How to Fly to Canada from 4,500 British Airways Miles Each Way!

I know many people like to visit Canada for all kinds of reasons year round. Montreal and Vancouver are great for culture. Lake Louise and Banff national parks offer unparalleled beauty for summer hiking. The ski resorts like Whistler have some of the best skiing in North America. For those reason, Canada is a destination on many lists and there’s no better time than the present to discuss the tricks to getting there with miles.

Tickets to Canada will typically cost 12,500 miles each way with many miles program such as American Airlines, US Airways, Alaska Airlines, Delta and United Airlines. But British Airways has a distance based award chart and we can fly to Canada for much fewer miles, even redeeming our miles on American Airlines, Alaska Airlines or US Airways flights.  A flight from New York to Montreal or Toronto, for example, is only 4,500 miles each way. A flight from Los Angeles to Vancouver is 7,500 miles each way. For that reason, it pays to learn how to use British Airways miles to Canada to make sure we’re getting the best deal!

I previously wrote about Redeeming British Airways Miles on American Airlines and US Airways Flights and Redeem­ing British Air­ways Miles on Alaska Air­lines Flights to save miles, but specifically using them to fly to Canada deserves a post of its own.

The Cost of Trips to Canada with British Airways Miles

American Airlines, US Airways and Alaska Airlines have a zone based award chart where you pay a flat 12,500 miles for flights from the US to Canada.  With British Airways Executive Club Avios, it’s completely different. British Airways has a distance-based award chart where we pay for each segment separately. If your flight is under 650 miles, for example, you pay just 4,500 British Airways miles. The benefit is that we can actually redeem our British Airways miles on American Airlines, US Airways and Alaska Airlines to save a ton of miles when flying to Canada!

How British Airways miles work:

• Your miles cost does not depend on your destination, but on how long your individual segments are. You get charged based on the length per segment according to the above chart.
• Miles can be used on British Airways partners, such as American Airlines or Alaska Airlines or US Airways.
• Flying within North America will not incur fuel surcharges (unlike trips to Europe, for example).

You probably won’t want to use British Airways miles if you’re flying from New York to Mumbai with several connections along the way, but for short hops, they’re great!

Let’s take a few examples:

1. New York to Montreal will cost 4,500 miles.
2. Chicago to Montreal will cost 7,500 miles.
3. Detroit to Montreal can be flown with a connection in NYC. This will cost 9,000 miles each way (4,500 for Detroit to NYC and 4,500 for NYC to Montreal).

You can always check the distances between destinations either with the Great Circle Mapper or calculate the number of British Airways miles you need with the British Airways Award Calculator.

Where Can We Go?

Here are the costs for all the non-stop flights offered by American Airlines, US Airways and Alaska Airlines from the airlines’ hub cities: Miami, New York, Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, Charlotte, DC, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle. These cities will have the best deals with their direct flights and using British Airways miles will generally save you miles flying from them.

Although British Airways does not charge fuel surcharges, you’ll end up having to pay departure taxes on the return from Canada. This should usually run about $50-$60 total for a round-trip ticket.

New York:

4,500 miles: Montreal (on AA), Toronto (on AA)

Philadelphia:

4,500 miles: Ottawa (on US), Toronto (on US), Montreal (on US), Quebec City (on US)

7,500 miles: Halifax (on US)

Washington DC:

4,500 miles: Toronto (on US)

Chicago:

4,500 miles: Toronto (on AA)

7,500 miles: Montreal (on AA)

Charlotte:

4,500 miles: Toronto (on US)

7,500 miles: Ottawa (on US), Montreal (on US)

Miami:

10,000 miles: Montreal (on AA), Toronto (on AA)

Dallas:

10,000 miles: Calgary (on AA), Vancouver (on AA), Montreal (on AA), Toronto (on AA)

Los Angeles:

7,500 miles: Vancouver (on US or Alaska)

12,500 miles: Toronto (on US), Edmonton (on US)

Phoenix:

10,000 miles: Vancouver (on US), Calgary (on US), Edmonton (on US)

Portland:

4,500 miles: Vancouver (on Alaska)

Seattle:

4,500 miles: Vancouver (on Alaska), Kelowna (on Alaska), Calgary (on Alaska), Edmonton (on Alaska)

 

To book flights on American Airlines with British Airways Executive Club Avios, you will want to read my tutorials:

• How to Redeem British Airways Miles on American Airlines and US Airways Flights
• Redeem­ing British Air­ways Miles on Alaska Air­lines Flights