Chicago & Washington: €686 Air Canada Premium Economy from Barcelona

Star Alliance carriers United Airlines and Air Canada team up to bring you two decent premium economy class fares with departure from Barcelona. Prices go as low as a €686 roundtrips to both Washington and Chicago. While the cheapest fares usually include the Air Canada nonstop from Barcelona to Montreal with an onward connection, you can also fly United or Lufthansa across the pond for a little more.

Our availability calendar highlights all possible flight dates at the lowest price for trips up to 28 days. It will forward you to Air Canada with your selected flight dates. You can also check what Skyscanner has to offer, as you find connections with other airlines that you might like better.

You can also fly to San Francisco for €701. However, you’d still be changing planes in Montreal, meaning you’d have to spend roughly ten hours in economy class on the way to/from California.

As mentioned previously, any itinerary would lead you from Barcelona to Montreal first. Air Canada operates an Airbus A330-300 on this route, with three rows of 2-3-2 seating in premium economy compared to 2-4-2 in economy class. Your connection will be an Air Canada or United Express short-haul plane, where you’ll be seated in economy class.

Search & Book

According to the fare rules, these tickets are on sale without an expiration date. You need to stay at least six days or one night from Saturday to Sunday in the USA to score the lowest fare.

Google Flights will help you find additional flight dates. Since Air Canada sells most of the tickets at the lowest price on their website, so that’s the first place to search for them.

Why is booking with an airline better than with an online travel agency?

More often than not, online travel agencies offer lower fares than airlines do. We still recommend booking with the airlines directly. There are two main reasons for that:

Better Customer Service
In case any problems like delays, cancellations or missed connections arise, you can communicate directly with the airline. The airline has to take care of you because you have a contract with them.

If a travel agency issues your ticket, you may have to reach out to them first. You also depend on your OTA to forward information like flight changes instead of receiving them directly from the airline. In many cases, you may get a prime exhibition of responsibility shifting rather than problem-solving.

This especially applies to premium tickets. You don’t want to spend more than €1,000 to wind up with some budget OTA’s telephone hotline in case anything goes wrong.

Baggage and Other Fees
Economy fares not including hold luggage are industry standard by now. In most cases, travel agencies charge much higher baggage fees than the airlines themselves. If bags are not included in your fare, airlines are often the cheaper alternative.

This also applies to other things like food services, insurances or priority treatment. In almost all cases, you pay less for additional amenities when booking on the airlines’ website.

Mileage

Air Canada tickets premium economy segments in booking class A and economy flights in booking class B. A roundtrip to Chicago entirely operated by Air Canada earns the following mileage: