For the Christmas season Air Canada is flying an
internationally configured Boeing 777 once a day between Toronto and
Halifax. If you have never flown international business class before
then this is a good opportunity to do so. Sure it’s only just 2 to 2.5 hours of flying but for 25,000
miles one way + about $90 in
taxes you experience a lie flat seat. The same revenue ticket is $634, which gives you about a value just under 2.2 cents per mile redeemed. Not as high as a lot of other redemption options but not bad as well! If you
think you would never get enough Aeroplan miles to try business class on
a long haul flight then this is your other option to say you have tried
a lie flat seat! This is especially the case for those living in Halifax and the surrounding area since aircraft with lie flat seats are a rarity!
The Boeing 777 will only be flying the route once per day in each direction from December 14 to January 8. The flight numbers to look for are AC619 (YHZ-YYZ) and AC614 (YYZ-YHZ)
Here is the one way example:
Round trip you are looking at 50,000 miles + $173 in taxes for a ticket that would cost you $1265.94. Again giving you just under 2.2 cents in value per mile redeemed:
When searching other key dates for Christmas we found at least 4 business class seats available on the Halifax-Toronto flight (AC619) every day from December 14 through to the 25. Toronto to Halifax (AC614) availability was pretty much the same except right before Christmas where the 19th, 20th and 22nd had no availability at all, the 23rd only had two seats but the 24th through to the 30th have at least 4 each day.
You can check availability and/or book these flights online at aeroplan.com. You can also check availability using services like ExpertFlyer.com
One of the easiest ways to earn enough
Aeroplan Miles for redemptions like those listed above is to grab a
co-branded Aeroplan credit card. You could look at the American Express Gold Rewards card –
it offers a 25,000 Membership Rewards points welcome bonus which can
then be converted to Aeroplan almost instantaneously at a 1:1 rate which would give you enough miles for a one way redemption on this route. Or it is enough miles to redeem for this flight in round trip in Economy class. Also with the Gold Rewards card you don’t have to wait until the end of
your billing period to receive your welcome bonus after you’ve met the
minimum spend. There are numerous other card options to earn Aeroplan Miles which you can find listed on our Aeroplan Bonus Miles page.
Images via Air Canada & Aeroplan
Source of route news: Routesonline