How To Travel To Canada In Business Class With Points From Australia

by Zac George
a plane with seats and windows

In this post, I’ll be continuing on with the ‘how to travel to….from Australia’ series. If you’ve missed the previous instalments, they are listed below:

In this post, I’ll be covering what’s possibly the hardest country on the list, Canada. Unlike travelling to Asia, America and the Middle East, Australian travellers don’t have too many choices when it comes to non-stop services.

Air Canada

Air Canada is definitely the most known carrier that’s travelling from Canada to Australia. Th

Departure Ports:

  • Brisbane AC36/AC37 (787-9)
  • Sydney AC34/AC35 (777-200LR)
  • Melbourne AC38/39 (787-9)

What are the best points to use?

Avicana Lifemiles

  • Business – 80,000 points one-way in Business Class
  • Economy – 40,000 points one-way In Economy

United MileagePlus

  • Business – 90,000 points one-way in Business Class
  • Economy – 40,000 points one-way in Economy Class

Singapore Airlines Krisflyer

  • Business – 130,000 points one-way in Business Class
  • Economy – 60,000 points one-way in Economy Class

Air Canada’s 787-9’s seat 298 and are configured in a 3 cabin layout with Business, Premium Economy & Economy Class. There is a total of 247 seats in Economy, 21 in Premium Economy and 30 in Business Class. The Business Class suites feature a pitch of 80” and a width of 21”, Premium Economy seats have a pitch of 38” and a width of 19” while the Economy Class seats have a pitch of 30” and a width of 17-inches.

a plane with seats and windows

Air Canada 787 Business Class (Image – Air Canada)

The 777-200LR’s also feature the same 3 classes but seats just 2 more passengers. There’s 40 Business Class suites, 24 Premium Economy seats and a total of 236 Economy seats.

The Business Class suites have a pitch of 75” and width of 21”, Premium Economy seats have a pitch of 37” and width of 20” and Economy seats have a pitch of 31” and a width of 17.”

a room with computers and seats in the middle of an airplane

Air Canada 787 Business Class (Image – Air Canada)

Air Canada Business Class space is very limited to and from Australia but if you’re booking with Aeroplan you’ll have more access to award space.

The best way to. find award space onboard Air Canada is to use the United.com website.

Qantas

Qantas is the only other carrier that flies to Canada non-stop however, the service is only seasonal. The service runs from mid-December to late January for peak season.

Departure Ports:

Sydney QF75/76 (747-400)

What are the best points to use?

American Airlines AAdvantage

  • Business – 82,500 points one-way in Business Class
  • Economy –  42,000 points one-way in Economy Class

Qantas Frequent Flyer

  • Business – 96,000 points one-way in Business Class
  • Premium Economy – 72.000 points one-way in Premium Economy
  • Economy – 41,900 points one-way in Economy Class

Cathay Pacific Marco Polo

  • Business Class – 50,000 points one-way in Business Class
  • Economy Class – 32,500 points one-way In Economy

The Qantas 747 is also split into 3 cabins with Economy, Premium Economy and Business Class. There’s a total of 270 Economy seats, 36 Premium Economy seats and 58 Business Class seats.

a woman serving a woman in a plane

Qantas 747-400 Business Class (Image – Qantas)

The 747 Business Class seats have a pitch of 60” and width of 21.5”, Premium Economy seats have a pitch of 38” and a width of 19” and Economy seats have a pitch of 31” and a width of 17.5.”

a woman sleeping in an airplane

Qantas 747-400 Business Class (Image – Qantas)

Now I should disclose that getting a Business Class award on Qantas to Vancouver is EXTREMELY difficult unless you have Platinum or Platinum One status and are able to open a seat. Otherwise, I would heavily advise using Expertflyer to set alerts for U class fares and if that doesn’t work I would look at upgrading.

The best way to find Qantas award space to/from Canada, I would recommend using the Qantas website, British Airways or Expertflyer.

Unfortunately, these are Australia’s only direct services to and from Canada but there are a ton of ways to get there if you’re willing to connect somewhere through another country.

connecting from a USA flight is quite easy and they have many flights to choose from. It’s also good that the most flights departing Australia arrive into the United States in the morning making it easier to be flexible with a connection into Canada.

The other great way to connect into Canada is via Asia. Cathay Pacific, ANA & Japan Airlines are just some of the carriers that run services into Canadian ports like Vancouver and Toronto.

Summary

Even though the non-stop services are very limited to Canada from Australia, there are ways of making the trips work. If you’re lucky enough to find Air Canada Business Class or Qantas Business take it and don’t look back. Connecting through Asia is seamless and it can be a good break in the journey and you can explore.

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6 comments

henry LAX April 18, 2017 - 10:20 pm

“As an example, here’s how many points it would cost to fly Cathay Pacific Business Class from Hong Kong:

American Airlines AAdvantage charge 72,500 points one-way”

you may wanna append the post a bit. AA miles don’t allow Aussie-HKG-Canada routing on a single ticket (but I believe UA does), so it’ll be 2 separate redemptions, far higher than the 72.5k listed above.

And one can realistically forget about awards on QF’s SYD-YVR seasonal service. By design, it’s flown to capture the peak demand of folks willing to pay top dollars willing to shell out cold hard cash.

Zac George April 18, 2017 - 10:24 pm

henry – I linked the Asia article above as the reference for Aus – HKG. The bottom part is just for the HKG – Canada legs.

Kyle April 19, 2017 - 9:12 am

I was able to secure TWO award tickets on the BNE -> YVR flight for my honeymoon (return flight) in October. I’m very excited to see the 787-9 product! It will be my first international business class experience! Booked with united miles.

Zac George April 19, 2017 - 10:29 am

Excellent work!, hope you enjoy it 🙂

Shane April 19, 2017 - 10:28 pm

One correction: All of Air Canadas 777 fleet had been updated with the same business class seat as the 787. The seat you are referring to on the 777-200 in the article is the old business class seat, which is only on the 767’s and A330’s now.

Tom April 21, 2017 - 9:13 pm

Air Canada business class on B777-200 is SHIT. My mother flew this service August last year, which I booked with then 80,000Krisflyer points. For the morning flight they only served breakfast, and for 11 hours had no service what so ever. On the return trip, taking Air NewZealand Business premier is exponentially better than air canada, most times only difference being 3-4 hours in travel time from Vancouver to Sydney. Even booking AirNewZealand one way full priced flights, are almost 40 to 50% cheaper, than booking QANTAS or Air Canada. Also if have some healthy AMEX MR points, can get discount on full ticketed flight if book online via AMEX travel. 100,000MR points equivalent to $1000AUD.

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