RBC Avion Rewards: Everything You Need to Know 2024

RBC Avion Rewards

Earn Avion Rewards points

Formerly known as RBC Rewards, the RBC loyalty program has been renamed Avion Rewards since August 2022.

You can earn Avion Rewards points on a number of RBC credit cards linked to this loyalty program.

Note that there are 2 types of RBC Avion Rewards credit cards:

Avion Elite
Avion Select : points earned with these cards cannot be used for point transfers to other programs, and the redemption rate for travel is lower.

The most popular Avion Elite card is the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card :

RBC Avion Elite cards are:

Find out more about the welcome offers on RBC Avion cards.

Other RBC Avion Select cards include:

Use Avion Rewards points

There are three main uses for Avion Rewards points:

For the purchase of trips
For the transfer of points to other programs
For the purchase of gift cards

Other uses are not optimal.

Purchasing travel with Avion Rewards points

There are two ways to use Avion Rewards points for travel purchases:

Through the fixed reward chart
Through the flexible reward chart

The Avion Rewards fixed reward chart

This is where you’ll get the most out of your Avion Rewards points.

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

Flight type	RBC points 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 $

What is most interesting, is when the fare of the flight you want to book is close to the maximum amount (excluding taxes and surcharge ).

For example, here’s an airline ticket I booked to redeem 70,000 RBC points that I had earned.

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

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

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):

The 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 2 cents / RBC point (you can hardly get more!).

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

Flexible pricing with Avion Rewards

RBC points can also be used through the flexible reward chart.

For Avion Elite cards, 100 points = $1.

For Avion Select cards, 172 points = $1.

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;
Book your trip less than 14 days in avance;
Pay more than the maximum dollar value set for a category;
pay taxes, fees and surcharges (Avion Elite cards only)

It’s not the most expensive way to use your Avion Rewards points, but it’s the easiest way to buy a trip.

Converting Avion Rewards points to other programs

One of the highlights of the Avion Rewards Travel program is the ability to convert Avion Rewards points to other partner programs such as American Express or Marriott Bonvoy.

Here are the transfer partners and the normal exchange rate.

Partner program	Conversion rates
	1,000 points = $10 Westjet dollars
	10,000 points = 10,000 Avios miles
	10,000 points = 10,000 Asia miles
	5,000 points = 3,500 AAdvantage miles
	5,000 points = 10,000 points Hudson Bay Rewards

From time to time, Avion Rewards runs point conversion promotions such as +30% to British Airways Executive Club. So keep an eye out for these promotions to convert your points at the best possible rate!

Purchase of gift cards with Avion Rewards points

If purchasing travel with points is not for you… there is another way to use your Avion Rewards points: by purchasing gift cards.

We generally don’t recommend this method for points as valuable as American Express Membership Rewards points, but Avion Rewards has regular promotions for gift cards!

The most interesting one lately was found in the milesopedia facebook group by Maxime about hotels.com gift cards.

And indeed, it was a good plan: with 18,750 points you could get a $250 hotels.com gift card.

As mentioned above, in addition to these 3 options for redeeming RBC points, there are other ways… but they are not advantageous: purchasing products on the online store, redeeming points for a statement credit, etc.

RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card

With this offer for the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card, you can earn 35,000 Avion points upon approval and 20,000 bonus points when you spend $5,000 within 6 months of approval.

You can use your Avion Rewards points for travel or redeem them with 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 55,000 British Airways Avios or 550 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 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 redeem them with 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.

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

RBC Avion Rewards

Earn Avion Rewards points

Use Avion Rewards points