From September 17 to 20, RBC Rewards is offering a 30% discount on flight bookings using RBC points. Details of the offer.

Book flights with RBC Rewards: 30% discount

This offer applies in the form of a points discount. In other words, you must use the usual number of points required, and RBC will re-credit 30% of the points to your account.

Here are the savings based on the type of flight booked:

Is that interesting?

Yes, if you have an airline ticket to book for a trip in more than 14 days and it is priced at the maximum for each destination (the difference will be added to the airport taxes).

For example, here’s a plane ticket I booked a few weeks ago to liquidate 70,000 RBC points I had accumulated.

This is a flight from Montreal to Las Vegas for a weekend. The fee is 35,000 RBC points and $164.85 in taxes.

Flights are direct, operated by Air Canada Rouge (but sold by United).

When looking at the fare details on the ITA Matrix (to get the ticket price + applied taxes), the ticket price is $370 + $345 = $715(below the RBC maximum of $750 for 35,000 point tickets):

Taxes are within a few cents of those charged by RBC (approximately $165).

Here, 35,000 RBC points saved me $715.40 . This values my use at $0.02/RBC point (you can hardly get more than that!).

If I had booked through this promotion, I would have earned 10,500 RBC points and the ticket would have cost me only 24,500 points (the valuation would have been close to $0.03 per RBC point!).

Hybrid points

RBC points, like American Express Membership Rewards points, are part of what are known as “hybrid” points.

You can use them in the RBC loyalty program, but also transfer them into airline miles (for RBC we are talking about British Airways Executive Club, Asia Miles, American AAdvantage, WestJet Rewards).

In order to use your points within the program, the ticket must be close to the maximum allowed by RBC! The same is true for American Express as we have demonstrated in this article.

Conditions of the offer

All the conditions of this offer are available here.

This offer is available exclusively to RBC Avion^® credit cardholders for four (4) days, beginning on September 17, 2018 at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) and ending on September 20, 2018 at 11:59 p.m. EST (“Offer Period”).

Offer applies to a new round-trip flight booking made on the Airline Travel Redemption Schedule through RBC Rewards^® Travel. Travel must begin at least 14 days after the reservation date, be completed within one (1) year of the reservation date and be paid for by redeeming RBC Rewards points or by using RBC Rewards points and a credit card charge (“eligible reservation”).

Offer also applies to RBC Rewards points redeemed to pay applicable taxes, surcharges and fees on an eligible booking, as well as any additional RBC Rewards points purchased with a credit card to meet the required number of points for that eligible booking or to make up the difference when the cost of the eligible purchase exceeds the maximum ticket price for that category of flight.

To learn more about redeeming points for air travel rewards, go to www.rbcrecompenses.com/voyages. For complete terms and conditions of the RBC Rewards program, please visit www.rbcrecompenses.com or call 1-800-769-2512.

This offer does not apply to redemptions of RBC Rewards points for hotels, car rentals, tour packages, cruises, vacation packages or flights not booked in accordance with the Air Travel Rewards redemption schedule, nor does it apply to bookings made with third party online retailers or other wholesalers, including Carlson Wagonlit Travel. All air travel is subject to availability. The 30% RBC Rewards point rebate will be applied to your RBC Rewards point balance within four (4) to six (6) weeks of the reservation date. If you cancel an eligible reservation, you will not receive the 30% RBC Rewards point rebate and these points will be deducted from your RBC Rewards balance if they were awarded prior to cancellation. This offer may not be combined or used in conjunction with any other offer. Royal Bank of Canada reserves the right to cancel, modify or withdraw this offer at any time.

RBC Avion cardholders include RBC clients who hold an RBC^® Visa Infinite Preferred‡ Avion, RBC Visa Infinite Preferred for Private Banking, RBC Visa Infinite‡ Avion, RBC Visa‡ Platinum Avion, RBC Visa Business Platinum Avion, or RBC Visa Commercial Avion card.