Today sees the release of the highest ever welcome bonus to be offered on any RBC Avion Visa card. The RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege Card now has a limited time welcome bonus offer of up to 70,000 Avion points. This comes on the same day that the offers on the other Avion cards (Infinite and Platinum) dropped down to 35,000 points.
The 70,000 Avion Points offer:
Get up to 70,000 Avion points* (a travel value of up to $1,500†). Apply by November 25, 2024 70,000 Avion points* is enough for two roundtrip tickets to almost anywhere in Canada & the US (Alaska and Hawaii require more points). Taxes and fees extra.†
The welcome bonus is awarded as follows:
- 35,000 Avion Points on approval*
- 20,000 bonus points when you spend $5,000 in your first 6 months*
- 15,000 one-time anniversary bonus points after 12 months of account opening*
As you can see the card retains the 35,000 points on approval that now seems to be the base offer for the card. What is best about the initial part of this welcome bonuses is that it is awarded on approval – no minimum spend. None of the “spend this much each month over this many months” as seen on other cards. You simply have to be approved for the card and that part of the bonus is yours. It is awesome to see that RBC has kept this part of the welcome bonus but you can earn even more points with this offer.
The second part of the bonus does follow suit with most cards in the market and that is an additional bonus when you spend a certain amount within a certain amount of time. In the case of this offer it is 20,000 additional points when you spend $5,000 in the first 6 months for 55,000 points in total.
I actually don’t mind this spend requirement at all – $5,000 over 6 months is less than $1,000 per month. That’s less than many of this card’s competitors which range from $6,000 to $24,000 in spending over a 3 to 15 month time period to get their respective bonus offers.
Then you get a 15,000 point bonus on your card’s first anniversary, most likely it is awarded after you pay the second year’s annual fee.
What can you get with the points?
Once you complete your $5,000 in spending you’ll have 55,000 bonus points but you will actually be sitting on at least 61,250 points ($5,000 x 1.25 points per dollar in spending) if not more – it really comes down to how much you use your card for purchases. Then you’ll get the additional 15,000 on your card renewal, which means you should have no less than 76,250 points in your Avion Rewards account
So what can those 76,250 points get you? Let’s take a look:
- Five economy class flights to a neighbouring province or state when redeeming via the RBC Avion Air Travel Redemption schedule. (Max. $350 per ticket / $1,400 total for four tickets) Taxes and fees are not included but you can redeem points towards them at 100 points to $1 rate or just pay for them with your credit card
- Up to Two economy class flights anywhere in North America when redeeming via the RBC Avion Air Travel Redemption schedule. 35,000 points for Canada/U.S. except Alaska and Hawaii with a maximum ticket price of $750, 45,000 points for Western Canada/US to Mexico,Hawaii, Alaska or Eastern Canada to Bermuda, Central America, Caribbean with a maximum ticket price of $900. 55,000 points for Eastern Canada/US to Mexico, Hawaii, Alaska or Western Canada to Bermuda, Central America, Caribbean with a maximum ticket price $1,100. Taxes and fees are not included but you can redeem points towards them at 100 points to $1 rate or just pay for them with your credit card
- $1,525 credit towards a Business Class ticket booked via Avion Rewards (100 points = $2)
- $762.50 credit towards any other travel booked via Avion Rewards (100 points = $1)
- $762 WestJet Dollars Convert 76,200 points to WestJet Rewards at a 100 to 1 ratio. This means the offer provides 762 WestJet dollars. There are also times during the year where RBC offers a bonus when you transfer to WestJet. That bonus tends to be 10% so these 76,200 points could be converted to 838 WestJet dollars or more if the bonus is higher
- Two (And almost three) Economy Class Tickets between Toronto to Dublin (Round trip): You can convert the 52,000 points to British Airways Executive Club at a 1:1 ratio. 52,000 Avios will get you two economy class flights between Toronto and Dublin (as little as 26,000 Avios required). So if you spend a little more on the card and get yourself to 78,000 Avion points you have enough for three of these tickets Recommended reading: RWRDS Availability Alert: Aer Lingus Business Class Toronto to Dublin
- One Economy Class Ticket between Vancouver and Hong Kong (Round Trip) You can convert 54,000 points to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles at a 1:1 ratio. 54,000 Asia Miles cover a round trip flight in economy class between Vancouver and Hong Kong (27,000 miles each way).
These are just a few of the economy class redemption examples that you could get. The points conversion partners like British Airways, Cathay Pacific and American Airlines also offer premium redemption options (Premium Economy, Business and First Class) where there is the potential to extract a lot of value out of your points.
RBC also offers transfer bonuses once or twice per year British Airways and those range from 30% to 50%. The transfer bonus to British Airways is the much heralded option for Avion cards and is in fact one of the main reasons the card continues to rank higher than many cards. Based on past promos we should hopefully be seeing the transfer bonus soon!
Benefits
On top of the all the travel redemption options the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege Card also has fairly extensive insurance coverage including out of province emergency medical coverage.
It also comes with Visa Airport Companion business class lounge access membership with 6 free passes awarded annually.
There are also partnerships with Petro-Canada whereby you can save at the pump plus earn extra Petro-Points and with Rexall where you can earn extra Be Well Points. Finally the card also has a partnership with DoorDash which sees all the Avion cards receive the following:
- Get $0 delivery fees for 12 months from DoorDash17 – Add your eligible RBC credit card to your DoorDash account to:
- Get a 12-month complimentary DashPass subscription18 – a value of almost $120
- Enjoy unlimited deliveries with $0 delivery fees on orders of $15 or more when you pay with your eligible RBC credit card
Wrapping it up
This is a pretty amazing welcome bonus offer – sure we’ve seen higher on some other cards but it is definitely worth a look for an injection of points for roughly $760 of travel or to boost your British Airways, Cathay Pacific or WestJet accounts. Not to mention the card has a lower annual fee of $399 vs. most competing Ultra Premium cards of $499 to $799 or more and a reasonable spend requirement to get the entire bonus.
Click here to learn more and to apply for the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege 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.
Learn more about other RBC Card offers here
T&C’s Excerpt:
This offer only applies to new applications for an RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege credit card received between May 1, 2024 and November 25, 2024 (“Offer Period”) and approved by Royal Bank of Canada (“Royal Bank”) subject to the conditions below. Additional cardholders(s) (co-applicant and authorized user(s)) on the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege credit card account, as well as existing cardholders on any RBC Royal Bank personal credit card account transferring to an RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege credit card account during the Offer Period, are not eligible for the offer.
Images via RBC