RBC Avion: Earn up to 70,000 Avion points with RBC Avion credit cards!

Updated Nov 29, 2024
Fact checked by
Alexandrine Bertrand
Alexandrine Bertrand

Alexandrine Bertrand

Alexandrine Bertrand
A passionate solo traveler, Alexandrine is an expert on loyalty programs such as Aeroplan, Avios, AIR MILES, Flying Blue and Marriott Bonvoy. With a budget-conscious approach, she helps travelers maximize their points and miles for low-cost, off-the-beaten-path getaways. A food lover, she enjoys discovering the local flavors and culinary traditions that enrich her adventures.
All posts by Alexandrine Bertrand
RBC Avion
To the point With these welcome offers for RBC Avion credit cards, earn up to 70,000 bonus Avion points!

RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege Card

With this exceptional offer for the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege Card, you can earn up to 70,000 Avion points:

  • 35,000 Avion points on approval
  • 20,000 Avion bonus points when you spend $5,000 in your first 6 months
  • 15,000 Avion points as a one-time anniversary bonus 12 months after account opening

You can use your Avion Rewards points for travel or convert them to other loyalty programs such as:

  • American Airlines AAdvantage
  • British Airways Executive Club (and Qatar Airways Privilege Club)
  • Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
  • WestJet Rewards

The current welcome offer, for example, gives you the equivalent of 70,000 British Airways Aviosor 700 WestJet Dollars.

With the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege Card, you earn 1.25 points per dollar.

What’s more, you’ll benefit from a wide range of insurances: trip cancellation and interruption insurance, out-of-province or out-of-country emergency medical care insurance, collision and damage insurance for rental vehicles, and mobile device insurance.

Finally, you get six complimentary global airport lounge access passes and security fast track lanes at select Canadian airports

RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card - Welcome Offer

With this offer for the RBC Visa Infinite Avion Card, you can earn 35,000 Avion points upon approval.

You can use your Avion Rewards points for travel or convert them to other loyalty programs such as:

  • American Airlines AAdvantage
  • British Airways Executive Club (and Qatar Airways Privilege Club)
  • Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
  • WestJet Rewards

The current welcome offer, for example, gives you the equivalent of 35,000 British Airways Avios or 350 WestJet Dollars.

With the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card, you earn 1 point per dollar and 1.25 points for travel purchases.

What’s more, you’ll benefit from a wide range of insurances: trip cancellation and interruption insurance, out-of-province or out-of-country emergency medical care insurance, collision and damage insurance for rental vehicles, and mobile device insurance.

RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card - RBC Avion Rewards Points Accumulation

This card allows you to accumulate RBC Avion points from the Avion Rewards program based on your spending categories.

1.25 RBC Avion points per dollar for travel purchases

For all your travel purchases:

  • airline tickets
  • Hotels
  • car rentals
  • And more!

You’ll earn 25% more RBC Avion points. This corresponds to an accumulation of 1.25 RBC Avion points per dollar of purchases.

1 RBC Avion point per dollar everywhere else

For all other purchases, you’ll earn 1 RBC Avion point per dollar.

RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card - Using RBC Avion Points

With this RBC Avion credit card, you can:

  • transfer points to British Airways Executive Club, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, American AAdvantage, WestJet Rewards or Hudson’s Bay Rewards (between 0.5 and 3 cents per point)
  • use points for airline tickets via RBC’s fixed fare structure (up to 2 cents per point)
  • use points for any travel purchase on RBC Rewards (1 cent per point)
  • purchase gift cards or products (between 0.5 and 1 cent per point)
  • pay with points for any purchase (0.58 cent per point)
Qantas Famille.jpg.

Fixed Rate Chart of RBC Avion Rewards

This is where you will get the most out of your RBC Avion Rewards points.

RBC offers a fixed reward chart divided into six levels depending on the type of flight :

Flight type RBC Points Airline required Maximum ticket price excluding taxes
Short getaways
Any flight within a U.S. province, territory or state, or to a contiguous U.S. province, territory or state
15 000 350 $
Discover North America
Any flight anywhere in Canada or the U.S., except Hawaii or Alaska
35 000 750 $
Vacation destinations
Western Canada or the USA to Mexico, Hawaii or Alaska Eastern Canada to Bermuda, Central America or the West Indies
45 000 900 $
Go on vacation
Eastern Canada or the U.S. to Mexico, Hawaii or Alaska Western Canada to Bermuda, Central America or the West Indies
55 000 1 100 $
Visit Europe
Any flight from a major departure point in Canada or the U.S. to destinations in Europe
65 000 1 300 $
World destinations
Any flight from a major departure point in Canada or the USA to destinations in Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific, the Middle East, Africa or South America.
100 000 2 000 $
westjet delta partners

The most interesting use is when the price of the flight you want to book is close to the maximum amount (excluding taxes and surcharge ).

Here’s an example of a plane ticket I booked to use 70,000 RBC points I had accumulated.

It’s a weekend flight from Montreal to Las Vegas. The fare is 35,000 Avion points (“Discover North America” level in the table above) and $164.85 in taxes.

vols las vegas rbc 2

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

vols las vegas rbc 3

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

vols las vegas rbc ita 4

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

Here, 35,000 RBC Avion points saved me $715.40. This values my use at 2 cents per RBC Avion point (you can hardly get more!).

$880.25 (public ticket price) – $164.85 (taxes paid) = $715.40

IMG 8862

Flexible Rate Chart of RBC Avion Rewards

It is also possible to use RBC Avion points via the flexible fare structure. It’s the famous “100 points = $1”.

100 points rbc

Here, the 55,000 RBC Avion Rewards points obtained as a welcome bonus can be used for $550 off your trip.

Just use this when you:

  • Redeem points for travel rewards without using the Air Travel Rewards Redemption Schedule;
  • Redeem points for a hotel stay, car rental, cruise or vacation package;
  • Redeem points for one-way, business or first class flight;
  • Pay more than the maximum dollar value set for a category;
  • Pay all taxes, fees and surcharges.

It’s not the most optimal way to use your RBC Rewards points, but it’s the easiest way to purchase travel.

westjet boeing 737 nextgen 2

Conversion of RBC Avion Rewards Points to Other Loyalty Programs

The best use of RBC Avion points obtained with the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card is for transfer to other programs (especially during points conversion promotions like with British Airways Executive Club or Asia Miles). That’s what we did in Australia (and wanted to do in Japan).

What’s more, you can use your Avios points to travel with Qatar Airways.

qatar airways qsuite cabine

Here are the transfer partners and the normal exchange rate.

Partner program Conversion rates
westjet rewards logo 1,000 Avion points = 10 Westjet dollars
british airways club 1 10,000 Avion points = 10,000 Avios
asia miles e1488115205243 10,000 Avion points = 10,000 Asia Miles
pg plogo american adv 5,000 Avion points = 3,500 AAdvantage miles
la baie d hudson 2013 logo 5,000 Avion points = 10,000 Hudson’s Bay Rewards points

From time to time, RBC Avion Rewards organizes points conversion promotions like +30% to British Airways Executive Club for example. Watch for these promotions to redeem your Avion points at the best possible rate! Subscribe to our free newsletter so you don’t miss out.

oneworld british airways 3

Purchasing Gift Cards with RBC Avion Rewards Points

If travel purchases with points are not for you, there is another way to use your RBC Avion Rewards points: through the purchase of gift cards.

We generally do not recommend this method over travel redemptions. However, the RBC Avion Rewards loyalty program regularly offers promotions to exchange Avion points for gift cards!

rbc recompenses cartes cadeaux

Here’s an example of an interesting hotels.com gift card promotion. With 18,750 Avion Rewards points, you could get a $250 hotels.com gift card:

carte cadeau rbc hotels e1538574326939

RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card - Benefits Offered to Cardholders

Savings at Petro-Canada

RBC cardholders can link their card to Petro-Canada’s Petro-Points program to earn :

  • 3¢ off per litre on fuel and 20% more Petro-Points
  • 20% more RBC Rewards points (1.2 RBC points per dollar spent at Petro-Canada)

Earn more Be Well points at Rexall

By linking your RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card to your Be Well card:

  • Earn 50 Be Well points for every dollar spent on eligible products at Rexall
  • Redeem Be Well points faster for in-store savings on purchases; 25,000 Be Well points = $10

12 months of free delivery with DoorDash

Add your RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card to your DoorDash account to:

  • Get a free 12-month DashPass subscription – a value of up to $120
  • Enjoy unlimited free deliveries on orders of $15 or more when paying with your RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card

2 ski tickets for the price of one

During the winter season, RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card cardholders get a free lift ticket when purchasing a lift ticket for Friday at participating ski resorts across Canada.

20% discount at Hertz and 3x points

With your RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card, you can get a 20% discount on the base rate at Hertz and 3 times the Avion points.

RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card - Insurance Offered by the Card

As this card is designed for travellers, it includes the usual “Visa Infinite” level of insurance:

  • Out-of-province / out-of-country medical emergency coverage
  • Travel Accident Insurance
  • Auto Rental Collision/Loss Damage Insurance
  • Trip Cancellation/Trip Interruption Insurance
  • Flight delay and essential items insurance
  • Hotel or Motel Burglary Insurance
  • Purchase Security and Extended Warranty Coverage
  • Mobile Device Insurance

The insurance booklet is available here.

Bottom Line

The RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card is one of the best travel credit cards in Canada. Don’t hesitate to take advantage of this welcome offer, which requires no purchase!

And if you want to enjoy additional travel benefits (such as six annual airport lounge visits) and a higher welcome bonus, you might consider applying for the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege Card.

Come to discuss that topic in our Facebook Group!
Jean-Maximilien Voisine

Jean-Maximilien Voisine

Jean-Maximilien Voisine
Jean-Maximilien, President and Founder of Milesopedia, is a recognized expert in rewards programs, credit cards, and travel in Canada and France. Approaching forty and a father of two, he has travelled to over 100 countries, half of them with his children and his wife, Audrey. Specializing in top loyalty programs like Aeroplan, American Express Membership Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy, he guides travellers to maximize their benefits across North America and Europe.
All posts by Jean-Maximilien Voisine

Suggested Reading

Receive our newsletter every week!

Savings are here:

Milesopedia