Back in June we provided the first details of RBC’s Avion Select program and now know more about the upcoming points earning option! For those of you who may have missed the news Avion Select is a new branch of Avion Rewards that is open to all Canadians – not just those who hold eligible RBC products.
Points Earning will launch in September
In its current early access format this new program is strictly a cash back rewards program for online shopping but as we detailed in our first post the program will be expanded to offer points earning and additional redemption options.
We now know the Points Earning option will launch in September. In an email sent to Avion Select members on Thursday they included a link to their updated terms and conditions which take effect on September 7. We can safely assume points earning will begin on or after that date.
August 30 update:
We have received an update from RBC that clarifies points transfers from the new Avion Rewards Select program to the higher Avion Rewards Premium and Elite Levels. As it stands, based on the current terms and conditions set to come into effect on September 7, points transfers between Select and the other levels are not be allowed. However, once RBC does launch the ability to earn and redeem points via Avion Rewards Select this fall they are planning to allow points transfers and thus will also amend those terms and conditions accordingly:
Points capabilities for Select members will be available later in the fall and points transfer capabilities for these members will follow shortly after. Once the transfer capability is available, we will update the Terms and Conditions. Until the points transfer capability is released, Select members can still become Premium or Elite members and continue to leverage their existing points.
* Bolding is mine
Points earned by Avion Select members CANNOT be transferred to higher Avion Rewards levels
The updated terms and conditions have the addition of several terms for Avion Select in relation to points earning and redemption but none were more surprising than this one:
This one blew my mind and totally killed my notion of Avion Select being launched as a driving force for RBC to up sell members on Avion earning products like the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card or RBC ION+ Visa Card! Well, not really, I still think it will be used as a sales tool but those members who are only at the Avion Select will be met with disappointment if and when they get an Avion Rewards Premier or Elite level eligible credit card or banking product!
Why would they do this?
Currently, RBC allows points transfers between Avion Premium and Avion Elite if you have products from both those categories but will not provide the option if you have Avion Select and one or both of the others. I’m just taking a wild guess here but this leads me to believe that the points earning in Avion Select may actually end up being higher than those other levels. Why else would they not allow transfers?
You’ll notice how I put “points earning” in bold letters. That’s going to be key – based on this latest information I think they’ll have the Avion Select program award a hefty amount points (it looks good to potential customers that way) by providing higher multiples per dollar spent (think 5 or 10 points per dollar) but in turn they will most likely have a very poor ratio for redemption. (Remember it’s all about the earn and burn!)
However, by offering a higher amount of points they can’t have those large point balances being converted to Avion Premium or Elite where members could execute redemptions with a much better or lucrative earn to burn ratio and have them run the bank on the program.
Here’s an excerpt from my post in June discussing this exact matter:
… I don’t foresee the earn to burn ratio to be particularly lucrative for Avion Select members. I mean why reward non-clients more than those who are you own customers right?
For example, if you have the RBC ION Visa or RBC ION+ Visa card you are an Avion Premium member which makes your travel redemption rate is 172 points to $1. In the world of travel rewards credit cards that’s nothing spectacular. Compare this to the Avion cards 100 to $1 or being able to use the Avion Air Redemption Schedule…
… So, my guess is Avion Select members (which I am assuming at this point will be considered the bottom tier of Avion Rewards) will require something in the range of 200 or 250 points to receive $1 in reward value.
What type of rewards can you redeem points for?
While we still don’t know what the earn to burn ratio will be with Avion Select but we do know that you will be able to redeem the points for travel, gift cards, merchandise and more.
Wrapping it up
Avion Select, the branch of Avion Rewards that is open to all Canadian is one step closer to launching points earning and redemption. We learned that you will not be able to transfer points earned in Avion Select to Avion Premium or Avion Elite most likely due to the Select program awarding ‘a high number of points’ to be competitive with other programs. At this point I am purely speculating of course but all the signs seem to point in that direction. Now we’ll just have to wait until September to see if I am correct or if I am totally wrong!