Every card stack needs a default fallback card to use when in doubt, ideally one with strong benefits and valuable point earning for an acceptable annual fee. In my opinion the most effective and simplest strategy is to combine a premium Visa or Mastercard product with the earning powerhouse Amex Cobalt. Many people come into this game already holding a product from their primary bank. A common question I get is "should I get rid of my Avion card and switch to Aeroplan?". The reality is that either, if used properly, can be incredible for travel, a worthy Keeper Card, but for those willing to put in the extra effort, the Avion cards can unlock some mindblowing experiences.
The good news here is that with the right strategy, either approach can prove effective. Referrals and disclaimers at the bottom.
Avion
A common misconception about RBCs Avion program is that you can only use the points through the Avion portal. While this gives you flexible travel options, this may not be the best value depending on the travel you have in mind, so lets go over the options you have.
First is the Air Travel Redemption Schedule, this gives value that can be as high as 2.33 cpp depending on the destination and ticket price. Note that this leaves the extra cost above the max ticket price, taxes and fees for you to manage, although you can choose to cover the at 1cpp (see below).
To get the maximum value you want to find a ticket that is as close to the max ticket price as possible. the further you're below it the more you're "wasting" points in a cheap flight, the further you're above it the more you'll have to cover with cash or at a 1cpp rate (see below)
A round trip Toronto to London england, YYZ-LHR, could look like this in economy.
If you booked at this price point, for 65k points ('visit Europe' from the chart) plus $317.27 in fees you'd get your trip, this is a 1.02cpp value, well below the 2cpp max for Europe you'd obtain with a ticket price of $1300, and close to the floor value of 1cpp... Yikes.
If you instead took the same flight in business:
At this price point you'd get the full $1300 off for your 65k points. This gives a respectable 2cpp redemption but a painful residual cost of over $3800. To cover this with points would take another 380k points!!!
Note that there are multiple rules to consider like a minimum 14 day lead time and flights must be booked through RBC either online or over the phone for a fee. Tip: since taxes are extra, better value can be had by avoiding airports with notoriously high taxes - looking at you LHR. You can also buy points if you're a little short on a redemption, but unsurprisingly this provides poor value in almost every circumstance. To compare this flight chart against similar ones from Amex and Aventura, check out my flight chart article.
Avion also allows points to be redeemed against travel at default exchange of 1cpp.
This can be used for anything such as covering the taxes and fees of from the redemption chart approach, or the overage of the ticket price if it is above the max allowed. Unless you have a steady stream of points and limited time/money to travel, I would try to avoid such a low redemption value, but it is nice to know the floor value. If you happen to hold the highest tier Avion cards, the personal Avion VIP or the Business Avion VI, you also have the option to redeem at 2c per point specifically for business and first class redemptions.
If you're familiar with airline programs like Aeroplan you may feel a bit of envy at this point, while the value can be acceptable for economy trips, this fails to provide the incredible value sometimes seen in business class redemptions elsewhere. Thankfully that's where transfer partners come in.
Transfer Partners
Less commonly known is that Avion points can be converted 1:1 into British Airway Avios points or Cathay Pacific Asiamiles, or 10:7 into American Airlines. Even better than that, they periodically run transfer bonuses, such as a 30% bonus to British Airway which occur 1-2 times a year. Last year they also had a very uncommon 15% transfer bonus to American Airlines that was worth looking into.
Continuing our YYZ-LHR example, you can find this route for 50k Avios plus $200 in fees in economy.
This is notably less than the 65k plus $317 in fees from above, but it gets even more exciting when considering business travel.
Instead in business we can find it for 160k Avios plus $750 in fees.
Even without considering the 30% transfer bonus, 160k+$750 is much more appealing than 65k+$3200. That extra 95k points shaved almost $2500 off the price. If you wanted to use avion points to cover the fees it would be another 75k points or 235k total compared to the 380k above. Personally I wouldn't use points to cover the fees, but if you have excessive points and not much time to travel, you might as well offset your expenses.
I hope this example has demonstrated the potential for outsized benefit with transfering to British Airways Avios from Avion. Add on a 30% transfer bonus and suddenly you can get the 160k needed for business to London for only 123k!
Now it's important to consider that what we gain in value we may lose in flexibility. These redemption rates may not be available for all flights/dates and require you to book with British Airways or the partner tickets that they offer... Or do they?
Transfering your Transfers
If you cant meet your needs by British Air and the partner tickets released to their system, fret not because you can transfer them further onwards. For example Qatar (with it's incredible Q suites) becomes available to you via one more transfer.
There are too many options here to go over each and the sort of value they can provide, but suffice to say for the motivated traveller with a surplus of Avion points, a world of travel awaits. But what if you don't have many Avion points?
Which Avion?
Maybe you're convinced to stick with Avion, or want to pick it up in the first place. Now all that remains is to decide which card to use as your primary. As is the case with any Keeper Card we need to consider the ongoing benefits versus the ongoing cost.
$120 annual fee (AF)
Welcome bonus typically alternates between 35k Avion pts welcome bonus and waived annual fee vs 35k +20k more for $5k spend in 6mo
Earn rate 1x base and 1.25x on travel
Insurance coverage - travel, purchase protection, mobile device protection
RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege (VIP)
$399 AF
35k welcome, 20k for $5k in 6mo, 15k first anniversary
Earn rate 1.25x base
Insurance coverage - travel, purchase protection, mobile device protection
Ability to redeem points at a fixed 2cpp for business and first
There is also the low tier RBC Platinum Avion that should only be considered if your income is too low to qualify for the VI.
The insurances are generally the same or stronger with the VIP, for example covering emergency medical for trips up to 31 days instead of only 15. If we target a value of 2cpp for our redemptions, and consider the annual fee difference of $279, we would find a crossover point at around $55k annually. That means if you are confidently spending over that amount in a year and use your points wisely, you will be ahead with the VIP even if you don't value the enhanced insurance, ability to redeem at 2c for business, etc.
Just keep in mind that this spend shouldn't be including any food or gas as the 5x food and 2x gas earn of the Cobalt will blow the 1.25x out of the water. Since Amex shares transfer partners BA and Cathay there is a lot of opportunity to coordinate points here. If your local vendors don't take Amex, or you have exceptionally high gas spend, you should consider RBC Ion+ card which earns 3x Avion on food and gas. It technically earns a less valuable type of Avion point, but they can be transformed by transfering them to an Avion card 1:1. In either case you'd be far better off putting your food and gas on one of these instead of the primary Avion cards.
Business Avion Cards
Unlike the personal cards which come in VI and VIP tiers, the business cards come in VI and standard visa levels.
$120 AF
Welcome bonus typically 20k points on enrollment
1x
$175 AF
Welcome bonus typically 35k points plus waived first AF
1.25x earn on first $75k, then 1x
Ability to redeem points at a fixed 2cpp for business and first
With an AF difference of only $55, it is a lot easier to justify upgrading your business card here. An annual spend of over $11k would earn enough extra points to cover the extra fee if points are used at 2cpp. Even at a basement value of 1c each, it would only take $22k of business spend to justify the card. Unfortunately for big spenders the $75k annual limit before the earn rate drops is problematic, consider instead using the personal Avion VIit with the uncapped 1.25x earning Amex Business Platinum or reach out to me to discuss other options and offers, particularly if your spend is over $20k/mo.
Downsides
While the ability to transfer to BA, Cathay and American appears to open a fair bit of options, it's worth noting that all three of these programs are related to the OneWorld alliance. This contrasts to Amex which also has transfer partners in the Star Alliance (Aeroplan), SkyTeam (Delta and Flying Blue). This means that Avion point transfer partners can only book a subset of global airlines. To make matters worse there is no Canadian member of this alliance, potentially making it difficult to utilize unless you're flying out of the US, YVR or YYZ. Furthermore, many of these transfer partners have been historically difficult to search, until Roame added support for Cathay and multiple BA transfer partners (Aer Lingus, Iberia, Qatar) and Pointsyeah added Iberia and Finnair.
Conclusion
Avion has the potential to be a powerful primary card in your stack, but unlocking it's full potential can require multiple transfers and some creative search strategies. If you already have a lot of points, or are specifically interested in travelling with One World partnership airlines, it is definitely worth holding onto this card, and by combining it with an Amex Cobalt or ion+ you can accelerate yourself to aspirational travel, overcoming the otherwise middle of the road earn rates. The ability to redeem via flight chart can also be useful for people targetting primarily economy travel
If you're new to travel hacking however, and want more options from Canadian airports with fewer transfers, and additional status elevating benefits, then check out my article on the Aeroplan Cards and picking between the mid and high tier of them.
Referrals
Check out the latest sign up bonuses for Avion and Ion cards such as the Avion VI.
With its best in market 5x multiplier Amex Cobalt is a powerful point earner that can get you on flying for free 5 times faster than much of the competition. And since they convert 1:1 to BA Avios and and 1:0.75 to Cathay Asiamiles it makes a natural combo with an Avion visa - sign up here.
If you're on the fence, or wondering about other cards reach out to me for a free consult, and if you sign up for a card through my link, let me know and I will walk you through advanced tricks and personalized advice to help you get the maximum benefit both from earning and redeeming points - getting your travel journey going faster than you ever thought possible.
Check out my Keeper Cards series to see other cards worth exploring
Disclaimer
This should not be taken as financial advice and details are subject to change. I have made good intentioned efforts to be accurate but ultimately consult card terms and conditions
