An old idea I had, (not gonna name the guy who told me it wouldn't work). Saw today on FT as follows:
It seems that with all the changes I don't like, SDC is the one I like. Had ticket DTW-EWR-MIA. Changed for next day DTW-ORD-MIA. Flew DTW-ORD, then changed ORD-MIA to next day, and then to next day, and then to next day (mostly online, but called couple times when the fare code was available, but website would not offer the flights). Then changed to ORD-EWR-MIA and flew these segments 4 days after the first one. I could stop in EWR also for few days
So, as SDC require UA metal, make the stop on the way back from YVR, so u can SDC the YYC>USA flight every 24hrs. Granted SDCs aren't free for non-elites, and if there is no award avail the next day u will have to go to an airport to request SBY, which might be an issue on the second change.