Question for YYZ gate staff: can one change YTZ-YUL flight to YYZ-YUL at gate?

[bertro]

Hi all,

Apologies if I'm asking a dumb question and/or in the wrong forum.
My wife is flying in from Europe to Montreal via Toronto. Her international flight lands at Pearson and the Montreal AC flight departs from Billie Bishop after a 4 hour layover. (it was a very last-minute booking, and this was the only reasonable cost option for the entire 3-leg flight).

I've heard from friends who often fly Montreal-Toronto that AC gate staff usually let you get on an earlier flight (at no extra cost) if they have seats available. But all the stories I've heard are about doing this at the same airport (either YYZ or YTZ). Is this possible between airports? As in, rather than waiting 4 hours and commuting to YTZ, can she just go to a montreal flight gate at Pearson and ask the staff to let her on if they have room?

Thank you!!

[photofly]

The flights out of BIlly Bishop are operated by a different company. She could try to rebook with AC staff at Pearson, when she lands, or probably more effectively, she could head down the Island early and ask there.

[sanjet]

On a normal day it depends on your ticket fare/class you paid. The flexibility to change between ytz/yyz increases significantly when there are irregular ops (fog at ytz).

Doesn’t hurt to ask the counter agent when you land in YYZ, also depends if the traveller is with checked bags.

As for it being a different company, jazz flights have seats that belong to Air Canada so any air Canada customer service rep can help regardless of airport.

[bertro]

The flights out of BIlly Bishop are operated by a different company. She could try to rebook with AC staff at Pearson, when she lands, or probably more effectively, she could head down the Island early and ask there.

Do you mean the AC flights out of YTZ are a different co?
I know Porter have their own YTZ-YUL flights, but this one is listed as Air Canada (AC7972) on her reservation.

Thank you!

[bertro]

On a normal day it depends on your ticket fare/class you paid. The flexibility to change between ytz/yyz increases significantly when there are irregular ops (fog at ytz).
Doesn’t hurt to ask the counter agent when you land in YYZ, also depends if the traveller is with checked bags.
As for it being a different company, jazz flights have seats that belong to Air Canada so any air Canada customer service rep can help regardless of airport.

Thank you, so much! No checked bags (it's a very short trip, so she only took a backpack). I'll encourage her to ask the gate staff at Pearson.

thanks!

[jinxer226]

On a normal day it depends on your ticket fare/class you paid. The flexibility to change between ytz/yyz increases significantly when there are irregular ops (fog at ytz).
Doesn’t hurt to ask the counter agent when you land in YYZ, also depends if the traveller is with checked bags.
As for it being a different company, jazz flights have seats that belong to Air Canada so any air Canada customer service rep can help regardless of airport.

Thank you, so much! No checked bags (it's a very short trip, so she only took a backpack). I'll encourage her to ask the gate staff at Pearson.

thanks!

Could you please update us with the results? I'm curious ..

[The Raven]

Hi all,

Apologies if I'm asking a dumb question and/or in the wrong forum.
My wife is flying in from Europe to Montreal via Toronto. Her international flight lands at Pearson and the Montreal AC flight departs from Billie Bishop after a 4 hour layover. (it was a very last-minute booking, and this was the only reasonable cost option for the entire 3-leg flight).

I've heard from friends who often fly Montreal-Toronto that AC gate staff usually let you get on an earlier flight (at no extra cost) if they have seats available. But all the stories I've heard are about doing this at the same airport (either YYZ or YTZ). Is this possible between airports? As in, rather than waiting 4 hours and commuting to YTZ, can she just go to a montreal flight gate at Pearson and ask the staff to let her on if they have room?

Thank you!!

It doesn’t hurt to ask, but I would be surprised if it is allowed without paying a change fee. As you said in your post, “this was the only reasonable cost option...”. So there must have been other options for your wife that were quicker but costlier. If Air Canada allowed everyone to book the cheaper flights but take the costlier ones (even though there may be open seats) it would significantly affect the bottom line. The same thing happened to me on a British Airways flight. I had booked a 13:00 departure (it was cheap) but arrived at the airport at 8:00. I was not allowed on an earlier flight without paying a change fee. I had to wait 5 hours for my booked flight.

[bertro]

It doesn’t hurt to ask, but I would be surprised if it is allowed without paying a change fee. As you said in your post, “this was the only reasonable cost option...”. So there must have been other options for your wife that were quicker but costlier.

The weird thing is that all the flight options we got from that booking site had ridiculous TO layovers. 3-5 hours, change of airport. Not sure if because of the site, or the fact that we were booking very very last minute (family emergency).

Anyway, I've told her to go for it and ask and I'll report back here early next week

Thank you all again!

LE: I just realized that she won't be able to ask the GATE staff at Pearson, because she lands from an international flight and will have to go through customs and thus leave the secure area. I'll tell her to find the Air Canada Service counter and ask there, as she'll need a YYZ departure ticket to go through domestic security.

[ogopogo]

The flights out of BIlly Bishop are operated by a different company. She could try to rebook with AC staff at Pearson, when she lands, or probably more effectively, she could head down the Island early and ask there.

Duh.....it’s all AC, with AC flight numbers. Do you think the flying public understands or give a hoot about who flies or operates the flights?

[bertro]

Update: she went and asked, but all flights out of YYZ were full. She ended up going to YTZ afterall, but managed to get on an earlier AC flight to YUL from there. So all good.

Thank you all again for your help!