A strategic partnership between Air Canada and Emirates was announced in July of this year, aiming to improve connectivity between Canada, the Middle East, and beyond. More recently, the two flag carriers entered into a codeshare agreement that spans 46 destinations across North America, the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
We’re now seeing that relationship incorporate reciprocal frequent flyer benefits between Air Canada’s Aeroplan and Emirates’ Skywards loyalty programs, with members given the ability to earn and redeem points when travelling with either airline. This means that Air Canada Aeroplan members now have the ability to earn and redeem Aeroplan Points on Emirates flights, including redemptions for travel on Emirates’ amazing First Class product. By the same token, Emirates Skywards members are able to earn and redeem Skywards Miles on flights with Air Canada.
This ultimate beginner’s guide outlines the newly minted partnership between Air Canada and Emirates, with a particular focus on redeeming Aeroplan Points for Flights With Emirates.
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While both airlines operate between Toronto and Dubai, this partnership makes the most sense at either end of that flight, where there was previously nowhere else to go on the same ticket. That’s because Air Canada doesn’t operate flights from anywhere else in Canada to the UAE, and Emirates doesn’t have flights from its Dubai hub to elsewhere in Canada.
As above, the codeshare agreement offers services to 46 destinations across North America, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Customers are able to book connecting Air Canada and Emirates flights on a single ticket, allowing for a seamless check-in experience and baggage transfers all the way to their final destination. There are benefits for Air Canada Aeroplan and Emirates Skywards members too, which I’ll cover in more detail below.
Emirates passengers wishing to visit Canada can now book flights to or from six destinations beyond Toronto with the EK code added to their Air Canada ticket. Flights to or from Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver are all available for booking through Emirates.
Air Canada passengers can also benefit from easy access to Emirates’ extensive network via Dubai, unlocking a significant number of worldwide destinations. The agreement allows Air Canada to offer tickets connecting to or from Emirates flights between destinations such as Colombo, Bangkok, Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Jeddah, Muscat and Addis Ababa. The airlines have mentioned plans to further expand their list of codeshare destinations in the future.
Air Canada operates Boeing 777 flights between Toronto and Dubai five-times weekly, though as of January 2023 will offer six flights per week. From late March 2023, Air Canada will increase its frequency to daily flights, but change equipment to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Emirates also operates five weekly services between Toronto and Dubai, although based on the current bilateral agreement (Etihad also has Toronto slots), is unable to add additional services. Although, with its Airbus A380 superjumbo catering for up to 517 passengers, Emirates hardly lacks capacity.
Earn Points With Air Canada And Emirates
Aeroplan members can now earn Aeroplan Points when travelling on a paid Emirates ticket. Similarly, Emirates Skywards members can earn Skywards miles on paid Air Canada flights.
If you have booked upcoming travel with Emirates and wish to earn Aeroplan Points instead of Skywards Miles, simply log into your booking and attach your Aeroplan number. Furthermore, you can also attach your Emirates Skywards number to an existing Air Canada booking if you’d prefer to earn Skywards miles. For new bookings on either airline, link your preferred earning program before payment.
Note that Emirates flights do not count towards earning Aeroplan Elite Status. The number of Aeroplan Points you’ll earn for travel with Emirates depends on your class of travel, fare type and distance flown, as below;
The number of Skywards Miles you’ll earn for travel onboard Air Canada depends on your class of travel, fare type and distance flown, as below;
- Economy: up to 1 Skywards Mile per mile flown
- Premium Economy: 1.1 Skywards Miles per mile flown
- Business: up to 1.5 Skywards Miles per mile flown.
Redeem Aeroplan Points For Emirates Flights
Air Canada’s Aeroplan loyalty scheme is often underestimated, but in recent years has slowly evolved into one of the most valuable frequent flyer programs available. This is primarily due to Aeroplan’s astounding number of useful airline partnerships, favourable award charts, absence of fuel surcharges and the simplicity of redeeming flights via the Air Canada website.
As a Star Alliance member, you can also redeem Aeroplan Points across the vast Star Alliance network of airlines. In addition, you can also use those same points to fly with Air Canada’s numerous other partners including Air Mauritius, Bamboo Airways, Cathay Pacific, Etihad Airways, Gulf Air and Virgin Australia.
Australian points enthusiasts will be excited to know that as part of the new partnership between Air Canada and Emirates, Aeroplan Points can be redeemed for travel onboard Emirates. That benefit is now available, albeit restricted for travel in Emirates Economy and Business Class only. First Class seating availability is expected to become available from early in 2023.
According to Air Canada’s press release, their “arrangement with Emirates is very unique,” and thus, Aeroplan award flights with Emirates feature their own redemption table, as outlined below. That statement rings true in that there aren’t too many award alternatives for Emirates Business and First Class using points, and with Aeroplan, there are some sweet spots. But the best part of all is that Aeroplan redemptions onboard Emirates metal incurs no carrier surcharge. This is an absolutely enormous benefit that is not to be taken for granted, and another reason why Aeroplan is a fabulous option for flexible points transfers in Australia.
Just like all other Aeroplan partner redemptions, Air Canada charges a CA$39 (~AU$42) partner booking fee per ticket. Compared to the taxes you’d pay for exactly the same redemption flight booked via Qantas Frequent Flyer, this is HUGE!
Aeroplan members are now able to redeem points for Emirates flights online at aircanada.com, through the Air Canada mobile app, or over the phone via Aeroplan’s Customer Contact Center.
Aeroplan’s Emirates Flight Reward Chart
As above, Aeroplan’s agreement with Emirates Skywards is unlike Air Canada’s other airline partnerships. Aeroplan redemptions for travel with Emirates are subject to a completely separate redemption chart that is not subject to the different zones found on the standard Flight Reward Chart, such as “Within North America” or “Between North America and Pacific zones”. Instead, Emirates redemptions are based on the class of travel and distance flown, as below;
Departing Emirates’ Dubai base, all cities within the Middle East but also throughout Eastern Africa and the majority of India fall within the first band. The second band covers journeys to the remaining parts of Africa, plus Europe and Asia, while the third band will get you to North America, South America, and Oceania. The fourth and fifth bands are used for longer connecting itineraries that transfer in Dubai, such as Sydney–Dubai–London.
Aeroplan’s Emirates Redemptions Are Priced In Brackets
The first you might have noticed above is bracketed pricing for travel onboard Emirates. While every other Aeroplan partner adopts a fixed price based on the geographical region, class of travel, and distance flown, flights with Emirates take a more dynamic approach. This means that a Business Class flight of 3,500 miles in distance can be redeemed for as few as 45,000 Aeroplan Points, but that same flight could also sell for up to 140,000 Aeroplan Points.
Aeroplan Redemptions Onboard Multiple Airlines
Air Canada loves its partner airlines, in fact, the Canadian flag carrier is partnered with over 45 airlines around the globe. Under Aeroplan’s new agreement with Emirates, frequent flyers are able to combine redemptions with the Middle Eastern carrier and each of Air Canada’s airline partners.
That means you could fly, for example, from Sydney to Dubai via Singapore with Singapore Airlines, and then continue onward to Johannesburg with Emirates on the same booking. Aeroplan redemptions that include both Emirates flights and other partner airlines will price in accordance with the Emirates chart, rather than the usual Flight Reward Chart or a hybrid of both. In general, this means that including an Emirates flight in your booking might increase the cost of a redemption.
No Carrier Surcharge For Emirates Redemptions
The newly introduced Emirates Reward Chart is quite obviously priced well above what’s available on similar routes within the Aeroplan Flight Reward Chart. Part of the reason for the increase in cost is that redemptions onboard Emirates do not attract carrier surcharges. Unlike booking an Emirates flight with its own Skywards program, or indeed via Qantas Frequent Flyer, Aeroplan will only charge a CAD$39 (~AU$42) partner booking fee, with no other carrier-imposed surcharges. Of course, you’ll still need to pay those unavoidable government taxes.
As an example, you could book a Business Class flight from Toronto to Dubai via Emirates Skywards for 136,250 miles plus CAD$1,097 (~AU$1,198) in taxes. With Aeroplan, you’ll need between 225,000 and 475,000 points, with significantly less taxes.
Emirates Redemptions Will Roll Out In Stages
Interestingly, Aeroplan will roll out redemptions that use the Emirates Reward Chart in stages. For the first few weeks of December 2022, redemptions for Emirates Economy and Business Class flights will price out in line with the Aeroplan Flight Reward Chart. If you are considering cashing in a bunch of Aeroplan Points for travel in either of those cabins, and your preferred route is available, it’s in your best interest to book before the Emirates chart goes live. Once that chart is active in the coming weeks, you’ll likely fork out more Aeroplan Points for the same flights.
As long as you can find the award availability, this unlocks some interesting redemptions for 2023 points travel. For example, you could fly Business Class from Perth to Mauritius, with a stopover of up to 45 days, before continuing to Toronto onboard Emirates – all for 120,000 Aeroplan Points and CAD$239 (~AU$260).
Aeroplan will move to the Emirates Reward Chart in early 2023, also adding First Class flights to be the booking engine. At this point we expect redemptions to price out at a fixed rate, hopefully on the lower end of the brackets above. Towards the end of 2023 redemption costs will become more dynamic, although still within the ranges found on the Emirates Reward Chart.
Redeem Skywards Miles For Air Canada Flights
Naturally the more exciting opportunity here is for Aeroplan members to redeem their points for travel with Emirates. But of course, the latter is also possible with Emirates Skywards members able to redeem their miles for travel with Air Canada. This isn’t nearly as lucrative as above, so we won’t spend much time talking about Skywards redemptions.
Nonetheless, if you do find yourself considering a Skywards redemption for Air Canada domestic and international flights, consult the table below;
Skywards members are now able to redeem points for Air Canada flights online at emirates.com, via the live chat feature or over the phone via the Emirates Contact Center.
Lounge Access Benefits In Toronto And Dubai
Air Canada and Emirates are offering reciprocal lounge access for their elite frequent flyers and premium passengers at airline lounges in Toronto and Dubai.
In Toronto, Emirates Skywards Gold and Platinum members travelling in Economy on either Air Canada or Emirates can access the Maple Leaf Lounge and Air Canada Café, alongside one guest. For Emirates flights departing Toronto, Business passengers will have access to the Maple Leaf Lounge and Air Canada Café, while First passengers (plus one guest on the same flight) will have access to the Air Canada Signature Suite.
In the same way, Aeroplan 50K, 75K, and Super Elite members travelling in Emirates Economy will have access to the Dubai Emirates Business Class lounge, alongside one guest. Later in 2023, this benefit will be extended to Air Canada passengers, once the airline moves its operations to Terminal 3.
Summing Up: My Take
This partnership is hugely exciting, especially from the Aeroplan side of things. Of course, it’s unlikely that many Australian travellers will see the benefits of the codesharing services included in this partnership. With Emirates operating non-stop flights between Australia and Dubai, and Air Canada doing the same to Vancouver, there is little need to travel via one destination to get to the other. Although, being able to both earn and redeem points from either airline’s loyalty scheme for travel on the other does open up some tempting new opportunities.
For instance, Aeroplan is well known for its discounted points purchase promotions. Therefore, frequent flyers could purchase discounted Aeroplan Points to book cheap Business and First Class flights with Emirates. However, it’s otherwise difficult to earn Aeroplan points down under, aside from travelling on its partner Virgin Australia.
If you are preparing to book 2023 points travel, be sure to keep an eye out for Aeroplan award space on Emirates flights. Until then, we look rorward to seeing whether this new partnership unlocks any appealing offers for Australian frequent flyers.
