Connection time

Tracy, the important question is: Was this change on the way out or back?

I assume that you are flying from/to the U.S., right? If the change happened on the way out, connecting in Terminal 1, you should make it, although you'll need to move it. The Canadian border services can be quick enough, but the security checkpoint can be slow.

If the change happened on the way back, you will need to go through the U.S. Border Protection Agency customs & immigration pre-clearance, before boarding your flight home. That process and the security checkpoint are both slow. Since the minimum "legal" connecting time for the return is 1hr 25 min., you should be able to get AC to fix your routing.

Recourse if it's the outbound? Not really. You can try with Air Canada to be switched to an earlier/ later connecting flight ahead of time - but you may need to fork out extra $ to do so. At the airport, if you missed your connection, AC is only required to put you on a later available flight - no meals, no hotel, no compensation. You can also be re-routed, adding another segment to your trip.

The airline is protected by what they call a "minimum connection time"... for your outbound (U.S. to Europe) = 1 hour, legal time. For your return (Europe to U.S.) = 1hr 25min, legal time. These times are not realistic, but their booking system allows these tight connections. (Which is why I think that it's your outbound that is affected)

Here the kicker though: this will most likely not be the only schedule change coming in for your flights. Air Canada are notorious for this. Give it time and another schedule change, or two, and you may get your connecting time back. Watch them like a hawk!!! BTW - they also have a habit of failing to notify you of a schedule change.

They pulled a doosey last year with DH's flight to Kona, through Vancouver. His original flight was from YOW to YVR to KOA on a Saturday. AC cancelled the YVR to Kona and put him on the Friday night flight instead. They forgot, however, to change his first flight from YOW to YVR on Saturday morning. And forgot to notify us. I checked his itinerary about a week before and noticed the insanity. When I phoned to get it fixed, they told me initially that there was no problem with his routing, then the agent realized the issue after I kept telling her that it made no sense, then I was told that there were no seats from YOW to YVR on the Friday in his fare class and that we would have to pay extra or have him fly the Sunday... I finally suggested to try re-routing him with an added connection on the Friday and that worked.

AC does not take any responsibility whatsoever for missed vacation days (or having to take extra time off from work) if a sched change complicates your trip.

I'm flying them to Europe again this April, with a ticket bought in October. There have been 3 schedule changes since and I expect more.

Thank you for the info. It is our outbound flight from LAX to Venice with a connection in Toronto. I purchased my tickets in December through priceline and I called them and they were able to put us on an earlier flight to Toronto. Now we will have a 4 hour layover but I think that is better than 1.2 hours. I will watch our flights closely for any other changes. Our return trip is on Swiss Air and not AC.

Good that you were able to sort it out!

If I'm ever connecting for an evening flight to Europe in Toronto (for me a domestic connection), I always try to get in by 6pm and just plan on having a proper meal at the airport. I give YYZ a wide berth otherwise. The lines are long, the airport staff and services not that great, and it has the surliest security check-point personnel in all of Canada, I bet.

If I want to fly Turkish Airlines, TACA, etc.. than YYZ it has to be.

Although I don't like AC, they're the only airline that link our national capital to Europe with a direct connection - one to Frankfurt and the other to London. Did I say our "national capital"?!