Avion Rewards is a powerful points program offered by Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and is easily one of the best loyalty programs among all financial institutions in Canada.
Avion Rewards points can be redeemed for travel, gift cards, transferred to frequent flyer programs, and much more. They are a key component of how we redeem for luxury business class flights, and one of the easiest points currencies to earn in Canada.
RBC offers five personal credit cards that earn Avion Rewards points:
| Credit Card | ||
|---|---|---|
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70,000 Avion Estimated value: $1,330 |
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35,000 Avion Estimated value: $665 |
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35,000 Avion Estimated value: $665 |
|
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7,000 Avion Estimated value: $133 |
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3,500 Avion Estimated value: $67 |
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If you are eligible to be approved for a business credit card, RBC has two business credit cards that earn Avion points:
| Credit Card | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
35,000 Avion Estimated value: $665 |
|
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35,000 Avion Estimated value: $665 |
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There are two types of Avion Rewards points that are earned from different families of credit cards:
- RBC Avion Elite points (higher tier)
- RBC Avion Premium points (lower tier)
RBC Avion Elite points can be redeemed for travel and also transferred to all airline partners, while RBC Avion Premium points have more restrictions.
RBC credit cards that earn Avion Elite points will have Avion in their name, such as the RBC Avion Visa Infinite credit card. On the other hand, there are RBC credit cards that earn Avion Premium points, such as the RBC ION+ Visa credit card.
Throughout this page, we will use the term “Avion Rewards” to refer to both tiers of points to be consistent. However, we will note any differences between the two sets of points in the relevant sections below.
Earning Avion Rewards Points
Earning Avion Rewards Points via Welcome Bonuses
The most effective method to earn Avion Rewards points is through earning the welcome bonus on an Avion Rewards credit card.
The most popular credit card that earns Avion Rewards points is the RBC Avion Visa Infinite card as it offers a welcome bonus of up to 35,000 Avion Rewards points for a reasonable annual fee of $120.
The RBC Avion Visa Infinite card earns 1.25 Avion Rewards points on all travel purchases. Avion Rewards points can be redeemed against travel purchases or transferred to popular frequent flyer programs.
In 2025, we awarded this card as the Best Flexible Points Travel Credit Card.
Check out our RBC Avion Visa Infinite card review for more details.
35,000 Avion
$0
$665+
$120
Yes
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The RBC Avion Visa Infinite card, in addition to the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege card, the RBC Avion Visa Platinum card, the RBC Avion Visa Business card, and the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Business card all earn Avion Elite points.
This means that the Avion points earned from welcome bonuses and spending on these cards can easily be transferred to partner frequent flyer loyalty programs, where it is easiest for cardholders to maximize their point value on flight redemptions.
On the flip side, if you want to pay less in annual fees and still earn Avion points, the RBC ION+ Visa card is a great option as it offers a welcome bonus of up to 7,000 Avion Rewards points for a lower annual fee of $48.
The RBC ION+ Visa card earns 3x Avion points on groceries, restaurants, food delivery, transportation purchases, digital purchases, and more.
7,000 Avion
$0
$133+
$48
Yes
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The RBC ION Visa card is another good option if you want a credit card that has no annual fee. Both the RBC ION+ Visa card and the RBC ION Visa card earn Avion Premium points, meaning they are more restricted in their use case, and can only be redeemed directly with RBC for travel or other redemption options, or transferred to the WestJet Rewards program.
Avion Premium points can be converted to Avion Elite points through an easy process; we will touch on that in detail below.
Earning Avion Rewards Points via Daily Spending
Making purchases with your RBC Avion credit card is the best way to earn points in the long term. However, these credit cards don’t offer many spending category bonuses, so they might not be the best card to use at specific retailers where other cards offer significantly higher spending multipliers.
We’ve summarized the Avion point earning rate for all eligible credit cards below:
- RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege Card & RBC Avion Visa Infinite Business Card
- Earn 1.25 Avion points per dollar spent on all purchases
- RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card
- Earn 1.25 Avion points per dollar spent on all travel purchases
- Earn 1 Avion point per dollar spent on all other purchases
- RBC Avion Visa Platinum Card & RBC Avion Visa Business Card
- Earn 1 Avion point per dollar spent on all purchases
- RBC ION+ Visa Card
- Earn 3 Avion points per dollar spent on groceries, dining out, food delivery purchases, gas, rideshare, daily public transit, electric vehicle charging purchases, streaming, gaming, eligible digital subscriptions, eligible digital downloads, and in-game purchases
- Earn 1 Avion point per dollar spent on all other purchases
- RBC ION Visa Card
- Earn 1.5 Avion points per dollar spent on groceries, gas, rideshare, daily public transit, electric vehicle charging purchases, streaming, gaming, eligible digital subscriptions, eligible digital downloads, and in-game purchases
- Earn 1 Avion point per dollar spent on all other purchases
Converting Avion Premium Points to Avion Elite Points
The majority of Avion Rewards earning credit cards earn Avion Elite points, however, both the RBC ION+ Visa card and RBC ION Visa card earn Avion Premium points. These points are much more restrictive when it comes to transferring to frequent flyer programs, as they can only be transferred to WestJet Rewards or be redeemed towards travel purchases with RBC.
However, cardholders can easily convert their Avion Premium points to Avion Elite points. All that is required is that a customer holds both a credit card that earns Avion Premium points and a credit card that earns Avion Elite points at the same time. Cardholders can then transfer their Avion Premium points to their Avion Elite points credit card, such as the RBC Avion Visa Infinite card, to effectively convert them to Avion Elite points.
Utilizing this trick is an easy way to get more out of your Avion Rewards points, as this will unlock the ability to transfer to any of the frequent flyer partners that we have listed in the next sections.
Redeeming Avion Rewards Points
Avion Rewards is a highly flexible points program and can be redeemed for travel in a variety of ways, as well as for other types of rewards, including financial rewards, merchandise, and gift cards.
As with most bank point programs, travel provides the highest redemption value. Avion Rewards can be redeemed for travel in three ways:
- Air Travel Redemption Schedule (Fixed Travel)
- Flexible Travel Reward
- Transfer to Airline Partners
Air Travel Redemption Schedule (Fixed Travel)
The RBC Air Travel Redemption Schedule provides the greatest value for redeeming Avion Rewards points for flights. However, as the name suggests, there are a few more rules to follow when redeeming your points this way. First of all, you can redeem Avion Rewards for one-way, round-trip, and multiple destination flights.
How many points are required for redemption through the Air Travel Redemption Schedule is fixed and based on the particular destination, according to the chart below. For a given destination, there is a maximum ticket price that the points can be redeemed for – this does not include taxes and fees.
If you exceed the maximum ticket price, you can pay the difference in points at a rate of 100 points = $1 CAD (the flexible travel rate). You can also pay for flight taxes by redeeming your points at this same rate of 100 points = $1 CAD.
| Round Trip | One Way | |
|---|---|---|
| Type of Flight | Avion Points Required (Max Ticket Price) | Avion Points Required (Max Ticket Price) |
| Short Getaways Any flight within a province, territory or U.S. state, or to a contiguous province, territory or U.S. state | 15,000 ($350) | 7,500 ($175) |
| Discover North America Any flight anywhere in Canada or the United States, except Hawaii or Alaska. | 35,000 ($750) | 17,500 ($375) |
| Holiday Destinations Western Canada or U.S. to Mexico, Hawaii or Alaska, Eastern Canada to Bermuda, Central America or the Caribbean | 45,000 ($900) | 22,500 ($450) |
| Go on Holiday Eastern Canada or United States to Mexico, Hawaii or Alaska, Western Canada to Bermuda, Central America or the Caribbean | 55,000 ($1,100) | 27,500 ($550) |
| Visit Europe Any flight from a major point of departure in Canada or the United States to destinations in Europe | 65,000 ($1,300) | 32,500 ($650) |
| The World Any flight from a major point of departure in Canada or the United States to destinations in Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific, the Middle East, Africa or South America. | 100,000 ($2,000) | 50,000 ($1,000) |
There is one other restriction with the Air Travel Redemption Schedule: you must make the booking a minimum of 14 days before the departing flight. Keep this in mind when considering whether to redeem Avion points for flights using this method.
How to Redeem Avion Rewards Points Using the Air Travel Redemption Schedule
To make a flight booking using the Avion Rewards fixed travel program, cardholders will need to access the Avion Rewards Travel portal, which is powered by Expedia.
In order to initiate a flexible travel rewards booking, log into Avion Rewards and click “Travel Home” on the top bar. From there, click on the “Book Travel” button.
This will take you to the Avion Rewards Travel portal page. From here, you will be able to search for flights, hotels, car rentals, and vacation packages. In order to redeem through the fixed travel redemption program, you will need to click on flights.
From here, fill in your desired routing, dates, number of passengers, and ticket class, and click “Search” to generate a list of flights.
Once you can see the list of flights, you will see the total point cost using the fixed travel redemption in addition to the taxes and fees on the ticket. At the top of the screen, you can flip between fixed points pricing and flexible points pricing to determine which is the better deal.
In this case, fixed points pricing has all itineraries at 35,000 Avion Rewards points (as one would expect per the chart above).
On the other hand, if we were to make this booking with flexible rewards, we would be paying at a minimum an additional 21,000 Avion Rewards points. This is where the fixed rewards chart really shines.
Once we go through the portal and select our outbound and inbound flights, we are presented with a page summarizing the flights chosen and the total price. On the right-hand side, you can confirm that you are using the fixed travel redemption method by looking at the total point cost. Since this is an economy roundtrip fare within North America, 35,000 is the correct amount of points. From here, click “Check Out” to complete the rest of the booking process.
For this booking in particular, I was effectively able to redeem 35,000 Avion Rewards for $413 in base fare value (roughly 0.0118 cents per point). Since you can cover up to a $700 base fare with the 35,000 Avion Rewards fixed flight redemption, there is some additional value that could be extracted with the right flight. But if you were just looking to travel to Los Angeles, this is a great value for your points.
It is important to note that any flights that do not qualify for the Air Travel Redemption Schedule will automatically have flexible points pricing applied.
Flexible Travel Rewards
The other way to use Avion Rewards points for travel is through the flexible travel reward chart. This method allows you to redeem your Avion Rewards towards virtually any flight, hotel, car rental, and other travel expenses at a rate of 100 Avion Rewards points = $1 CAD (RBC sometimes refers to this as the “1% rate”).
So for example, 25,000 Avion Rewards points can be redeemed for $250 CAD worth of travel. What makes this method even more flexible is that you can pay for travel using any combination of points and payment via credit card.
In general, you would only want to redeem Avion Rewards points for flights using this method if your flights do not qualify for the Air Travel Rewards Redemption Schedule. Alternatively, you may already have lots of airline points from other programs like Aeroplan and prefer to use your Avion points for a hotel stay, car rental, cruise, or vacation package.
Also of note, holders of the following credit cards actually get a special 2x rate for flexible travel redemptions used towards Business (J) or First Class (F) airline tickets, meaning they can redeem 100 points for $2 CAD:
- RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege
- RBC Avion Visa Infinite Business
- RBC Commercial Avion Visa
How to Redeem Avion Rewards Points for Flexible Travel Rewards
Redeeming Avion Rewards for flexible travel rewards can be done entirely through the Avion Rewards Travel portal, which is a search engine powered by Expedia. In order to redeem points through this method, you do need to book through the portal and cannot apply points to a pre-existing booking made elsewhere.
In order to initiate a flexible travel rewards booking, log into Avion Rewards and click “Travel Home” on the top bar. From there, click on the “Book Travel” button.
This will take you to the Avion Rewards Travel portal page. From here, you will be able to search for flights, hotels, car rentals, and vacation packages. The process is the same no matter what you are redeeming your Avion Rewards for.
For our how-to, let’s take a look at booking a hotel in Las Vegas for August. Select “Stays” at the top, and select the desired destination, your dates, and the number of travelers. Click “Search”.
Once you search, a variety of hotels will be displayed that meet your travel criteria. You are able to filter or sort if desired to find the perfect hotel to suit your needs. Once you find the hotel you are interested in, click on it to be brought to the hotel-specific page with property details and room types that are available for this booking.
Scroll down and you will see the rooms that are bookable. Once you find the one that you like, click on Reserve to be taken to the payment page.
Once you are on the payment page, this is where you can elect to use your points to pay for the booking through the flexible travel rewards option. You are able to use a portion or all of your points when making a flexible travel booking, however, the default is to use all of your points (or the maximum number of points to pay the booking off completely).
As you update the points and cash payment split, the price summary on the right-hand side of the screen will update. This will give you insight into what you will be paying for this booking when you confirm in addition to any on-property fees (such as a resort fee in Las Vegas).
Once you are happy with the price summary, simply fill in the rest of the details and click “Complete Booking”. Any applicable points will be withdrawn from your account and you will receive an email confirmation of the booking.
Convert Avion Rewards to Airline Partners
If you are pursuing a flight redemption on another airline, you might find value in converting your Avion Rewards points to a specific airline loyalty program. Avion Rewards is partnered with American Airlines AAdvantage, British Airways Executive Club, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, and WestJet Rewards.
Avion Premium points can only be transferred to WestJet Rewards, whereas Avion Elite points can be transferred to all of the below frequent flyer programs.
You can convert Avion Rewards points at the following rates:
| Frequent Flyer Program Partner | Conversion Rate | Minimum Transfer Amount |
|---|---|---|
| WestJet Rewards | 1,000 Avion Rewards = 1,000 WestJet points (1:1 ratio) | Minimum 1,000 points Maximum 1,000,000 points Increments of 100 pts |
| American Airlines AAdvantage Miles | 5,000 Avion Rewards = 3,500 American Airlines AAdvantage Miles (1:0.7 ratio) | Minimum 5,000 points Increments of 10 points |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | 10,000 Avion Rewards = 10,000 Cathay Pacific Asia Miles (1:1 ratio) | Minimum 10,000 points Maximum 999,999 points Increments of 1 point |
| British Airways Avios | 10,000 Avion Rewards = 10,000 British Airways Avios Miles (1:1 ratio) | Minimum 10,000 points Maximum 999,999 points Increments of 1 point |
The Avion Rewards program also offers transfer bonuses from time to time. For example, in recent years we have seen promotions that give cardholders an extra 30% British Airways Avios Miles when transferring. This can create some strong value propositions in making dream trips much more accessible, such as redeeming Avios for Qatar Airways Qsuites.
If you hold any of the RBC Avion credit cards, you will be able to transfer to any of the partners listed above. On the other hand, if you hold a card that earns Avion Premium points, you will only be able to transfer your points to WestJet Rewards. (However, you can fix this by either switching the card to an Avion card or by applying for another Avion card and transferring the Rewards+ points to the Avion card).
You can see the current transfer ratios, including any bonus promotions, by viewing our Miles & Points Transfer Partner Tool.
How to Convert Avion Rewards to Airline Partners
To convert your Avion Rewards points to airline partners, go to the ‘Shop Avion Rewards’ portal. You can access this from the account summary page of any of your RBC credit cards.
Then from the Avion Rewards portal home page, select ‘Manage Points’ from the main navigation menu and then ‘Convert Points’ from the submenu.
From the next screen, you’ll be prompted to select which loyalty program you would like to transfer to and then the number of points. You will also be prompted to input your membership number for whatever program you are transferring points to, as well as an email address for confirmation (optional).
Gift Cards
RBC often offers promotions of 20-25% off on gift card costs for various retailers, so there may be value in redeeming your Avion points for a gift card. This is atypical, as for most points programs, redeeming points for gift cards offers terrible value.
Other Redemption Options
Avion Rewards can also be redeemed for merchandise, a statement credit, or financial rewards. These methods are not viable from a value perspective, and it is strongly recommended that you do not redeem Avion Rewards using any of these methods, as you are effectively throwing money away.
The Avion Rewards merchandise catalog has various products to purchase with points. The value for redeeming points for merchandise varies widely but is generally underwhelming and not recommended. You would be better off redeeming points for a gift card and purchasing the merchandise outright on many occasions.
Points can be redeemed towards a statement credit for your Royal Bank of Canada credit card account. If you were to redeem points through this method, 10,000 Avion Rewards points would be worth a $58 statement credit. It doesn’t take a mathematician to understand the terrible value that this offers.
Finally, Avion Rewards can be redeemed for RBC financial rewards. This means that if you hold a mortgage, personal loan, or registered account with RBC, you can redeem points to financially fund that account. If you were to use this option, 10,000 Avion Rewards points would be worth $83 in your financial account. Again, not a great value when you can easily redeem points for at least 1 cent per point with many travel redemption options.
Frequently Asked Questions
As long as you hold an active Avion Rewards or Avion credit card, the points tied to that card will not expire. If you cancel an RBC credit card that still has points remaining, you will have 90 days to either redeem those points or transfer them to another active RBC Rewards or Avion credit card that you hold.
RBC Avion Elite points are Avion Rewards points earned by Avion cardholders. They are a higher tier of points than the basic RBC Avion Premium points and can be redeemed for travel and also transferred to other airline partner programs.
You can redeem points to redeem for flights through two methods: via the fixed travel award chart or the flexible travel option.
The fixed travel award chart allows you to redeem points for round-trip flights to destinations around the world for a set amount of points and up to a certain ticket value. For example, a round-trip economy flight anywhere in North America will always cost you 35,000 Avion Rewards points. The ticket can have a maximum value of $750 CAD.
Flexible travel redemptions allow you to redeem points at a rate of 100 Avion Rewards = $1 towards any travel booked through the Avion Rewards travel portal.
Some select flights are not available to book on RBC’s Travel portal. If this is the case, you can instead opt to book the flight yourself and receive statement credit from RBC in exchange for your points. To do this:
1. Navigate to Support from the RBC Travel homepage
2. Select the popular topic “Book with a statement of credit on an Avion flight”
3. Go through the process outlined therein
You must call and receive authorization from an RBC travel agent before making the booking. Then you must complete a manual form before you will be credited with statement credit and the appropriate amount of RBC points removed from your account.
This method can be used to redeem using the Air Travel Redemption Schedule rates or the 1% flexible travel rate.
Yes, you are able to combine Avion Rewards points between any Avion Rewards credit cards that you hold. When you log into Avion Rewards, click “Transfer Points” and you will be able to choose the account you want to transfer points from and the destination account. You can also quickly combine points between all of your accounts using this feature.
Yes, you can combine Avion Rewards points between yourself and your significant other by adding them as a co-applicant to an ION or ION+ credit card. Note that a co-applicant is different than an authorized user.
The value of an Avion Reward point varies, depending on how you choose to redeem them. We recommend using a base value of 1 cent per Avion Rewards point when making your redemptions.
The Avion Rewards program team can be contacted via phone at 1-800-769-2512.
Posts about Avion Rewards
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Review: RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card The RBC Avion Visa Infinite card is the crown jewel in RBC’s credit card lineup and one of our favorite credit cards. Click here to learn why.
Miles & Points Expiration Rules: Must Know Details for Canadians If you are earning miles and points, ensure you understand the expiration rules and details of each loyalty program to avoid frustration. Click to learn more.
Review: RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege Card The RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege card is the most premium credit card in the RBC lineup. Click to learn more about this card.
https://www.rbcbank.com/cross-border/us-credit-cards/visa-signature-black-plus-card.html
How about these cards? Are the avion points the same value?
Are these considered premium or elite points?
A base earn of 1.5 points and no fx fee, wouldn’t make this the most valuable avion card?
Hi Patrick,
I am not too sure as I don’t know anyone who holds this card. However it says they can be transferred to your Canadian Avion Rewards account at 1:1. Given this is a USD card, one Canadian dollar spent would earn you only 0.70 Avion effectively (at current exchange rate).
I am not sure how the US Avion Rewards work and whether those can only be redeemed for cash or what.
I just tried the RBC Rewards Travel Portal to see how much a fixed point redemption would cost and it was not as advertised. One person, return trip from Vancouver,BC to LHR leaving Dec 16th and returning Dec 23rd, 2023 would cost 65,000 fixed points (should be worth up to $1,300 excluding tax and fees) plus $935.66 out-of-pocket. I compared this against Expedia and the out-of-pocket trip cost would be $1,140.66 (breakdown is $805.00 in air transportation charges, plus $335.66 for taxes and fees). So, the 65,000 RBC Avion points only saves me $200 in travel costs – this is pathetic! It should have saved me the $805 flight cost! What is going on here; is RBC devaluing their own points? …I ‘m considering changing credit cards if this is the case. Thanks for your advice.
$1300 is the max ticket price, not the guaranteed value. Are you comparing the exact same flight on Expedia and on RBC? The $935 out of pocket seems strangely high but I wonder if its on an airline like BA which have notoriously high taxes and fees. You’d be better off booking a flexible travel redemption and taking $650 off instead.
Personally I find best use of RBC to be transfers to airline partners like BA Avios, Cathay, etc.
Hi Reed. Thanks for your reply. Maybe I’m not quite understanding the ticket price vs guaranteed value. To clarify, the comparison was for the exact same flights, carrier (Air Canada), and dates. Expedia “Air transportation charges” (I assume this is the ticket price portion?) showed as $805 so this was what I expected RBC to cover but they don’t. I did another comparison tonight with different dates (July 6-20, 2024 flying with Iceland Air) and the Expedia cost was $976 for “Air transportation charges” plus $277.96 for “taxes and fees” (total cost $1,253.96). RBC wants 65,000 points plus $621.96. So, out of the total cost of $1,253.96 RBC is only covering the difference of $632 with my 65,000 points (about a 1% points vale); still extremely terrible “value” from RBC. They should cover the $976 flight cost. What am I missing? Can I send you a screenshot? Thanks again.
Yes – I emailed you.
I was not allowed to choose Level of economy flight from basic to the next two levels of economy this is a situation on Air Canada site that allows me to increase my level of comfort