Air Canada Aeroplan Tightens Emirates First Class Awards, Premium Economy Awards Coming

Air Canada Aeroplan just reworked how members book Emirates awards using points, and the change cuts both ways.

First class awards added restrictions, while premium economy is about to open up as a brand-new redemption option. The latter is a small win, but it comes with a real restriction that will upset members who used Aeroplan points to book Emirates first class seats.

Plus, it lands in the middle of a broader shift that’s been reshaping who can book Emirates first class using points and miles. Here’s what changed and why it matters.

Aeroplan’s New Changes for Emirates Awards

Aeroplan added 2 restrictions to Emirates first class awards, and they took effect with no advance notice. You now need Aeroplan 35K status or higher at the time of redemption to book first class, and every passenger seated in the cabin must be at least 9 years old. These changes were first spotted by LoyaltyLobby.

Both rules align with Emirates’ own Skywards program, which strongly suggests Emirates pushed for the change, rather than Air Canada choosing it. Whether the age rule holds up under Canadian law is an open question, but that’s a fight for someone else to handle.

The bigger update for most members sits at the other end of the plane. Starting July 21, 2026, you’ll be able to redeem Aeroplan points for Emirates premium economy for the first time. That makes Emirates the first Aeroplan partner to offer award seats in all 4 cabins: first, business, premium economy, and economy.

Emirates premium economy is a genuinely nice cabin, and it’s an appealing choice on a long daytime flight where a lie-flat seat matters less. Aeroplan hasn’t released the premium economy award chart yet, and given how steep Emirates redemptions usually run, I wouldn’t bank on a bargain when the pricing goes live.

Other Recent Emirates First Class Changes

Aeroplan is the latest program to fall in line, but it’s far from the first. Emirates set this in motion itself.

In May 2025, Skywards restricted first class award seats to elite members only. Next, it blocked children under 9 from first class award tickets and mileage upgrades. Paid tickets were left alone, so a family can still buy first class outright; they just can’t use miles to move a young child up front.

Qantas followed in early 2026. Across January to March, it rolled out the same under-9 age restriction, required at least Qantas Silver status to book Emirates first, and raised award prices across every cabin. First class climbed by roughly 20%, pushing a Melbourne to Frankfurt seat from about 249,400 points to 299,300 points, plus the same hefty fees. Qantas said plainly that Emirates drove the changes.

The trend is hard to miss. If you want Emirates first class through a partner program, plan on some combination of an elite requirement, an age requirement, and pricing that keeps going up.

Final Thoughts

For most travelers, losing easy access to Aeroplan’s Emirates first class isn’t much of a loss. The rates were high enough that many customers avoided them except in rare situations, so the new elite-status restriction mostly formalizes what many award travelers had already skipped.

Premium economy is the more useful addition here, assuming Aeroplan prices it within reason once the chart goes live.

If Emirates first class is your goal, the better move remains to book business class and use Skywards miles to upgrade at the airport on the day of travel — a workaround that beats overpaying, at least until Emirates decides to close that option as well.