American Airlines Is Discontinuing Nonstop Los Angeles-to-Toronto Flights

I always advise double- and triple-checking your seat reservations, especially when you book a flight far in advance. Fortunately, I followed my own advice and just checked my reservation for my Toronto-Los Angeles-Honolulu (YYZ-LAX-HNL) flight in late December. I had purchased first-class one-way tickets for my family with American Airlines (AA) back in February because they were on sale (and cheaper than what it usually costs to fly coach LAX-HNL).

Well, I was surprised to notice that the routing had changed in my reservation. We were no longer booked on the YYZ-LAX nonstop and instead were flying YYZ-ORD-LAX-HNL (now stopping in Chicago O’Hare en route to LAX). At first, I thought it was because I’d paid such a low price for the flights, and there are only eight first-class seats on their once-a-day YYZ-LAX flight, operated by the tiny A319.

S0 I checked to see if the AA nonstop flight was still available, and it wasn’t! The airline had apparently discontinued the flight. I then checked Google Flights and did a calendar search for Toronto-to-Los Angeles, nonstop, on American Airlines. Sure enough, it’s not available after December 18, 2018 (see screenshot below).

I’m so bummed American Airlines is discontinuing its nonstop Los Angeles-to-Toronto (and vice versa) flight for a number of reasons. One is that I’m in bed with AA’s frequent flier program so I have elite status, which comes with a lot of perks like free upgrades, baggage, seat assignments, and ticket changes. The other is that nonstop flights between the two cities are only going to go up in price since now there will be only two carriers (Air Canada and WestJet) instead of three. Less competition means more expensive.

If you booked a Los Angeles-Toronto (or vice versa) ticket between the two cities for after December 18, check your reservations. I confirmed via Twitter that American Airlines is indeed discontinuing the flight and connections will now be through Chicago, Charlotte or Philadelphia.

That’s correct, the nonstop service will be replaced with connections through ORD, CLT and PHL.

— American Airlines (@AmericanAir) September 15, 2018

The worst part is that American never alerted me to the change. I’m glad I didn’t find out at the last minute when all the alternative flights were booked full. If you’re not happy with the flight they rebooked you on, call and change it as I did. Since the airline changed its schedule, you should have some wiggle room to possibly even get a refund if you don’t want to make a connection.

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