Galleries: YUL to YVR, 23 May 2023; YVR to WLG, 25 May 2023
tl;dr: You can un-check-in luggage at your origin airport.
Sometimes I make things complicated for myself. Occasionally it works out well.
After the Canadian Open Nationals in 2023, held in Montreal, I was headed back to NZ with a bunch of gear, including skis.
To maximize Air Canada (lifetime) miles, I’d booked YUL-YVR-BNE-WLG—that is, Montreal to Vancouver to Brisbane to Wellington, adding about 1600mi over the Auckland routing. Air Canada only offers seasonal service to Auckland, but May isn’t the season (it is December through March). So, the total scheduled distance for the Brisbane routing is 11207 miles, with a theoretical YUL-WLG being 9083mi and YUL-YVR-AKL-WLG being 9636mi.
Here was my original itinerary:
| segment | time | |
|---|---|---|
| YUL-YVR | dep 1810 arr 2025 | |
| YVR-BNE | dep 2320 arr 0700+2 | |
| BNE-WLG | dep 0940+2 arr 1510+2 |
I had requested an Air Canada eUpgrade, which costs a certain number of eUpgrade points. Upgrading YVR-BNE is what costs most of the points, and then the domestic segment costs very little more. But upgrades are on a space-available basis, and it looked like there was no space available on my YUL-YVR flight. Still, getting that segment upgraded is more optimal than not.
Anyhow, I didn’t really have anything to do in Montreal on that Tuesday morning, and I was bogged down with heaps of luggage, so I got to the airport by 1pm. Yes, I was at the airport 5 hours ahead of time. That was a $60 Uber ride from my parents’ place, which I could confirm by looking through my records. For some reason, I have a picture from off the highway mid-trip. It’s weird and I have mostly forgotten about how that happened.
First thing to do at the airport is to check in all the luggage.
Then, I noticed a delay in the YUL-YVR flight, bringing estimated arrival time to 2145. The YVR connection was scheduled for just under 3 hours. The revised time would still have over 90 minutes for a domestic-to-international connection, which is not too worrisome if no further delays. However, sometimes delayed flights are then further delayed. I looked at the flight schedules and there was availability:
| segment | time | |
|---|---|---|
| YUL-YOW | dep |
|
| YOW-YVR | dep |
which was pretty much exactly my original arrival time at YVR. Plus, these segments had plenty of upgrade space available. Though an upgrade on the 45-minute YUL-YOW segment is not really that helpful.
The whole point of this post is the shenanigans that become possible under irregular operations.
- One can ask the check-in agent for a different flight in the event of a delay and a connection. There is probably some discretion there. This agent and this delay were enough.
- One can un-check-in luggage if there is enough time.
The check-in agent called the baggage desk and got them to return my luggage to the carousel. I went and picked it up and then went back to the check-in desk to check it in for the new itinerary. (Presumably you can’t do this 5 minutes before departure, but you can if it’s in a few hours. Also if one isn’t waiting in terribly long check-in lines. Status helps with being able to use the premium check-in line, which is usually—though not always—shorter.)
The rest of the flights were uneventful. I got upgrades on all of the Air Canada segments (YUL-YOW, YOW-YVR, and YVR-BNE). There was time for a quick snack at the Ottawa Maple Leaf Lounge.
Of course, I had more time at YVR and at the Vancouver lounge.
The upgrade on YVR-BNE went through and I appreciated being able to lie down on the 14h45 flight.
I had just short of 3 hours in Brisbane and arrived in Wellington after a long day of flights, with the final segment on Air New Zealand. (Which I kind of prefer to Air Canada in some ways. But, loyalty programs strike again. And, it’s not like Air Canada flies Australia to New Zealand.)
