A card you may have never even heard of is currently offering its highest-ever welcome bonus offer, and it could definitely be an excellent choice for some Canadian travelers. Getting up to 12 one-way reward flights is undoubtedly an impressive welcome bonus!
It’s for a limited time and many of you already got the other great more well-known cards.
So let’s see if the RBC® British Airways Visa Infinite‡ and its current ≈ $675 welcome bonus are right for you.
Important: If you are not one of the Flytrippers readers who have already earned over a million dollars with our welcome bonus recommendations, please read the travel rewards basics first.
Because we’ll assume you know that welcome bonuses are the key, that annual fees alone are irrelevant, that credit scores are vital, and the essentials about how both types of travel rewards work.
Overview of Flytrippers’ take on the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite
Our detailed editorial card reviews always start with a to-the-point section that includes:
- Why get the card
- Who should get the card
- How to get the card
Why get the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite
Here are the 4 best reasons to get the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite:
- The record-high increased welcome bonus worth ≈ $675
- The very lucrative variable-value rewards
- The good insurance coverage included
- The other card benefits
We’ll explain each one below, but soon you can also check our RBC British Airways Visa Infinite card page for way more details (or even a shorter summary if you prefer).
Who should get the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite
Here are the 3 types of travelers who should consider the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite:
- Travelers who want Avios points
- Travelers with income of $60,000 (personal) or $100,000 (household)
- Travelers who can spend more to unlock the welcome bonus
If that’s not you, check out our ranking of the best credit cards in Canada to see your many other great alternatives and still get hundreds of dollars in free travel easily.
How to get the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite
Here is the 4-step simplified process to take advantage of this deal:
- Apply for the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite (secure RBC link)
- Unlock the welcome bonus by spending $6,000 in 3 months
- Get 56,000 Avios points (welcome bonus + earn on minimum spend)
- Use your points for up to 12 one-way reward flights
You can soon download our free RBC British Airways Visa Infinite card guide (and you’ll also get our checklist for when you get a new card to avoid common mistakes).
Highlights of the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite
Here is a detailed look at the 4 best reasons to get the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite.
1. The record-high increased welcome bonus worth ≈ $675
First, the most obvious. The welcome bonus is the most important thing to consider for any card.
With the welcome bonus alone, the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite gives you an excellent net value of ≈ $675 in travel rewards based on our Flytrippers Valuation.
In short:
- The rewards you get are worth ≈ $840
- The card fee is $165
($840 – $165 = $675)
You’ll have 56,000 Avios points, which should give you ≈ $840 off specific flights. The next section shows you what you can concretely do with the rewards you’ll get with the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite.
This is the highest welcome bonus ever offered on this card.
And there is no time limit to use the points because it’s easy to avoid expiry, with or without the card (the points are in your Avios account, separate from the card itself).
Here is the breakdown of the rewards easily earned:
- 50,000 Avios from the welcome bonus
- 15,000 Avios upon approval
- 35,000 Avios after reaching the minimum spend
- 6,000 Avios from the regular earn rate on your minimum spend
Since the welcome bonus is so rich, the minimum spend requirement to reach is much higher than most other cards: $6,000 in 3 months. That is the equivalent of $462 per week, so it definitely requires using our tips to reach minimum spend requirements.
But think about most people who aren’t travel rewards pros and how long it must take to reach $675 in rewards by just earning 1% or 2% on every purchase. I’ll help you with that math: They need over $33,000 in purchases, assuming a flat 2% back on everything and no card fee!!!
That’s insane. You get that just by unlocking the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite‘s welcome bonus… so $6,000 doesn’t look so bad in comparison. It gives you an effective return of ≈ 14% (just a bit better than 1% or 2% haha).
Also, if you choose to renew the card, you will also get a renewal bonus of 10,000 Avios points (≈ $150), which is not included in our Flytrippers Valuation of the welcome bonus. That can give you another 2 reward flights in certain countries.
2. The very lucrative variable-value rewards
Avios points are variable-value rewards, and you can only use them for reward flights on specific airlines (but not just on British Airways). And not all redemptions are good, like with all variable-value rewards.
So you need to be more flexible to maximize their value, much more so than with the Aeroplan program even.
But Avios points (like most variable-value rewards) can provide outsized value and unlimited value. So that welcome bonus could be worth much more if you use it well.
Avios partner airlines include all oneworld airline alliance members and a few other partner airlines.
Here is what you can get with the 56,000 Avios points you’ll have after unlocking the welcome bonus from the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite:
- 12 one-ways within Europe
- 6 one-ways from many Canadian cities to nearby US cities (Chicago, New York, Seattle)
- 5 one-ways from many Canadian cities to sunny US cities (Miami, Phoenix, Dallas)
- 4 one-ways from Toronto to Dublin
- 2 one-ways in business class from Toronto to Dublin
- 6 one-ways from Miami to the Caribbean
- 3 one-ways from Boston/Chicago/New York to Madrid
- 6 one-ways within Asia
- 6 one-ways within Australia
- 6 one-ways within Morocco
- 6 one-ways within South Africa
You can read our post about 11 good uses of Avios points to learn more about those concrete examples, and you can soon read our ultimate guide to the Avios program for all the details.
In short, Avios sweet spots are direct flights to/from oneworld airline hubs, the shorter flights in particular. And the ones that are the most expensive when paid with cash, of course—like all variable-value rewards.
This can be extremely valuable all over the world for globetrotters like us.
For example, let’s say you go to Spain to take advantage of many free nights in Marriott hotels after finding a $500 roundtrip flight on the Flytrippers deals page. You can then use your Avios points for 12 short-distance flights in and around Spain!
For most Canadians, flights to Miami are often very cheap. You can buy that positioning flight with cash and then use your Avios points to go to many exotic Caribbean destinations that are often very expensive to fly to, as I did for an amazing week on the island of Bonaire.
Finally, from Canadian airports, it mostly means direct flights to American Airlines and Alaska Airlines hub airports in the USA, so this part is not as interesting if you live in a Canadian city not served by those airlines or if you don’t want to visit the US (these Avios points are great to just give yourself bonus long weekend trips that you might not have taken).
3. The good insurance coverage included
One of the best benefits of good travel credit cards (apart from the obvious travel rewards for free travel) is the insurance coverage included free of charge.
The RBC British Airways Visa Infinite has many types of coverage:
- Medical travel insurance
- Flight delay insurance
- Baggage delay insurance
- Car rental insurance
- Hotel/motel burglary insurance
- Purchase protection
- Extended warranty
First, the medical travel insurance coverage is among the best in Canada, with 31-day coverage for your trips (compared to just 15 often). This is ideal for those who prefer longer trips.
This applies only to cardholders under the age of 65, as is often the case. For those who are 65 and over, you still get 7 days of coverage.
Unlike the other types of credit card insurance coverage, medical travel insurance coverage is valid whether or not you pay for the trip with your card. This is always the case for this type of coverage, contrary to the common myth.
Beware that despite being a co-branded card, the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite‘s flight-related insurance coverage will not apply if you pay for your flights with Avios points, unfortunately. So you might want to also have one of the cards that cover you for all reward flights.
Also included is the insurance coverage I’ve used the most, flight delay insurance. But it is not as generous as almost all other cards, with just $250 per day if your flight delay is at least 4 hours.
It is $250 per person up to $500 per occurrence, but I’m not sure how “reasonable and necessary” they would find it to get 2 separate $250 rooms to earn twice the points with a hotel chain… compared to just getting a $500 room with other cards’ coverage, as I’ve done multiple times without ever having any issues getting reimbursed.
The RBC British Airways Visa Infinite‘s baggage delay insurance is called “emergency purchases insurance” and covers you for $500 per person up to a total of $2,500 per occurrence (also a 4-hour minimum delay).
You’ll also get the standard car rental insurance and hotel/motel burglary insurance.
Finally, you have the standard retail coverage: Purchase protection if your item is lost, damaged, or stolen (for 90 days; $50,000 maximum) and an extended warranty (doubled; up to 1 extra year).
4. The other card benefits
The RBC British Airways Visa Infinite doesn’t necessarily have the best additional benefits, but a few can provide value.
First, here are the card earn rates:
- 2 points per $ (≈ 3.0%) on British Airways purchases
- 1 point per $ (≈ 1.5%) on all other purchases
The multiplier earn rate is on a category you won’t likely be spending a lot of money. The base earn rate is in line with many other similar cards.
You could get a companion voucher if you spend $30,000 on your card, but Flytrippers recommends avoiding additional spend bonuses or additional spend benefits.
In terms of travel benefits, as a Visa Infinite card, the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite gives you access to the Visa Infinite complimentary 24/7 concierge service, the Visa Infinite Luxury Hotel Collection, and other Visa Infinite exclusive luxury benefits (hotels, events, and dining).
Finally, you also get a 10% discount on all British Airways purchases (for flights paid with cash instead of points) which isn’t necessarily as valuable for most Canadians, unlike the Avios points that you can use on so many different airlines.
Summary
The RBC British Airways Visa Infinite‘s current record-high welcome bonus means it is the best time to boost your stash of precious Avios points. There are so many ways to use these rewards for great flight redemptions.
What would you like to know about the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite? Tell us in the comments below.
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Featured image: Madrid, Spain (photo credit: Eduardo Rodriguez)
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