Today, WestJet & RBC have announced that they are refreshing both of their co-branded credit cards: the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard and the WestJet RBC Mastercard. Cardholders can expect to receive elevated earn rates, new insurance coverages, and more.
While I’ll go through all of the relevant changes to these two cards below, it is important to note that all of the below-mentioned changes take effect as of November 5, 2025, unless otherwise stated.
Changes Coming To The WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard
The WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard has changes to the annual fee, earn rates, the companion voucher, an update to the checked baggage benefit, and new insurance coverages.
The WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard offers a WestJet companion voucher on approval (with the ability to earn one each anniversary year through spending), plus a first free checked bag on WestJet flights.
Check out our WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard review for more details.
70,000 WestJet points
$5,000
$700+
$139
Yes
Feb 4, 2026
Annual Fee & Earn Rates
The current annual fee for the primary cardholder of $119 is increasing to $139. This new fee will be charged for any new approvals or renewals occurring on or after December 1st, 2025. The annual fee for additional cardholders will remain unchanged at $59.
This WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard is also receiving new bonus earning categories, including on Sunwing Vacations, groceries, gas, EV charging, transit, and rideshare purchases.
This means that as of November 5th, the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard will earn even more WestJet points for all eligible purchases made on the card at the following rates:
- 2 WestJet points for every dollar spent on WestJet flights, WestJet Vacations packages, and Sunwing Vacation packages.
- 2 WestJet points for every dollar spent on grocery purchases.
- 2 WestJet points for every dollar spent on gas, electric vehicle charging, transit, and rideshare purchases.
- 1.5 WestJet points for every dollar spent on all other purchases.
There are no earning or spending caps on any of the bonus categories.
Companion Voucher
WestJet Companion Vouchers issued through this card are seeing a significant change as they now have new uses. Cardholders can use the companion vouchers as they already do today, or use them for one of two new redemption options:
- Receive a 30% flight discount for solo travelers in economy
- Receive a $200 WestJet Vacations or Sunwing Vacations credit
Cardholders can still exchange their companion voucher for airport lounge vouchers, but the exchange rate has decreased to two airport lounge vouchers per companion voucher (was previously four vouchers).
The requirements to earn a companion voucher are also changing. Welcome companion vouchers are received as usual (and will be issued to your WestJet Rewards account shortly after being approved for the card), but the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard now requires a $5,000 minimum spend annually to obtain a companion voucher starting in the 2nd year. All vouchers issued before November 2026 are issued as usual.
Free Checked Bag Benefit
Cardholders who wish to take advantage of the first free checked bag for the cardholder and up to eight guests on the same itinerary when flying on WestJet will now need to pay for their flight with their WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard to be eligible.
Prior to this change, simply holding the card and having it attached to your WestJet Rewards ID, which had to be attached to the booking, was enough to receive this benefit. Even with this change, this benefit is still one of the best ways to receive free checked baggage on WestJet.
Insurance Coverages
The WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard retains all existing insurance coverages, but will now also offer trip cancellation insurance and mobile device insurance to cardholders.
The following details have been provided to us regarding these coverages:
Trip Cancellation Insurance: Trip Cancellation Insurance will reimburse only the cancellation penalties in effect at the time of the cause of cancellation when you purchase your trip with your WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard and/or WestJet points. The maximum amount covered under the Trip Cancellation Insurance for each covered person is $1,500 per trip to an overall maximum of $5,000. Coverage is for eligible trip cancellations that occur on or after November 5, 2025.
Mobile Device Insurance: Mobile Device Insurance provides coverage of up to $1,500 in the event your mobile device fully purchased with your WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard and/or WestJet points is lost, stolen, suffers accidental damage or experiences mechanical failure. Coverage is for eligible events that occur on or after November 5, 2025.
Changes Coming To The WestJet RBC Mastercard
The WestJet RBC Mastercard also has several changes to earn rates, the companion voucher, and insurance coverage.
The WestJet RBC Mastercard offers a WestJet companion voucher on approval (with the ability to earn one each anniversary year through spending), which can be used for travel in Canada and the United States.
15,000 WestJet points
$1,000
$150+
$39
Yes
Feb 4, 2026
Earn Rates
The WestJet RBC Mastercard is also receiving new bonus earning categories, including on Sunwing Vacations, restaurants, food delivery, and digital subscription purchases.
This means that as of November 5th, the WestJet RBC Mastercard will earn even more WestJet points for all eligible purchases made on the card in the following categories:
- 1.5 WestJet points for every dollar spent on WestJet flights, WestJet Vacations packages, and Sunwing Vacation packages.
- 1.5 WestJet points for every dollar spent on restaurants and food delivery purchases.
- 1.5 WestJet points for every dollar spent on digital subscriptions.
- 1 WestJet point for every dollar spent on all other purchases.
There are no earning or spending caps on any of the bonus categories.
Companion Voucher
WestJet Companion Vouchers issued through this card are seeing a significant change as they now have new uses. Cardholders can use the companion vouchers as they already do today, or use them for one of two new redemption options:
- Receive a 25% flight discount for solo travelers in economy
- Receive 5,000 WestJet points (worth $50)
The requirements to earn a companion voucher are also changing. Welcome companion vouchers are received as usual (shortly after being approved for the card), but the WestJet RBC Mastercard now requires a $2,500 minimum spend annually to obtain a companion voucher starting in the 2nd year. All vouchers issued before November 2026 are issued as usual.
Insurance Coverages
The WestJet RBC Mastercard retains all existing insurance coverages, but will now also offer mobile device insurance to cardholders.
The following details have been provided to us regarding these coverages:
Mobile Device Insurance: Mobile Device Insurance provides coverage of up to $1,500 in the event your mobile device fully purchased with your WestJet RBC Mastercard and/or WestJet points is lost, stolen, suffers accidental damage or experiences mechanical failure. Coverage is for eligible events that occur on or after November 5, 2025.
Conclusion
It’s always interesting to see a credit card refresh, and for what it’s worth, I do think these changes skew positive.
While the increase to the annual fee does bring the card more in line with the annual fees that we see on other co-branded airline credit cards, it is disappointing to see the annual companion voucher now require a minimum spend to earn on both cards. Logically, I get it, but it is an unfortunate change considering that previously, cardholders simply received the voucher just for holding the card year-over-year.
That being said, on the positive side, the new earning categories are great, the changes to the companion voucher redemption options are fantastic for solo travelers, and additional insurance coverages are never a bad thing.
If you want more information on these changes, visit rbc.com/westjetcardupdates for all the details.
Josh Bandura
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Questions:
(1) If i make a westjet booking before November 5, 2025, do i get checked baggage for free if i book using a non-westjet card?
(2) Trip cancellation insurance – if i book before nov 5, 2025 for a flight in april 2026, do i get the coverage?
I think you’re out of your mind if this skews positive
Hi Justin – can you elaborate? We are happy to have a civil discourse about the changes, if you have justification for why you think its negative. The earn rates are objectively better, and the companion voucher at least has some more usage now when it was quite hard to use before, particular for solo travelers. I’ve had many of mine expire over the years. But as with anything it will depend on your specific travel habits and spend habits as to how positive or negative specific changes will be for you personally.
Combination of gating the companion voucher and the free checked bag benefit more strictly. An important distinction is that the free checked bag benefit is unlikely to work on most OTA bookings now. There have been a lot of great OTA fares since UltraBasic launched, that will now be somewhat negated by this change. I’m sure you guys have seen these fares floating around too.
canceling my card after this year’s companion voucher. Squeeze squeeze … and i am gone. bye westjet. you just lost a customer.
I think this review is overly positive. I don’t see the value in this card and linger and the review doesn’t help.
The 5000$ spending ask for the companion voucher is a big shift.