Air Canada has upgraded one of their two daily flights between Vancouver and Ottawa to an internationally configured Boeing 787-9 aircraft for the first two months of 2024. With the addition of this widebody aircraft has come availability to fly in Premium Economy and Business Class with lie flat seats! On quite a few days the business class redemption rates are quite high but there are select days where it is under 25,000 points one way! And for Premium Economy there are quite a few days pricing below 20,000 points one way.
Which flights are operated by the 787?
From Vancouver to Ottawa it is flight AC342 (Dep 0815 Arr 1545) and from Ottawa to Vancouver it is flight AC345 (Dep 1710 Arr 1921). These flights are operated with a 787 every day of the week from January 8 to February 29, 2023 (Source Aeroroutes)
Example of Availability
Here is one example of an itinerary between Vancouver and Ottawa consisting of one way awards in each direction in early January:
Booking tip! When trying to price these as a round trip the points pricing doubled (same goes for Premium Economy) Booking them as separate one way flights as shown above yielded the lower pricing.
Aeroplan typically requires between 25,000 to 60,000 points one way in business class for this route and as you can see these are actually pricing well below 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
There were only a few days that I checked that were pricing in the low 24,000 point range so if this award is of interest to you be sure to book it sooner than later!
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 $3050.16 round trip. Subtract the $81.33 in fees and you are redeeming 49,100 points for $2968.83 of the ticket value. That works out to just over 6 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 around 30% for each dollar you spent! Simply amazing and untouchable!
Wrapping it up
These are some pretty long domestic routes clocking in at 4:30 eastbound and 5:11 westbound. That gives you a good amount of time to enjoy Air Canada’s international business class especially if you are redeeming under 25,000 points one way!
Visit AirCanada.com to book your flights
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