Every quarter or so, we see a promotion that offers value to select credit card holders. Now that we are well into fall 2022, we’ve seen the fall promotion for the Royal Bank of Canada Avion Rewards card launch with a good 30% bonus. Is taking advantage of this transfer bonus going to be in your best interest as an RBC Avion Rewards credit card holder? Read on to see what our analysis is…

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Royal Bank Avion Rewards Offers Fall 30% Transfer Bonus to British Airways Avios

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The Royal Bank of Canada has announced an value added promotion for holders of the RBC Avion Cards that allows for RBC Avion Rewards to be transferred to British Airways Avios Points. While the RBC Avion Rewads program usually allows for a 1:1 transfer rate, the promotion allows for a 30% bonus at 1:3 rate.

The Essentials of the Promotion:

Earn a Transfer Bonus on Point Conversions:

The promotion is specifically valid for Royal Bank Avion Rewards Elite Credit card holders. These include their premium RBC Avion credit card lines that include:

• RBC® Avion® Visa Infinite,
• RBC Avion Visa Platinum,
• RBC Royal Bank Visa Business Platinum Avion
• RBC Avion Visa Business Infinite
• RBC® Avion® Visa Infinite Privilege,
• RBC® Avion® Visa Infinite Privilege for Private Banking account
• RBC® Commercial Avion Visa.

The details of the promotion are as follows:

• This offer is available beginning October 3, 2022 at 12:01 AM (PT), ending November 16, 2022 at 11:59 PM (PT).
• For every 10 Avion points which are converted, you will receive 13 Avios.
• Please allow up to 4 weeks for your Avion points to be converted and for your Avios to appear in your Avios account.
• Once Avion points are converted to Avios, they must remain in the British Airways Executive Club program and they may not be reversed/returned or converted back to Avion points.
• A minimum of 10,000 Avion points must be converted, and the Avios account must be in the same name as the RBC® Avion® Visa Infinite‡, RBC Avion Visa‡ Platinum, RBC Royal Bank Visa Business Platinum Avion, RBC Avion Visa Business Infinite, RBC® Avion® Visa Infinite Privilege, RBC® Avion® Visa Infinite Privilege‡ for Private Banking account, RBC® Commercial Avion Visa.
• Once the Avion points have been converted to Avios, they are subject to the full terms and conditions of the British Airways Executive Club program including, but not limited to, those pertaining to Avios expiry, flight booking, seat availability and blackout periods.
• British Airways, not Royal Bank of Canada, is responsible for the British Airways Executive Club program. Visit www.ba.com/ for full program terms and conditions.

The full terms and conditions of the promotion are also posted. While most seem straightforward, you need to convert a minimum of 10,000 RBC Avion Points in order to take advantage of this offer, and it takes up to 4 weeks for the points to credit.

What Can You Use British Airways Avios Points For:

British Airways Avios can be of tremendous value for short haul business class flights in the One World airline alliance. As a distance based reward chart, you can find yourself in the front cabin for substantially less than a comparable redemption on other carriers and in order airline alliances.

We have redeemed British Airways Avios on Qantas Business Class in Domestic Australia. Since business class airfares around Australia can be expensive for the market, redeeming Qantas Business Class Sydney – Adelaide can be a terrific deal.

We’ve also redeemed against British Airways Club class on flights in and around the Southern African Continent. Our British Airways Club Class Victoria Falls – Johannesburg was easily accessible through BA Avios.

We’ve also redeemed British Airways Avios for Iberia Business Class Madrid – Marrakech. It was a great value reward that allowed us to get across into Africa, without paying a huge premium on an inter-continental reward increase by redeeming a limited amount of points.

While you’re not likely to get ahead on long haul destinations, you can find some tremendous value in short haul up front cabins under the British Airways Avios program.

My Thoughts on the Promotion:

While I used to be an RBC Avion Credit Card Holder, I lost interest in the program as my goals shifted to enjoy more premium business class cabins. The RBC Avion Rewards program is primarily designed for redemption in economy class cabins under a fixed dollar amount, and occasionally offers transfer opportunities to frequent flier programs that allow for the big value redemptions.

While the transfer rates used to be 1:1, we’ve seen many examples where the transfer rate has been diluted to 1:0.7 (RBC Avion to American Airlines Advantage). As a result. there has been a lot less value in this card than in years past. When I started this hobby in the years between 2000 – 2010, a 50% RBC Avion to BA Avios transfer was common. Today’ we are only seeing transfer bonuses of 30%.

With the occasional transfer bonus to British Airways Avios of 1:1.3, this potentially represents a good value if you have a British Airways Redemption in mind. We recently redeemed British Airways Avios on an upcoming Royal Jordanian flight between Amman and Tel Avis in Business Class on their Boeing 787.

Under the right circumstances, this good be a great to excellent offer to take advantage of, as we are unlikely to see the return of a 50% transfer bonus rate anytime soon.

In Summary: RBC Avion Rewards Transfer Bonus to BA Avios

RBC Avion Rewards and British Airways Avios are offering a fall transfer bonus of an additional 30% points for transfers made between October 3, 2022 and November 16, 2022. You’ll need a minimum of 10,000 Avios points to start to qualify for the bonus.

With the right reward in mind, this can be an excellent use of your RBC Avion points in order to leverage them into a better award under the British Airways Avios program.

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Will you be taking part in this promotion now that the world is re-opening ?

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