for specific routings? i was always under the impression they had some sort of computer program that did all the possible searching for them?

or is it that if you ask them for a specific route, they can work some behind-the-scenes magic?

jonk

well, i called again after using the ANA tool in combination with the UA award reservation tool (i thought i had something MAD-(LH)-FRA-(LH)-PDX-[very long layover]-(UA)-SMF), but alas, the agent i spoke with said MAD-FRA was not available for UA award tix (even though it shows as available on ANA), so that was out the door.

he did another super-long check (incl. PHL) and the best he could do for the original date was as far as IAD then waitlist for the late-night flight to SFO--not a good option since my brother lives in sacramento.

i'll just keep calling, i guess!

noah

Thats the best option; I have faith something will open up between now and October.

sing-along

You are correct that AC has created this problem. Air Canada has a rule which indicates what their responsibility is. The rule is located at CIC*77 (akin to UA's profiles).

AC is known for telling their pax that they are SOL in such situations. It's happened to me and afterwards I found out I was basically screwed by AC when I was a Super Elite (AC's 1K).

AC is responsible since it a change in their schedule. The only restriction is that they must put you on a Star carrier since it is a reward travel. Since AC created the problem they can also open seats on their own flights. If you chose to leave the following day AC is to pay for your costs. However, if you end up sending your receipts I should let you know you know that AC does not have a number to speak to someone at customer service/relations and any query normally takes 12 weeks before you receive a repsonse (can you guess why I gave up on AC and am now a UA 1K and became a MM in about 4 years? )

The AC forum has many posts about sked / cancelled flights and have basically told their customers to change their plans because AC has changed theirs.

Take a look at this link below and my post #3 and #6 back 2002. I had started to type of the rules and had summarized it for the question

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17335

If you need some more info I can see if I can find the rules and post the full text.

Let us know what happens.

Cheers

jonk

interesting! hmm. AC says they can't help since it it's a UA ticket so i have to talk to UA. do these rules still apply? i'm reading them more carefully as we speak.

thanks, sing-along!

jonk

hmm...i called AC and they said that since it's a UA ticket, they can't help me with reimbursement for hotel, etc., and that i have to call UA since "it's their policies". calling now.

--

UA says no, they don't have a similar policy since "flights are subject to change", so she transferred me to customer relations.

of course, the call to customer relations ended up in my getting disconnected "please wait...please wait..." or connected back to the reservations line. UGH.

--

i'm going to try launching an eecb.

jonk

i'm assuming the eecb worked. i sent it out yesterday, and now, about 24 hours later, we get an email confirmation of new flights, on the right day with him following me to SFO and then flying to SMF.

hooray for happy endings!

GoingAway

what's eecb?