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I’m always on the lookout for ways of trying out long-haul premium cabin products as cheaply and as economically as possible. I can also find an opportunity to try out the product without actually having to fly long-haul in the first place then that’s a big bonus…and that’s an opportunity that’s available right now.
A few days I wrote about how you can now try out the SWISS 777-300ER Business Class cabin for just 25,000 miles (and taxes) and now I’m going to show you how you can book the Air Canada Dreamliner Business Class cabin for exactly the same number of miles.
Routes Online has noted that Air Canada has just scheduled its Boeing 787 Dreamliner to operate between Vancouver and San Francisco for the coming summer months, and this opens up the opportunity for mile & points fans to try out a long-haul premium cabin for considerably fewer points than normal.
Between 1 July and 1 September 2019 these are the Air Canada flights that will be operated by a 787 Dreamliner:
AC566 YVR 13:30 – 16:04 SFO (Daily)
AC571 SFO 17:30 – 19:46 YVR (Daily)
Note: Air Canada/Air Canada Jazz offers 5 daily non-stop flights between Vancouver and San Francisco – the Dreamliner will only be operating one of these flights.
As things stand, the case fares for the Dreamliner flights are more than a little ridiculous (this is 2 to 2.5-hour flight we’re talking about)…
…but it’s not very difficult to find award availability on the Aeroplan website:
For reasons that I can’t figure out right now, the United Airlines website is more than happy to sell you a one-way cash fare on the Air Canada Dreamliner (for a ludicrous amount of money)…
…but doesn’t want to admit to the existence of the flight (let alone offer award space) when you choose to pay with points.
Here are all the non-stop flights United is showing for travel between San Francisco and Vancouver on 10 July (the date on which Aeroplan is showing award availability) – there’s no sign of the 5:30 pm Dreamliner flight:
Still, Aeroplan miles aren’t particularly difficult to come by (Aeroplan is an Amex Membership Rewards transfer partner and a Marriott Bonvoy transfer partner) so, if you’d like to try this flight out, hopefully, you should be able to generate a few miles (if you don’t have enough already).
Air Canada 787 Business Class (In Brief)
Air Canada operates the -8 and -9 Dreamliner aircraft and it’s the 787-8 aircraft that is scheduled to operate the route between Vancouver and San Francisco.
The Air Canada 787-8 offers a 3-class configuration with the following seat counts:
- Business Class – 20 seats
- Premium Economy – 21 seats
- Economy Class – 210 seats
The Business Class cabin comes with an all-aisle-access 1-2-1 seating layout…
…and similar B/E Aerospace seats to the ones you’ll find in American’s 787-9 Dreamliners and in a number of Qatar Airways Business Class cabins too.
These happen to be one of my favorite Business Class seats.
Features of the air Canada Dreamliner’s Business Class cabin include seats that recline/extend to form an 80″ bed, an 18″ IFE screen and, on international flights, galleys that include espresso/cappuccino makers (these may or may not be present on the Vancouver – San Francisco route).
Bottom Line
If you happen to need to fly in Business Class between Vancouver and San Francisco it may be an idea to check to see if you can book on to the Dreamliner on the days you’re scheduled to travel (assuming you can find days where the fares aren’t crazy).
If you have no real-world need to fly between Vancouver and San Franciso this may not be a trip that will appeal to you but I’m prepared to bet that there are a number of West Coast AvGeeks who will be tempted to try this out.
I’m not about to say that this is a great/fantastic/wonderful use of miles or that there’s amazing value to be had here, but I am going to say that this may be one of the cheaper ways to try out the Air Canada 787-8 Business Class cabin….especially if you have enough Aeroplan miles/Amex Membership Rewards Points/Marriott Bonvoy Points that you can afford to be frivolous.
I am glad to see you point out that you would not say 25,000 miles for a 2.5 hour flight, even in J, would be a good use of miles. Yes, it would give a chance to check out the seat AC is using on Dreamliners in Business Class, but there’s no meal service and, really, nothing much to distinguish the service from Coach, except a couple of free drinks. I doubt even the geekiest of AvGeeks would do this.
@Rob in Canada
Just an FYI: I’m flying this bird a few times in the coming weeks for work and AC’s confirmation shows that there is a meal service on this flight. With only 20 seats in J on the -8 vs the bigger -9 business cabin, I’m sure 2 FA’s can service the whole cabin.
I frequently get meal service on YVR-SFO flights on both AC and United on the 319’s and 320’s with either 8 or 20 J seats.