Air Canada has upgraded one of their two weekly flights between Vancouver and Miami to an internationally configured Boeing 787-9 aircraft during May 2024 except on May 12. With the addition of this widebody aircraft has come availability to fly in Premium Economy and Business Class with lie flat seats!
Which flights are operated by the 787?
From Vancouver to Miami it is the Sunday flight AC1034 (Dep 0815 Arr 1704) and from Miami to Vancouver it is the Sunday flight AC1035 (Dep 1845 Arr 2153). (Source Aeroroutes)
Example of Availability
Here is one example of an itinerary between Vancouver and Miami consisting of one way awards:
WARNING & Booking tip! When I tried o price these as a round trip the points pricing almost doubled to 126,000 points Be sure to book them as separate one way flights as shown above to yield the lower pricing.
Aeroplan typically requires between 35,000 to 70,000 points one way in business class for this route and as you can see these are actually pricing in that range. The points requirement shown above are before any preferred pricing discounts provided if you have an Aeroplan co-brand credit card and/or elite status.
Recommended reading: Air Canada Aeroplan reward flight pricing compared: no status no credit card pricing versus elite status + credit card Preferred pricing
Redemption value
If you are someone who likes to check the value they are receiving for their points redemptions, this is a pretty good one! The cash price for the same flights above was $4215.87 round trip. Subtract the $137.18 in fees on the award tickets (Since you would book them as two one-ways) means you are redeeming 78,400 points for $4078.69 of the ticket value. That works out to 5.2 cents per point and would be even higher if you receive preferred pricing discounts provided from an Aeroplan co-brand credit card and/or elite status. This is well above the minimum 1.5 cents valuation we place on Aeroplan points!
Transferring points from American Express
If you don’t have enough points in your Aeroplan account this is prime opportunity for transfers from American Express Membership Rewards. Points transfer almost instantly on a 1:1 basis and if you happen to have earned those as 5x points from the American Express Cobalt Card you are looking at a return of over 25% for each dollar you spent! Simply amazing and untouchable!
Wrapping it up
These are some pretty long routes clocking in at 5:49 eastbound and 6:08 westbound so that gives you a good amount of time to enjoy Air Canada’s international business class on this route!
Visit AirCanada.com to book your flights
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Images via Air Canada