In early December 2022, Aeroplan announced that Emirates flights could now be booked with Aeroplan points. This represented a major addition to the loyalty program’s roster of partner airlines, and one that was unique in that pricing would be subject to Emirates’s own chart rather than the standard pricing for partner airlines on the Aeroplan Flight Reward Chart.
It was also announced that Emirates bookings would be rolled out in three phases. During the first phase, Emirates pricing would be the same as other partner airlines, which was a boon for anyone looking to try out the onboard bar on the A380 on the cheap.
We’ve now entered the second phase of the roll out, and it appears that Emirates flights are now subject to the pricing on the Emirates chart. It’s important to note that Emirates First Class still isn’t available on Aeroplan, although the timeline Air Canada gave was in early 2023, so it could be any day now.
Emirates Flights Now Subject to Own Chart
Emirates has its own reward pricing chart in the Aeroplan program, and the pricing is set out by total distance flown and class of service. The pricing for Emirates flights booked with Aeroplan will eventually be in a range of prices, rather than a fixed value as is the case with other partner airlines.
As a reminder, the Emirates reward chart is set out as follows:
Distance (miles) | Economy Class | Business Class | First Class |
Up to 2,000 | 15,000 – 30,000 | 30,000 – 77,500 | 65,000 – 175,000 |
2,001 – 5,000 | 21,000 – 65,000 | 45,000 – 140,000 | 110,000 – 325,000 |
5,001 – 9,000 | 40,000 – 85,000 | 85,000 – 185,000 | 225,000 – 475,000 |
9,001 – 12,000 | 60,000 – 110,000 | 120,000 – 225,000 | 300,000 – 600,000 |
12,001+ | 85,000 – 150,000 | 180,000 – 300,000 | 400,000 – 750,000 |
It’s worth noting that pricing on the lower end of the range is still higher than the fixed pricing on partner airlines for similar flights. However, if the pricing skews towards the upper end of the range or anywhere in between, you’ll be paying a significant premium to fly with Emirates.
In one sense, the Emirates pricing is similar to Air Canada dynamic pricing, in that it depends on a host of factors. The full range of prices for Emirates flights is due to kick in later on in 2023, but for now, let’s take a look at how Emirates flights are pricing out.
Up to 2,000 Miles Flown
The range of 2,000 miles from Dubai covers destinations in the Middle East, Central Asia, the Indian Sub-continent, and the Horn of Africa.
In the lowest distance band of up to 2,000 miles flown, we are seeing prices of around 22,000 points in economy and around 47,000 points in business class. From Dubai, this covers destinations such as Istanbul and Malé.
It’s interesting to note that there is a minor difference between the destinations. In economy, there’s an extra 200 points to go from Dubai to Malé, and in business class, it’s an extra 400 points.
It’s also worth noting that avoiding Emirates and flying with Gulf Air from Dubai to Malé instead is more expensive in economy, but less expensive in business class.
Both of the prices fall above the lowest value in up-to-2,000 miles distance band on the Emirates reward chart, although they’re closer to the lower end than to the higher end.
2,001–5,000 Miles Flown
The next distance band covers flights of between 2,001–5,000 miles. From Dubai, this covers destinations in Africa, Europe, and much of South East and East Asia.
There is a greater range in pricing for flights in this distance band, and in some cases, more so in economy than in business class.
The first example we’ll look at is a popular route between Dubai and London. A direct flight with Emirates is pricing out at 34,500 Aeroplan points in economy or 72,400 points in business class.
If you were to route via Bahrain with Gulf Air instead, you’d save around 10,000 points in economy and just shy of 30,000 points in business class. That difference isn’t insignificant, especially when you consider that Gulf Air’s long-haul product is indeed quite competitive.
Next up, let’s take a look at a one-way flight from Dubai to Johannesburg. The current pricing comes in at 39,300 Aeroplan points in economy and 81,900 Aeroplan points in business class.
By choosing to fly with Ethiopian Airlines and routing through Addis Ababa instead, you’ll save around 4,000 points in economy or about 22,000 points in business class. Emirates arguably has a much better onboard product than Ethiopian Airlines, though, so you’d want to weigh the costs and the benefits associated with either airline.
Next up, let’s take a look at a direct flight with Emirates from Dubai to Tokyo. In economy, it prices out at 46,300 points, and in business class, 83,900 points.
It’s a bit more difficult to find single-connection flights from Dubai to Tokyo that don’t include Emirates, so we’ll save the discussion of combining Emirates with other partner airlines for the next section.
In these cases, we’re again seeing prices above the lowest end of the Emirates range, but within the bottom half. Flying with Emirates will come at a cost compared to flying with other partner airlines, although the convenience of a direct flight and any difference in hard and soft products could sway you to choose Emirates over other airlines.
It’s worth noting that this is the distance band for the popular fifth freedom flights from Milan to New York (JFK) or Athens to New York (EWR).
These flights price out at 39,400–47,500 points in economy or 92,000 points in business class.
By comparison, a one-way flight from Milan to New York (EWR) with United comes out at 40,000 points in economy or 70,000 points in business class.
5,001–9,000 Miles Flown
The next distance band on the Emirates reward chart covers direct flights from Dubai to North America, South America, and Oceania.
A direct flight from Dubai to Toronto clocks in at over 14 hours with Emirates and just shy of 15 hours with Air Canada. By booking with Emirates, you’ll have to fork out 110,400 Aeroplan points in business class.
Now, compared to the dynamic pricing with a direct flight from Dubai to Toronto with Air Canada, when we see prices in economy coming in at around 20,000 points less than business class with Emirates, the price doesn’t look too bad. When we compare it with a single-connection flight via Europe, the price for a one-way business class flight drops by around 20,000 points as compared to Emirates.
If you were to fly from Dubai to the other side of North America, perhaps to Seattle, a direct flight with Emirates comes in at 61,300 points in economy and 117,600 points in business class.
The cost of flying to Seattle increases by around 7,000 points in business class compared to flying to Toronto, which isn’t too significant. Interestingly, the flight times are nearly identical for these two flights, despite the flight to Seattle being around 500 miles longer.
As we’ve seen with the previous distance bands, the prices are coming in at above the lowest end of the specified range, but on the lower half of prices.
9,001–12,000 Miles Flown
At this point, you’d be looking at a flight from one area of the world to another with a single connection in Dubai. The longest distance that Emirates flies in a single flight is from Dubai to Auckland, which comes in at around 8,824 miles.
One such example might be flying from Seattle to Malé via Dubai exclusively with Emirates, which measures around 9,310 miles. This flight pairing prices out at 79,300 points in economy or 165,300 points in business class.
Of course, there are other ways to get to the Maldives from North America, including via Istanbul with Turkish Airlines or via Doha with Qatar Airways. If you’re in a bind, or if you’d really like to fly Emirates the whole way, it will come with a higher price tag.
By comparison, similar flights with Turkish Airlines would price out at nearly 110,000 points in business class, which is a significant discount.
The same is true when flying from Toronto to Johannesburg via Dubai with Emirates. This flight routing, which measures just shy of 10,900 miles, prices out at 192,300 Aeroplan points in business class exclusively with Emirates.
This is indeed quite the steep price to pay for a trip to South Africa. At this point, you’d either want to look at other programs to get to South Africa, or combine an Emirates flight with another partner airline, which we will explore below.
It’s also worth noting that if you happen to be a Super Elite with Priority Rewards, you can cut the cost of these Emirates-only flights in half.
Indeed, Priority Rewards can be valuable in so many different ways.
It’s worth noting that the pricing for business class flights in this band seems to vary more than the others. For example, the flights from Seattle to Malé measure just over 9,000 miles, but the pricing comes in at relatively close to the lower end for economy and around the middle of the range for business class.
In the example from Toronto to Johannesburg, which is just shy of 11,000 miles, the business class price appears in the upper third of the range.
By now, it’s safe to say that the farther you fly with Emirates, the more you’ll have to pay. In some cases, it’s not a major difference, while for longer flights, there is a wider gap.
12,001+ Miles Flown
For the last distance band, there will be very few examples of flights that measure over 12,001 miles. To do this, you’d need to fly from North America to Oceania or some points in Asia. In other words, you’ll really want to love flying if you make bookings such as these.
In fact, it wasn’t possible to piece together an itinerary that would fall into this range, as the availability between Dubai and Oceania is relatively scarce throughout the year. Given how unlikely it is that most people will make bookings such as these, for now, it suffices to say that paying at least 180,000 points for a one-way booking in business class isn’t necessarily a good deal, and looking elsewhere will give you better value from your points.
Combine Emirates with Other Partner Airlines
So far, we’ve only looked at flights exclusively with Emirates or exclusively with partner airlines. But what happens if you’d like to mix an Emirates flight with another partner airline?
When Emirates first shifted to its own reward chart as of January 2023, there was a brief period when a combination of Emirates and other partner airlines would continue to price out as per the standard Flight Reward Chart.
However, this has now been adjusted, and any itinerary that includes an Emirates flight more closely reflects the Emirates chart.
Conclusion
As expected, flights with Emirates are now subject to the separate Emirates reward chart. If you make a booking with an Emirates flight on the itinerary, you’ll wind up paying more than if you were to book with other partner airlines.
We expect that Emirates First Class will be available with Aeroplan in the near future, as this was also expected around this time. We’ll be sure to let you know as soon as that happens, so you can live out the dream of taking a shower in the skies.