RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege

The RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege is RBC’s flagship premium travel credit card, geared towards high income earners and frequent travellers who are interested in maximizing RBC Avion points.

Offering a uniform 1.25x earning rate and a unique redemption pathway for premium flights, this card is a good fit for high spenders who prefer to keep a single credit card in their wallet while being able to redeem points for higher value in a variety of ways.

Bonuses & Fees

The current signup bonus on the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege is 35,000 RBC Avion points.

The points are awarded as follows:

• 35,000 RBC Avion points upon approval

This is the standard offer for the card, which historically hasn’t changed much.

The card has an annual fee of $399 for the primary cardholder, with supplementary cards priced at $99 apiece.

Earning Rewards

The RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege offers a flat earning rate of 1.25 RBC Avion points per dollar spent on all purchases.

This is one of the strongest uniform earning rates on any credit card in Canada, matched only by the American Express Business Platinum Card (which earns 1.25x Membership Rewards points) and RBC’s premium business card, the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Business (which earns 1.25x Avion points as well).

Redeeming Rewards

There are a variety of ways to redeem RBC Avion points for a high value.

As a transferable currency, RBC Avion points can be converted into British Airways Avios, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, and WestJet Rewards at a 1:1 ratio, as well as American Airlines AAdvantage at a 1:0.7 ratio.

Avios, Asia Miles, and AAdvantage will all provide a means to book business class and First Class flights on Oneworld airlines, which will be by far the best value for your Avion points if you’re interested in travelling internationally in style.

Look out for 10–50% transfer bonuses to these partners too, which can boost the value of your points even further. For example, in their most recent promotion, you’d get a 30% bonus on any RBC Avion points you transfer over to British Airways Avios.

These can be some of highest value uses of RBC Avion points. If you signed up via the current 35,000 Avion points offer, for example, and transferred the points over to Avios during a 30% promotion, you’d get 45,500 Avios – good for a number of short-haul flights, or enough to make solid progress towards a multi-carrier ticket.

You can also redeem via the Air Travel Redemption Schedule, which lets you use RBC Avion points to book round-trip economy class tickets departing from Canada, up to a certain maximum ticket price. As a baseline, you can also apply RBC Avion points to any travel purchase at a rate of 1 cent per point.

Furthermore, a benefit unique to the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege and the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Business is the ability to apply your points directly to a business class or First Class flight at a fixed rate of 2 cents per point.

Your RBC Avion points never expire for as long as you’re a cardholder. If you cancel or switch to a different RBC product, you have 90 days to redeem your Avion points before they go away.

Perks & Benefits

As with all Visa Infinite Privilege products, this card offers a DragonPass lounge membership with six complimentary lounge visits per year.

Cardholders also enjoy priority airport services (including fast-track security) at select Canadian airports: Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver, and Toronto Billy Bishop.

The card comes with access to the Visa Infinite Privilege Concierge, which can help you do things like book restaurant reservations, select gifts or obtain event tickets right when they go on sale.

You’ll also have access to a series of dedicated Visa Infinite Privilege perks for dining, wine tasting, golf, and hotel stays.

Finally, all RBC cardholders can save 3¢/L on fuel at Petro-Canada, and will earn 20% more Petro-Points and RBC Avion points upon linking their card to their Petro-Points account.

Insurance Coverage

As RBC’s highest-end travel rewards credit card, the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege offers an industry-leading set of insurance provisions.

The card offers a very impressive 31 days of emergency medical travel insurance for travellers aged under 65, and seven days of coverage for travellers aged 65+. There is no maximum coverage amount.

There’s also trip cancellation and trip interruption insurance of up to $2,500 and $5,000 per person, respectively, along with $500,000 of common carrier accident insurance.

While flying, cardholders are covered for up to $1,000 in flight delay insurance, up to $3,000 for delayed baggage, and up to $2,500 for lost or stolen baggage.

(The travel insurance items will take effect as long as the full amount of the trip is charged to your card, booked directly using your RBC Avion points, or some combination of the two.)

And when making purchases, the card offers extended warranty of up to two additional years, purchase protection that insures you against damage or theft of an item for up to 120 days after your purchase, and dedicated mobile device insurance with two years of protection of up to $1,500.