Aeroplan Adds Emirates Premium Economy Awards, Restricts First Class to Elites

If a lie-flat seat to Dubai has never quite fit your points budget, Emirates premium economy is now on the table. As of July 21, 2026, Aeroplan members can redeem points for the cabin across the Emirates network.

The update also comes with a new restriction at the front of the plane. Emirates first class awards are now limited to members with Aeroplan 35K status or higher.

Live award searches are already showing how premium economy prices out, including on flights to Montreal.

Premium Economy Joins the Emirates Award Chart

Starting July 21, Aeroplan members can redeem points for travel in Emirates premium economy for the first time.

That addition makes Emirates the first Aeroplan partner airline you can book in all four cabins, from economy right up to first class.

Premium economy is a cabin Emirates has been rolling out across its Airbus A350s, refurbished A380s, and Boeing 777s, and it slots in between economy and business class in both comfort and price.

Emirates now sits in Aeroplan's Select Partner group alongside United Airlines, Etihad Airways, and flydubai. That means its awards are priced dynamically, with a published starting rate and median for each cabin rather than the fixed rates that apply to other partners.

For travel between North America and the Atlantic zone, which is the chart that covers flights from Canada to Dubai, the current rates look like this:

Distance (miles)	Economy	Premium Economy	Business	First
0–4,000	From 32,500 Median 40,000	From 50,000 Median 75,300	From 60,000 Median 129,300	From 90,000
4,001–6,000	From 42,500 Median 42,800	From 60,000 Median 84,600	From 75,000 Median 80,000	From 100,000
6,001–8,000	From 55,000 Median 55,000	From 70,000 Median 113,400	From 90,000 Median 123,600	From 120,000
8,001+	From 70,000 Median 70,000	From 85,000 Median 119,200	From 110,000 Median 112,800	From 130,000

Award searches on launch day show where premium economy falls in that structure. A non-stop flight from Dubai to Montreal prices at 106,800 points one-way in premium economy, compared to 60,900 points in economy and 236,800 points in business class on the same flight.

Dubai to Montreal comes in at roughly 6,500 miles flown, which puts it in the 6,001 to 8,000 band. That premium economy price sits just under the published median.

Shorter routes follow the same pattern. Dubai to Milan comes in at 65,100 points in premium economy, against 136,300 points in business class.

In both cases, premium economy is pricing at less than half the cost of a business class seat on the same flight.

The cash portion comes to about $91 (CAD), made up of Aeroplan's flat $39 partner booking fee plus taxes. Not a dollar of Emirates' carrier surcharges makes it onto the bill.

First Class Now Requires Aeroplan 35K Status

The other update is less generous. Emirates first class redemptions are now limited to members with Aeroplan 35K status or higher at the time of booking.

There's also an age rule. Every traveller seated in the first class cabin on an award ticket must be at least nine years old, so families booking a young child up front are out of luck.

Both restrictions line up with the Emirates Skywards program's own rules, which tells me Emirates pushed for the change rather than Aeroplan choosing it.

If this sounds familiar, it's because Emirates restricted first class awards to its own elite members back in May 2025. Aeroplan has now fallen in line.

For anyone without status, this removes one of the most aspirational uses of Aeroplan points. The Emirates first class shower suite and onboard bar are now a status perk, not an open redemption.

The silver lining is that 35K status is a more reachable bar than it might sound. Under the SQC system that took effect for the 2026 qualification cycle, status comes from a single pool of Status Qualifying Credits, and credit card spending counts toward it.

Every $5,000 in spending on a premium Aeroplan co-branded card, such as the American Express Aeroplan Reserve Card or the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege Card, earns 1,000 SQC, up to 25,000 SQC per year. Air Canada flights add to the pool at 2 SQC per dollar of base fare in standard economy, and 4 SQC per dollar on Flex, premium economy, and business class fares.

Put $75,000 through a premium card over the year and you're at 15,000 SQC. Covering the remaining 20,000 SQC takes roughly $5,000 in Flex or higher base fares, which is well within reach for anyone taking a few trips a year.

My honest take is that the restriction is fair. Tying Emirates first class to a status level you can reach with a credit card strategy and a handful of flights is a lot gentler than shutting down partner access entirely, as other airlines have done.

First Class Keeps Retreating Behind Status Walls

This change fits a pattern we've been watching across the industry, with airlines steadily reserving their flagship first class awards for status holders.

Air France limits La Première awards to Flying Blue Platinum and Ultimate members, and releases no first class award space to partner programs at all. SWISS has kept its first class closed to partner redemptions since 2014, with awards reserved for Miles & More Senator and HON Circle members.

Emirates is at least taking a softer approach. Rather than cutting off partner bookings entirely, it recognizes Aeroplan status as the qualifying credential, so a 35K member in Canada keeps the same first class access as a Skywards elite in Dubai.

Aeroplan Still Adds No Surcharges on Emirates

The detail that keeps Aeroplan interesting for Emirates flights is its surcharge policy. It remains the only program that tacks on no carrier surcharges to these awards.

The trade-off is dynamic pricing. Emirates awards float with demand rather than holding to the fixed rates of most partners, and they often price well above the starting rates on the chart.

Business class from Montreal to Dubai is listed from around 90,000 points one-way, with first class from Toronto at 120,000 points and up. As the searches above show, real-world pricing often lands well above the bottom of those ranges.

Those numbers aren't cheap, but with zero fuel surcharges attached, the out-of-pocket cost stays low next to booking the same Emirates flight through another partner.

Pricing has been through a few structures since Emirates awards arrived on Aeroplan, and we covered the original Emirates reward chart back in 2023.

Conclusion

On balance, this update rewards the members who were already winning. Status holders get more cabins to play with, while everyone else loses the one redemption they may have been saving toward.

I'd also keep an eye on how premium economy availability holds up, since early searches are only showing a couple of award seats per flight.

If Emirates first class was on your list and you're short of 35K status, treat this as the nudge to either chase the status or redirect those points toward a partner that still lets you fly up front.