RBC has let us know they have further extended the best ever welcome bonus on
the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card. For quite sometime this card had an offer of up to 50,000 Avios however RBC bumped that up by 10,000 Avios last September. It was set to end on February 28 but now you have until September 30 to earn the best ever
welcome bonus seen on this card of up to 60,000 Avios.
This extended 60,000 bonus Avios offer is structured as follows:
- Step 1: Receive 15,000 Avios as welcome bonus upon approval
- Step 2: 35,000 bonus Avios when you spend $6,000 CAD in the first 3 months
- Step 3: Another 10,000 bonus Avios after your first yearˆ
The card has a niche market, and that is
for the frequent or semi-frequent British Airways flyer, as the card is more
sought after for some of the benefits provided rather than the earn and
burn profile.
Outside of the welcome bonus here is what the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card offers:
Earn rates:
- Collect 1 Avios for every $1 CAD spent on qualifying net purchases*
- Collect double Avios when you shop with British Airways and British Airways Holidays*
Travel benefits
- Earn a Companion Award eVoucher when you spend $30,000 CAD or more in any calendar year˜
- 10% off British Airways flights when you book and pay with your card∞
- Redeem
for flights and more – you can spend your Avios on all of the travel
things you love, including cabin upgrades with British Airways or reward
flights with British Airways, and any of the oneworld partner airlines
to almost 1,000 destinations worldwide**
Insurance
- Comprehensive Insurances including 31–day out of country/province emergency medical insurance1, flight delay insurance2, hotel burglary3 and rental car4 insurance. Even eligible purchases you make with the card are protected3.
Additional benefits
- Luxury Visa Infinite benefits5 such as first in line service for exclusive events and hotel and dining exclusives via www.visainfinite.ca
- Complimentary 24/7 Concierge Service5
- Link
your RBC card with a Petro-Points membership to instantly save 3₵ per
litre on fuel at Petro-Canada stations and earn 20% more Petro-Points
and 20% more RBC rewards points - Get $0 delivery fees for 12 months from DoorDash
- Link
your RBC British Airways Visa Infinite card with a Rexall Be Well
account and get 50 Be Well points for every $1 spent on eligible
products at Rexall. Redeem Be Well points faster for savings in store on
eligible purchases where 25,000 Be Well points = $10
If we
start at the top you see the earn rates – 1 Avios per dollar and 2 per
dollar for British Airways purchases. If you are only into the earn and
burn of the British Airways Executive Club program, you are better off
with other cards like Amex’s Cobalt Card or Platinum Card (their points
transfer 1:1 to British Airways, and you can earn up to 5x points per
dollar spent) or the HSBC World Elite Mastercard, whose base earn rate
translates to 1.2 Avios per dollar. That’s why we say this card fits a
niche market – most people aren’t getting it for the earn rates. They
are getting it for what comes next.
The
two top features of this card come from the travel benefits it
provides, and these benefits are what people get this card for. The 10%
off British Airways flights is the biggie. The discount is off the total cost of the fare
(including taxes, fees,
and carrier charges) for travel in any cabin from economy
(World Traveler) to premium economy (World Traveler Plus) for business
(Club World) or even First Class. So if you buy several British Airways
tickets a year, that 10% off can provide big savings – especially if it
is for business or first class. Think about a business class flight
between Toronto and London that is nearly $6,000 (as shown below). Ten
percent of that is almost $600, which more than pays for the $165 annual
fee on this card.
The
second feature is the annual Companion Award eVoucher. This was one of
the first cards in Canada to offer a Companion Voucher, which you
receive when you spend $30,000 or more in any calendar year. This
voucher can be used to save you a lot of Avios as it is used when you
make a reward booking. This means you can use the voucher when you
redeem Avios in full or in part (Avios and Cash option) to take a
companion along. All you pay are the taxes and fees for the companion
fare.
Add in insurance benefits, concierge service, and RBC’s
exclusive offers with Petro-Canada, DoorDash, and Rexall, and you have a
really good card for the British Airways flyer. So take note, if you
are said British Airways flyer and you don’t have this card yet, now is
the time to grab it so that you can earn up to 60,000 Avios.
Click here to learn more about and apply for the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card
Corresponding
legal references and product terms are available on the RBC website,
which will be available and agreed upon in the customer onboarding
process.
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