Air Canada (and its tie to United)

I've mentioned Airline Alliances a few times on the blog. This post provides a deep dive on what they are and why you want to use them.

One of the most common airlines in airline alliances is Air Canada. Why? Because Air Canada is in Star Alliance and 3 major banks transfer points to Air Canada: American Express, Capital One, and Chase

Ummm, okay? Why does this matter? United is also in Star Alliance and a LOT of people love flying United. BUT - the only bank that transfers directly to United is Chase...and a lot of people save their Chase points to transfer to Hyatt. 

No idea what I'm talking about? Lets back up to How to Transfer Points (and Why) as well as Bank Transfer Partners: American Express, Capital One, and Chase

Are you still with me or have I made your head spin? Read on to learn more about Air Canada!

Air Canada Point Redemptions

First and foremost, I'm writing this post on 4/29/2026, but Air Canada announced earlier this week that effective June 2026, they will be raising their points pricing.

The pricing changes may alter how relevant this example is in the future, but it's still a great example to illustrate a benefit of using airline alliances and why.

Air Canada/United Booking Example

Earlier this week I had a friend reach out to ask for help with booking a last minute flight to attend a funeral in New York. 

Being in Denver, a United Hub, she had found a United flight that she wanted to book, but that was nearly $1,000!

She only has Chase points, so we priced the same flight out on United, booking with miles. A total of 30,000 miles roundtrip as a non-United cardholder 

(PS- United cardholders now get at least 10% off all flights! So this flight would have cost 27,000 miles. Learn more about United cards here)

30,000 miles for a roundtrip flight that would cost $947 is pretty good! Especially not to have to spend an unforeseen $1K out of pocket to attend a funeral... See how the United points show that these are "Saver Award" flights? That means there's a chance that airline alliance partners (like Air Canada) could have the United same flight bookable through Air Canada.

We searched, and low and behold, the same exact United flights were available on Air Canada's website for the same price of 30,000 points (although you will see that taxes and fees differ).

In this case, United and Air Canada are charging the same amount of points for the same flight (but Air Canada's fees are higher); but if I wanted to save my Chase points and use Capital One or American Express points instead - that's an option. (or if I had some points from one bank that I wanted to use and then "top off" with points from another bank!

BUT, we could do a little bit better because I remembered Chase is having a 20% Transfer Bonus to Air Canada. Using my Transfer Bonus Calculator, we plug in the needed 30,000 points, a 20% bonus, and a 1:1 ratio to learn that we only need 25,000 Chase points transferred to Air Canada to book this 30,000 point flight!

It's worth noting that there are 2 major considerations when specifically booking United flights through Air Canada:

• Taxes and Fees are higher. United charges the standard $5.60 one-way for domestic flights, whereas Air Canada is a bit higher (but the trade off is, you're saving points. So you'd have to decide where you find more value: saving cash or saving points)
• Cancellation Policy. United lets you cancel points flights for free and immediately redeposits the points so that you could book something else. Air Canada charges a hefty $150 cancellation fee if it's been more than 24 hours since your made your booking. (I generally only book flights on Air Canada that I know I am going to take! or if I need to cancel/change, I hope for a flight time change to give me the ability to decline accepting the changes).