Earn Miles on Air Canada

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Air Canada is Canada's largest airline together with its regional partners operating as Air Canada Express. With its global hub in Toronto and hubs in Calgary, Montreal and Vancouver, it serves more than 200 airports on six continents.

Air Canada Rouge is Air Canada’s leisure carrier operating more than 100 routes on five continents

Visit www.aircanada.com for more information.

MileagePlus members can earn award miles and Premier qualifying credits on eligible Air Canada flights. To receive mileage credit, present your MileagePlus number when you make reservations and make sure that it appears on your boarding pass at check-in. Additionally, MileagePlus members receive the following benefits on Air Canada-operated flights:​

In addition to Star Alliance Silver benefits, MileagePlus Premier Silvers flying on Air Canada are eligible for additional benefits when traveling in Economy:

  • Priority check-in
  • Boarding zone 3

We've partnered with Air Canada to ensure you have a smooth transit through Canada. We have a few tips to help you travel with our partner airlines:

  • If you’re connecting through the Montreal or Vancouver airports, you won’t need to pick up your bags and re-check them. Your bags will meet you at your final destination.
  • Any firearms that are transferring through Air Canada must be picked up and rechecked with Air Canada agents.
  • Your passport and visa will be checked at your first point of entry after leaving the US. Make sure you have all your travel documents ready and signed.
  • Partner airlines may have different policies for carry-on bag size and weights so make sure to check their policy to avoid any interruptions.
  • Download the Air Canada app to get up to the minute updates on your flight details, including gate information and any disruptions.

Earning miles on Air Canada flights

If your ticket was purchased directly from united.com, by calling the United Customer Contact Center (including a United specialty desk, such as United Groups, United Meetings or the Premier Priority Desk), from a United representative at the airport, or through a United ticket office, you'll earn miles based on the fare1,2 and your MileagePlus status. Please reference the "Ticket number starts with 016" section below.3

If your ticket was purchased directly from Air Canada, you’ll earn miles based on the flight distance, branded fare, and the purchased fare class/fare class flown. The branded fare is displayed as either Comfort (CO), Flex (FL) Standard (TG), or Basic (BA) when you purchase the ticket from Air Canada. You should reference the “Ticket number starts with 014”4 section

Otherwise, you should reference the "Ticket number does not start with 016 or 014" section.5 You'll earn miles based on flight distance6 and the purchased fare class and/or fare class flown.2

If you don't know how your ticket was purchased, in most cases your ticket number can be found on your confirmation email or receipt.

Using miles

Visit united.com to find out how many miles you'll need to fly one way or roundtrip, depending on class of service and region of travel, on any Star Alliance network airline. You can book award travel on Air Canada through united.com. Service charges may apply for booking or changing award reservations, depending on ticketing, travel dates and MileagePlus status. Award tickets cannot be issued at the airport. Call 1-800-UNITED-1 (1-800-864-8331) to reach the United Customer Contact Center within the U.S. and Canada, or view more contact and language options.

Footnotes

  1. The fare is the base fare of the ticket plus carrier-imposed surcharges, excluding any government-imposed taxes and surcharges. For tickets purchased in a currency other than U.S. dollars, we will convert the purchase to U.S. dollars using an industry standard exchange rate and then calculate the number of miles you will earn. Please note that the price displayed when purchasing a ticket on united.com includes up to a 7.5% U.S. Federal Transportation Tax on the base amount of the fare on itineraries wholly within the United States. This tax also applies to certain itineraries between the United States and Canada or Mexico. You will not earn Premier qualifying points (PQP) or award miles for the full amount of the displayed price for these itineraries because the U.S. Federal Transportation tax is not eligible to earn PQP or miles. Fare classes A, B, C, D, E, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, Y and Z are eligible for accrual.
  2. The award miles accrued on codeshare flights are based on the operating carrier and their equivalent fare class. This could result in differences between the purchased booking class and the booking class flown, which determines the number of base miles and Premier qualifying credits and Premier qualifying segments earned.
  3. Ticket number starts with "016" and was purchased from United on united.com, through the United Customer Contact Center, or at the airport, or from a travel agency or other travel website.
  4. Ticket number starts with “014” and was purchased directly from Air Canada. Branded fares are displayed during the booking process and can be identified by looking at the last two characters of the fare basis code as follows Comfort (CO), Flex (FL), Standard (TG), and Basic (BA).
  5. Ticket number does not start with "016" and was purchased from an airline other than United or from a travel agency or other travel website.
  6. Flight distance is defined as the miles scheduled for a specific flight, as determined solely by United.
  7. Flights to and from Cuba are not eligible for MileagePlus award miles and qualifying earn, except on commercial flights operated by United Airlines.
  8. All other fare classes do not accrue mileage. United and Air Canada reserve the right to change the eligible fare classes at any time without notice. Mileage accrual is subject to the rules of the United MileagePlus program and, as provided therein, mileage will be credited in accordance with the terms and conditions of the MileagePlus Program in effect at the time of travel, not at the time air travel is purchased, booked or reserved, and accordingly miles may not be awarded for some tickets or miles may be awarded in an amount fewer than shown. The award miles accrued on codeshare flights are based on the operating carrier and their equivalent fare class. This could result in differences between the purchased booking class and the booking class flown, which determines the number of base miles and Premier qualifying credits earned. MileagePlus award miles earned may vary depending on the Premier status of the customer.
  9. Flights within Canada only.