cgyroof

Does Flying out of Nanaimo instead help?

YVR Cockroach

Didn't think of YCD but longer/more expensive to get to, and we're gone for 6 weeks. Limited service means most of the itineraries are much longer. Fares the same too if not higher.

ashill

I wouldn't worry too much about that. The issue is the landside check in desk, particularly if you're checking bags and won't or can't use the kiosk bag drop; they'll refuse to let you even try if you don't get to the front of the line by 75 minutes. That does not mean the OP wouldn't have made it if WS let them try. If you are connecting and already have a boarding pass, you at the very least shouldn't be artificially stopped from going through security and US Customs to try to get to your gate, and 86 minutes should be ample.

I don't know if it's the brand so much as WS schedule options are so much better, or at the very least exist. AC is pulling out of my home airport altogether in January, after pulling the evening and early morning flights that made either connections or local short trips work. And connecting from interior BC through YYC makes so much more geographic sense than YVR for the eastern 3/4 of North America or Europe anyway.

VoodooYYC

I would try and be as close to the front of the plane as possible, as YYJ flights inevitably seem to be delayed, and as mentioned, take forever to disembark.

YVR Cockroach

Had the tickets refunded (well) within the 24 hr window and bought Premium tickets. Given the seat selection and checked bag costs, it wasn't that much of an extra expense from Econo. Also got $80 in PCO pts by paying with GCs.

VoodooYYC

Good luck! The mid afternoon flight from YYJ yesterday was 25 minutes late departing because of baggage loading delays and somewhere around 10 people missed their connection to FCO because of that delay. It was a 52 minute scheduled connection, which got cut to 27 because of the delay, and WS left without them.

For me, I would never book something that tight, especially connecting to a 3X weekly international service, but the blame is mostly with WS. How does a 52 minute domestic to int'l connection through your hub make any sense at all?!? Given WS's general operational issues, 90 minutes for international and 120 for Can-US would seem to make far more sense, and save them a lot of heartache and compensation in the long run.

ashill

I would never book that if I had a reasonable choice, but often there isn’t a reasonable choice. Given a choice between 52 minutes and 6+ hours or an overnight connection (which often are the choices out of YYF/YLW), I’ll chance 52 minutes recognizing that there’s a decent chance it will become an overnight connection. And given that WS/AC can in practice keep your money and not pay any compensation or pay for accommodation if you misconnect, what do they care if there’s a high probability of a misconnect?

I still have a giant unused AC ticket after a mechanical cancellation led to a cancelled trip, and they refused to refund me (via my corporate travel agent).