Can you believe that the Avion Select portion of RBC’s Avion Rewards has now been in market for a year? For those who have not heard of Avion Select, it is the “open to all Canadians” level of their Avion Rewards program. In other words that means any Canadian can join Avion Select, it’s not just limited to RBC clients.
If you are not an RBC client it’s quite straight forward to join the Avion Select portion of Avion Rewards but it’s not so clear for RBC clients. We frequently receive inquiries via email, on our socials and YouTube channel from RBC credit card holders on how to join Avion Select as there is no direction on the website on how to do so. In fact it is a little deceiving as they have a link titled “Have an RBC product or account” and that’s where the confusion sets in as that’s not for Avion Select! But don’t worry we’ve got easy instructions set out below on how to join!
You may be asking “why should I join Avion Select when I am already an Avion Premium or Elite member?” The answer to that lies below but if you don’t want to read further it’s all about the card linked offers and using a more rewarding non-RBC credit card for purchases and still earning Avion points or cash back for those purchases with Avion Select.
How to join Avion Select when you are an existing RBC client
When you are an RBC client, these are the easy steps to take to join the program. If you’re not an RBC client you’ll actually follow the same steps but won’t have to heed the “Do not click” warnings
The first step in joining Avion Select is to navigate to the avionrewards.com website
Once you are on the site you’ll want to click on the “Join Now” button:
Now, this next page is where the confusion sets in. The “Join Now” page has two sections, the first is “Don’t have an RBC product or account?” and the second is “Have an RBC product or account?” It’s that second one that creates the confusion for existing RBC clients as there is no direction from RBC letting users know that you cannot join Avion Select via that section. The second section is actually for setting up or logging into your Avion Premium or Avion Elite accounts.
For anyone who wants to join Avion Select, including RBC clients, you’ll want to click on the button that states “Create an Avion Rewards account”
The system will then ask you to enter an email address – the great thing here is you can use the same email address that you have for your RBC client account as the client account uses a User Name for log in purposes while Avion Select will use your email address as your log in.
From this point forward you will create your Avion Select account! Once you have it set up you can login via the avionrewards.com website just like you do with your RBC client account however to access Avion Select you need to click the bottom “Sign in with Email & password” button:
You’ll know you are logged into Avion Select as the top right corner will show “Select”:
Now you can view all the Avion Select offers – from cash back rewards for online shopping to the offers that everyone wants to get in on, and those are the card linked offers! You can link your cards in the Manage Cards section of your account. The card linked offers let you link credit and debit cards from over 200 Canadian financial institutions, including highly rewarding American Express Cards. You cannot link RBC credit cards in Avion Select.
Personally, I have linked my American Express cards and in addition to earning the Membership Rewards points or Marriott Bonvoy points on those cards for the purchases I have also earned Avion Rewards points and cash back. For me it is primarily the 5x points on the American Express Cobalt Card but also 2x points for the Gold Rewards Card on the Rexall and Petro-Canada purchases and 2 points per dollar spent on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card at Rona+.
Why you should join Avion Select even if you are already an Avion Premium or Elite member
Now, you might be asking why should you join Avion Select if you are already an Avion Premium or Elite member? There are two main reasons why you want to.
The first is that we have seen different offers show up in Avion Select Card Linked than are found in RBC Offers, which are the equivalent type of promotions only available to RBC credit card holders. Sometimes, you’ll find the same offer is available in both RBC Offers and Avion Select Card Linked Offers and if the offer is limited to “once per client” you can actually avail of it twice, once in RBC Offers when you paying with your RBC credit card and once with Avion Select with your linked non-RBC credit card.
The second reason and this is the reason I find most RBC clients join Avion select is that it allows you use a more rewarding credit card for the payment and still get either Avion Rewards points or cash back on top of that. For me it is a card like the American Express Cobalt Card – it’s been earning me 5x points on purchases at places like Wendy’s, McDonald’s and Door Dash which is a much higher earn than provided orn any RBC credit card.
It also allows you to stack offers from different issuers, namely American Express’ Amex Offers. For example right now you can earn a $75 statement credit from American Express when you spend $750 at Lenovo. That same offer is also available in Avion Select providing $75 cash back so if you link your Amex Card to Avion Select and then shop at Lenovo and spend $750 you’ll actually get $150 back!
Transferring points from Avion Select to Avion Premium or Elite
If you are an RBC client your Avion Select account balance will be separate from your Avion Premium and/or Elite account. However you can transfer the points over to your Premium or Elite accounts on a 1:1 basis. You simply need to call Avion Rewards and request the transfer. The cash back balance in your Avion Rewards account can be cashed out anytime your balance hits $15.
Learn more about Avion Select
Here are links to RWRDS Canada’s extensive coverage of Avion Select where you can learn more about the program:
- June 8, 2023: Avion Select: RBC is opening up Avion Rewards to all Canadians
- July 7, 2023: Points Earning with Avion Select will launch in September
- August 1, 2023: RBC Avion Rewards has officially launched Avion Select
- December 29, 2023: RBC Avion Select adds points earning via card linked offers and introduces travel redemptions
- January 16, 2024: RBC Avion Select members can now redeem for gift cards & merchandise
- July 17, 2024: New Amex Offers statement credit for Lenovo (Stack with an Avion select offer!)
Wrapping it up
As an RBC client you will want to join Avion Select in addition to your standard Avion Rewards membership for numerous reasons. It gives you access to more offers as some offers may only be available via RBC Offers (exclusive to RBC credit card holders) while other offers may only be available via Avion Select. That way you get access to them all! Sometimes the offer is available via both methods and then you just need to decide which is more rewarding, the RBC Offer with whatever you earn on your RBC credit card or the Avion Select offer and whatever you earn on your linked non-RBC credit card.