In December 2022, Emirates and Air Canada announced that they had finalized a strategic partnership deal. The two airlines now allow reciprocal earnings, meaning you can earn Skywards Miles on Air Canada flights and Aeroplan points on Emirates flights.

The two carriers also share lounge access, which means that Aeroplan 50K, 75K and Super Elite status members get complimentary access to the Emirates Business Lounge in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Skywards Gold and Platinum status members get complimentary access to the Maple Leaf Lounges and Air Canada Cafe in Toronto.

However, while the option to book Emirates flights with Aeroplan points has been available since early December 2022, the option to book Air Canada flights with Skywards Miles has become available just recently.

Although Emirates doesn’t use an award chart to price its own award flights, it has published a distance-based award chart for Air Canada awards with flights starting at just 8,000 Skywards Miles.

In many cases, it seems as if booking Air Canada award flights with Aeroplan points is going to provide a better value than booking with Emirates Skywards Miles. However, you may be able to find certain award flights at better rates through Emirates than through Air Canada, depending on the distance of that specific flight.

So, if you already have a miles balance in your Emirates Skywards account, you can now use those miles for flights with Air Canada. And, if you have a specific redemption in mind, it might even make sense to transfer miles into your Skywards account to use on Air Canada awards.

Let’s take a closer look at the new partnership between Air Canada and Emirates and whether it’s a good idea to book Air Canada awards with Skywards Miles.

Emirates first class on the A380 (image courtesy of Travis Cormier)

Earning Skywards Miles With Air Canada

Ever since the partnership between Emirates and Air Canada went live, the option to earn Emirates Skywards Miles on paid Air Canada flights has been available. To do so, simply enter your Skywards account number when booking your flight through the Air Canada website.

The number of Skywards Miles you’ll earn on a particular Air Canada flight depends on the distance flown and the fare class. Here’s how many miles you’ll earn in each class:

  • Economy class: 1 Skywards Mile per mile flown
  • Economy premium class: 1.1 Skywards Miles per mile flown
  • Business class: 1.5 Skywards Miles per mile flown

While most paid Air Canada flights are eligible to earn Skywards Miles, certain fare classes aren’t eligible. The following Air Canada classes are not eligible to earn Skywards Miles:

  • Within Canada: S, T, L, K, G, I, N, X, F and R
  • International (including flights between Canada and U.S.): I, N, X, F and R

As you can see, if Emirates Skywards is your frequent-flyer program of choice, then electing to earn Skywards Miles on paid Air Canada flights might be a great new option for you. However, if your ultimate goal is to purchase Air Canada awards with the Skywards Miles you earn from flying with Air Canada, then you’re probably better off just electing to earn Aeroplan points for your Air Canada flights instead.

Air Canada Business Class

Air Canada Business Class

Spending Skywards Miles With Air Canada

As previously mentioned, the option to spend Emirates Skywards Miles on Air Canada award flights has recently been made available. To do so, simply log in to your Skywards account through the Emirates website and then navigate to the “Spend Miles” page. Then, choose to “Book a flight” and input your desired departure city, arrival city and dates.

If you happen to search for a route operated by Air Canada, then that route will appear in your search results alongside its cost in Skywards Miles.

Currently, Emirates is using a distance-based award chart to price Air Canada flights (with flights under 251 miles in economy class priced at 8,000 Skywards Miles). Here’s the full award chart for Air Canada flights:

ZoneOne-way distance (miles)Economy class rate (Skywards Miles) Business class rate (Skywards Miles)
10 - 2508,00016,000
2251 - 50010,00020,000
3501 - 1,00014,00028,000
41,001 - 2,00020,00040,000
52,001 - 3,00026,00052,000
63,001 - 4,00032,00064,000
74,001 - 5,00038,00076,000
85,001 - 6,00044,00088,000
96,001 - 7,00052,000104,000
107,001 - 15,00060,000120,000

Here are some other things you should know about booking Air Canada award flights through Emirates Skywards, according to the Emirates website:

  • All award tickets are subject to availability.
  • Award tickets are available only on Air Canada-operated flights with the flight code AC.
  • All Air Canada award flights must be confirmed when Skywards Miles are redeemed. Waiting lists are not permitted.
  • Award tickets are valid for 12 months from the original date of issue with a maximum stay of three months.
  • Award values are exclusive of taxes, fuel surcharge and other charges, which must be paid separately.
  • Children and infants need to pay the same number of Skywards Miles for award tickets as adults.

While that may sound slightly complicated, having the option to book Air Canada flights through either Air Canada or Emirates will probably save savvy travelers a solid chunk of money in the long run.

Should You Book Air Canada Flights Through Emirates Skywards or Air Canada Aeroplan?

Air Canada uses a series of award charts that are based on four zones and distances between the cities to price their own award charts. Those four zones include North America, Atlantic, Pacific and South America.

Book Air Canada Flights Through Emirates Skywards or Air Canada Aeroplan

So, Air Canada has a separate distance-based award chart for flights within and between each of these zones. For example, they have award charts for flights within North America, within South America, between North America and South America, between North America and Pacific zone, within Pacific zone and so on. You can find all of those award charts on the Flight Reward Chart page on Air Canada’s website.

In comparing the award charts for Air Canada award flights published by Air Canada to the ones published by Emirates, it seems as if certain flights may be affordable through Emirates while others are more affordable through Air Canada, depending on the distance.

For example, if we look at Air Canada’s award chart for Air Canada-operated flights within North America, we can see that flights with distances between 1,501 and 2,750 miles would cost between 12,500 and 17,500 Aeroplan points in economy class.

Book Air Canada Flights Through Emirates Skywards or Air Canada Aeroplan

So, a 2,700-mile flight within North America would cost a maximum of 17,500 Aeroplan points. If we refer to the Emirates award chart, the same flight costs 26,000 Skywards Miles, meaning that booking through Air Canada would be the obvious choice in this case.

As an example to the contrary, if we look at Air Canada’s award chart for Air Canada-operated flights between North America and Pacific zones, we see that any flight with a distance of longer than 11,001 miles will cost a minimum of 65,000 Aeroplan points.

Book Air Canada Flights Through Emirates Skywards or Air Canada Aeroplan

On the other hand, a flight with a distance greater than 11,001 miles would cost 60,000 Skywards Miles. In this case, you may want to book the flight through Emirates.

As you can see, the question of whether it’s better to book Air Canada award flights with Aeroplan points or Skywards Miles depends on the specific distance of the flight. We recommend checking the award rate through both programs before you book an Air Canada-operated award flight.

It’s also worth noting that looking at the rate in Skywards Miles vs. the rate in Aeroplan points isn’t exactly an apples-to-apples comparison, considering the two currencies have different values.

Air Canada Aeroplan points are some of the more valuable airline currencies out there, and they’re typically valued at 1.5 to 2 cents apiece. Emirates Skywards Miles are typically valued at around 1.3 cents apiece. So, when deciding which currency to book your Air Canada award flight with, you may want to take their valuations into consideration.

The Bottom Line

The new partnership between Emirates and Air Canada is nothing but good news for members of both Aeroplan and Skywards programs. You can earn either rewards currency on flights operated by either airline. Skywards elite members can get into the Air Canada lounges in Toronto for free, and Aeroplan elite members can get into the Emirates lounge in Dubai for free. And, as of recently, you can redeem either rewards currency for flights on both Air Canada and Emirates metal.

Since both of these programs use distance-based award charts to price Air Canada-operated award flights, you can look up the distance of your desired award flight and then reference each program’s award chart to find out whether you’re better off booking that award flight through Emirates or Air Canada.

While that may sound slightly complicated, having the option to book Air Canada flights through either Air Canada or Emirates will probably save savvy travelers a solid chunk of money in the long run.