Enjoy Free Travel with RBC’s Exciting Avion Rewards Welcome Offers

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Marie-Ève Leclerc
Marie-Ève Leclerc Marie-Ève Leclerc
Marie-Ève, Web Director at Milesopedia, is an expert in budget travel and a slow travel enthusiast. Specializing in Aeroplan, Scene+, and Marriott Bonvoy programs, she spends nearly six months a year abroad, making travel her way of life. Constantly seeking the best waves to surf, excellent coffee, and strategies to extend her travels, she is often found in coworking spaces with fellow digital nomads or by the sea, watching the sunset.
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RBC Offers - woman at airport with passport and backpack
To the point Learn how you can get free flights by taking advantage of the elevated welcome offers available with RBC's Avion Rewards credit cards.

If you’re thinking about getting a new rewards credit card to help you enjoy some more free travel in the coming year, now’s an amazing time to sign up for one of RBC’s Avion-earning options.

The RBC Avion-branded credit cards and the RBC ION-branded cards are currently showcasing welcome offers of up to 70,000 Avion points for new card members.

Plus, thanks to the transferability of Avion points, these welcome offers can easily take you just about anywhere in the world!

To see how valuable these limited-time offers are, let’s look at their details and some examples of amazing trips that you can take just by signing up for one or two of these cards.

RBC Offers - Thailand boats on beach with cliff

RBC Avion Rewards Family of Credit Cards

RBC Avion Rewards can be earned with the following personal credit cards, each of which let’s you earn a strong welcome offer:

Elevated RBC Avion Welcome Offers

The welcome offers for each of the RBC cards are as follows:

  • RBC Avion Visa Platinum: Earn 35,000 welcome points when you join and 20,000 bonus points when you spend $5,000 in your first 6 months.
  • RBC Avion Visa Infinite: Earn 35,000 welcome points when you join and 20,000 bonus points when you spend $5,000 in your first 6 months.
  • RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege: Earn 35,000 welcome points when you join and 20,000 bonus points when you spend $5,000 in your first 6 months; plus, earn an anniversary bonus of 15,000 points after your first year as a card member.
  • RBC ION Visa Card: Earn 4,000 welcome points when you join and 7,000 bonus points when you spend $500 on your card in your first 3 months
  • RBC ION+ Visa Card: Earn 7,000 welcome points when you join and 14,000 bonus points when you spend $1,500 on the card in your first 6 months

Why Sign Up Now?

The biggest reason to sign up right now for one of RBC’s Avion-earning credit cards is the incredible welcome offers.

Ranging from 14,000 Avion points all the way up to 70,000 Avion points, these offers put your next free flight just around the corner.

For example, the RBC Avion Visa Infinite and the RBC Avion Visa Platinum are both accessible options thanks to their reasonable annual fees of $120 and $0, respectively, and they’re each offering up to 55,000 points once you meet the minimum spending requirements.

As you’ll see in the examples below, that’s enough points for a return flight between Toronto and Madrid or for a nice taste of a premium cabin experience.

In fact, if you were to sign up for one Avion card and one ION card, you could get up to 76,000 Avion points just from the two welcome offers — more than enough for a free flight (or two) with popular airlines.

Espagne Madrid

Transferable rewards

Another great reason to take advantage of RBC’s current welcome offers is the fact that your Avion points can be transferred to popular airline loyalty programs.

All RBC Avion members can transfer their points to WestJet Rewards at a rate of 1,000 points = $10 WestJet dollars.

Additionally, Avion elite members can transfer to the following programs:

There’s also usually a few transfer bonus events each year, during which you can enjoy upwards of 30% more points when you transfer to an eligible program.

That means that your 55,000-point welcome offer (for example) could become upwards of 71,500 British Airways Avios or Asia Miles or AAdvantage points if you time your transfer well.

Plus, if you choose to transfer your Avion points into Avios, you can then transfer them again to any of the other flavours of Avios with airlines like Iberia, Aer Lingus, and Qatar Airways, giving you access to even more high-value redemptions.

Credit card perks and other redemption options

Each of the RBC Avion-earning credit cards represent a great way to enjoy perks that will make your travels easier and more enjoyable. Depending on which card you choose to carry, you can take advantage of perks such as:

Additionally, if you’re not interested in transferring your Avion points to an airline loyalty program, you can also redeem them a number of other ways:

Redemption Examples

Now that you’ve got some context for how you can benefit from signing up for one of RBC’s Avion-earning cards, let’s look at some examples of the really exciting part: the award flight redemptions.

Redemptions for 35,000 to 55,000 Avion points

For these first examples, let’s look a couple award flights that you can enjoy by using just the welcome offer from either the RBC Avion Visa Platinum, RBC Avion Visa Infinite, or RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege.

First, if you’d like to spend some time in Spain eating tapas and drinking tinto de verano, you could transfer your Avion points to Iberia Avios (via The British Airways Club) and book a round-trip economy flight from Toronto to Madrid on Iberia for 32,000–50,000 Avios plus taxes and fees.

In fact, you could even get a return flight with Iberia’s “Basic” fare from Toronto to Madrid for the 35,000 Avion points that you get just for signing up for one of the above Avion-branded credit cards!

Not only that, but if you’re able to book far enough ahead and can find award space, you can even get a one-way business class between Toronto and Madrid starting at only 40,000 Avios plus taxes and fees.

RBC Offers - Toronto to Madrid EN

Alternatively, if you’re craving a bit more of a premium cabin experience, and you find yourself in Asia, you could transfer your Avion points to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles and redeem them for a one-way first class trip between Hong Kong and Beijing.

Here, for only 43,000 Asia Miles (so not even all your welcome points), you’ll get 3.5 hours of luxurious flying on one of the best airlines in the world.

RBC Offers - Hong Kong to Beijing EN

Redemptions for 70,000+ Avion points

For these next couple of examples, let’s look at the redemption potential available if you were to sign up for both an Avion-branded card and the RBC ION+ Visa Card, giving you upwards of 76,000 Avion points through the welcome offers alone.

In this case, if you were to transfer 75,000 Avion points to Asia Miles, you could then redeem them for a one-way premium economy flight from Toronto to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific.

RBC Offers - Toronto to Hong Kong EN

Alternatively, if you’re willing to do some planning and book early, you could even trade these welcome bonuses for some time in Qatar Airways QSuites, a truly high-end flying opportunity.

By transferring your Avion points to The British Airways Club and then onwards to Qatar Airways Avios program, you can redeem 70,000 Avios for a QSuites flight from Toronto to Doha.

RBC Offers - QSuites

This is fantastic use of the welcome offers if you’ve ever wanted to enjoy a truly luxurious airline experience since Qatar Airways QSuites is considered one of the best premium cabin offerings on the market.

QSuite 2.0-5

Bottom Line

With RBC’s Avion-earning cards showcasing some incredible welcome offers, now is a great time to sign up for one or two of these cards.

Avion Rewards points are one of the most valuable and flexible reward currencies in Canada, particularly thanks to their transferability to multiple popular airline loyalty programs.

Learn more about the RBC Avion Rewards program and why you should make it part of your loyalty wallet in the following head-to-head comparisons:

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Erin Partridge
Erin Partridge
Erin Partridge enjoys travelling slowly and taking her time to get to know each new place. 
She’s had the opportunity to live in Canada and South Korea, with shorter stints in Vietnam, Malaysia, Mexico, Spain, and more.
All posts by Erin Partridge

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