RBC British Airways Visa Infinite review

Quick Overview of the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite credit card

The RBC British Airways Visa Infinite offers a suite of attractive benefits for high-spending travellers who fly frequently to London, England, are loyal to British Airways, and travel with a companion at least once a year. But it misses the mark if you only find yourself in the United Kingdom periodically, if you tend to fly via a variety of airlines, or if you’re typically a solo traveller.

Who can benefit from the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite?

With an accelerated earn rate that only rewards British Airways purchases and a severely restrictive companion voucher, the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card should appeal to only a niche category of Canadians: high-income travellers who frequently fly British Airways. Globetrotters who aren’t loyal to British Airways are better off choosing a different travel rewards card that offers more flexibility and earns points more rapidly.

Pros and cons

RBC British Airways Visa Infinite card welcome bonus

Rewards credit cards always seek to stand out from the pack with lucrative welcome bonuses, and the British Airways Visa Infinite card from RBC is no different. Get up to 60,000 Avios^ with the RBC® British Airways Visa Infinite card (with minimum spend, conditions apply). Minimum spend and conditions apply.

If you're wondering where that many Avios can take you, note that the base fare for an economy British Airways flight from Toronto to London usually requires between 26,000 and 40,000 Avios. It's important to be aware that Avios points only cover a flight's base fare, and you must pay cash for taxes, fees, and carrier charges on top of your Avios redemption.

Related: Best credit card sign-up bonuses

How to earn Avios points with the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite card

Co-branded airline cards differ from regular travel cards (like the TD First Class Travel® Visa Infinite*) in that they earn rewards towards a specific brand or airline. As a British Airways-branded card, the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card earns Avios, which is British Airways’ in-house rewards program. The card’s reward earn rates are as follows:

• Earn 3 Avios for every $1 spent on British Airways and BA Holidays*
• 2 Avios on dining*
• 1 Avios on all other purchases
  

While the card lacks many of the "everyday" categories Canadians like with a travel credit card(things like gas, Groceries and other categories), your opportunity to earn Avios can still yield a solid number of points each year if you’re a British Airways frequent flier.

For example, if you charge about $30,000 in general spending to your card (the minimum needed to get the companion voucher), as well as spend an additional $3,000 total a year on a couple of round-trip flights to London booked via British Airways, you’d earn a minimum of 48,000 Avios points per year. If each Avios point is worth 1.5 to 1.75 cents, that means you’re getting a return of $820 to $840 yearly. Even when you deduct the cost of the $165 annual fee, you’re definitely coming out ahead in that spending scenario.

How to Redeem Avios

An Avios point’s value fluctuates depending on what you’re redeeming it for and when, but, as mentioned, it generally ranges from 1.5 to 1.75 cents each. Be aware that you’ll need to collect, spend, buy, or transfer at least one Avios every 36 months to keep your points from expiring.

Avios can be redeemed for the partial or full base fare of any British Airways flight or oneworld partner flights, but you must pay cash for taxes, fees, and carrier charges. You can also redeem Avios for flight upgrades, seat and baggage fees, or for tours and experiences. While you can’t transfer Avios to other travel rewards programs, you can transfer points to another Avios member.

There are numerous ways to collect Avios aside from accumulating points with your credit card, including:

• Booking flights with British Airways or a British Airways partner airline. You earn points on almost every flight aside from reward flights. The amount you earn depends on which airline you fly, the distance of your flight, your class, and your British Airways Executive Club tier. You can get an idea of how many Avios you’ll earn by using British Airways’ flight calculator. Partner airlines include American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Qatar Airways, among many others.

• Booking accommodation or a rental car with eligible partners (Marriott, Best Western, Booking.com, Hotels.com, Airbnb, Avis, and Budget, among others).

• Shopping through the British Airways eStore with selected retailers, including Marks & Spencer and Apple. Be aware that most (if not all) retailers appear to be located in the United Kingdom or the United States, so it may not be a practical option for Canadian residents.
• Earning points via eligible finance and lifestyle partners, such as The Economist and eRewards.

• Transferring RBC Rewards points and American Express Membership Rewards points to Avios.

Key benefits of the British Airways Visa Infinite credit card from RBC

Perhaps the biggest benefit of the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite is the ability to amass a huge amount of Avios quickly. The card earns up to 3X Avios points on BA travel purchases, making it an ideal option for anyone who frequently flies British Airways (or even its codeshare partners with oneworld, or Avios, like Aer Lingus or Iberia). That potential is made greater with a lucrative sign-up bonus and additional rewards points (2X) on dining purchases.

Another great benefit of the British Airways Visa Infinite card is the ability to earn a Companion Voucher. Earn 1 annual companion voucher when you spend $30,000 annually (or 50% off a solo ticket). This feature allows the cardholder to bring a companion or fly solo with a 50% Avios discount on one reward seat ticket.

RBC British Airways Visa Infinite insurance coverage

RBC British Airways Visa Infinite: What's covered?

Travel Medical: Unlimited coverage (unless noted) for consecutive 31 days if under age 65.

Emergency Purchases Insurance (aka Delayed and Lost Baggage): Up to $500 per traveller if baggage is delayed more than four hours or lost.

Trip Cancellation/Interruption: N/A

Flight Delay: $500maximum for all covered persons after four hours.

Auto Rental Collision/Loss Damage: Coverage on vehicles valued at $65,000 or less.

Common Carrier Accident Insurance: Up to $500,000 for covered losses.

Purchase Protection: Coverage for loss or damage to items purchased on your RBC British Airways Visa Infinite for 90 days from date of purchase. 

Extended Warranty: Automatically doubles the original manufacturer’s warranty for up to 1 year.

The unlimited medical coverage¹ offered by the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite is one of the most generous among all credit cards in Canada. It’s hard to beat unlimited, and 31 days is at the top end of coverage among travel credit cards.  One notable shortcoming is that there is no trip interruption/cancellation insurance, which can be an important feature for those who take to the skies often.

You can check out our list of the best credit cards for travel insurance to directly compare the coverage provided by the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite to its competitors.

Extra benefits of the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite credit card

Other features of the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card include:

• 10% off British Airways flights when you pay with your card^∞
• Fuel savings at Petro-Canada (Link your RBC card with a Petro-Points membership to instantly save 3₵ per litre on fuel at Petro-Canada stations and earn 20% more Petro-Points and 20% more Avion points)
  
• Enhanced earnings of Be Well points at Rexall
  
• $0 delivery fees from DoorDash for a year, terms and conditions apply
  
• Visa Infinite benefits⁵

Rates and fees with the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite card

The card’s main fees are:

1. 1 Annual fee: $165
2. 2 Purchase interest rate: 20.5%
   
3. 3 Cash advance rate: 22.99% 
   
4. 4 Foreign transaction fee: 2.5% of the transaction in CDN
   
5. 5 Balance transfer fee: up to $5 for account opening promo balance transfer or for any balance transfer later done at the regular interest rate
   

If the $165 annual fee seems steep, you may get up to $120 of the fee waived if you bundle it with an RBC VIP chequing account, reducing the card’s carrying cost. Read our article on bundling banking products to learn more about the potential benefits.

^{Companion eVoucher}

The RBC British Airways Visa Infinite comes with a coveted annual companion award eVoucher˜, which allows you to bring someone along on your flight for a $0 base fare. There are relatively few Canadian credit cards that come with companion vouchers of any kind, and most of them either charge a minimum amount of money for the companion ticket or they award their voucher as a one-time perk, rather than a renewing annual card feature.

On the surface this makes the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite stand out from the pack, but there are a few important hoops you must jump through to benefit from this card’s voucher, which may be dealbreakers for many prospective applicants:

• Earn 1 annual companion voucher when you spend $30,000 annually (or 50% off a solo ticket).˜. That’s a lot of dough, even if you concentrate most or all of your spending onto the card.
• The voucher can only be used for flights redeemed with Avios rewards—you can’t use the companion voucher for flights you purchased in cash. Keep in mind that the card has only one accelerated earn category (see more details below under ‘Earning Rewards’). If you choose to make it your sole credit card, which you might need to do in order to meet the annual spending threshold, the number of rewards points you can earn back from everyday spending will be limited compared to what you could earn with other travel rewards cards.
• The flight you redeem the voucher for must be operated by British Airways—flights on oneworld alliance airlines are not eligible—and all travel must originate in and return to Canada. British Airways only flies out of three Canadian cities: Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. And BA flights from those cities only go to London, England.
• Finally, reward flights and companion tickets are subject to taxes, fees, and carrier charges, which can easily exceed $600 per economy fare and $1,000 per business class fare on a Toronto-London itinerary.

Given all the restrictions, and the very expensive and unavoidable surplus fees, it makes the additional requirement of spending that huge amount on your card a rather big ask.

How does the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite card compare?

Feature

RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card

WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard

American Express Cobalt^® Card

Annual fee 

$165

$119

$191.88 ($$15.99/month (Equals $191.88 annually) for non-Quebec residents. $191.88/year for Quebec residents.)

Sign-up bonus 

Get up to 60,000 Avios^ with the RBC® British Airways Visa Infinite card (with minimum spend, conditions apply).

Get up to 70,000 WestJet points†.. Conditions apply. 

Earn up to 15,000 Welcome Bonus Membership Rewards® points* – that’s up to $150 in value.

Earn rate 

Earn 3 Avios for every $1 spent on British Airways and BA Holidays*; 2 Avios on dining* and 1 Avios on all other purchases

2 WestJet Dollars per $1 spent on WestJet8; 1.5 WestJet Dollars per $1 on all other purchases⁸ 

5 points per $1 spent on eligible eats and drinks, including purchases in grocery stores and food delivery; 2x points on eligible gas, transit and ride shares in Canada points per $1 spent on eligible transit and travel purchases; 1 point per $1 spent on other everyday spending; 1 additional Membership Rewards point on eligible hotel and car rental bookings via American Express Travel Online

Companion fare voucher 

Earn 1 annual companion voucher when you spend $30,000 annually (or 50% off a solo ticket).

Get an annual round-trip companion voucher starting from $119 CAD³ (plus taxes, fees and charges) 

None

Transfer partners 

Can’t transfer Avios points to other programs though can transfer RBC Rewards points and Amex Membership Rewards to Avios 

Can’t transfer WestJet Dollars but you can transfer Avios points into WestJet Dollars 

Transfer points 1:1 to several frequent flyer and other loyalty programs

From the above table, it’s clear that where the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card shines is its generous welcome bonus and ability to earn Avios points, which are assets if you often fly to London, England, or travel frequently with oneworld travel partners. The free companion voucher˜ is also a nice perk, but the requirements and additional fees could limit your use of the voucher.

On the other hand, the companion voucher³ that comes with the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard has fewer restrictions: there is no large minimum yearly spend, usage is not limited to a reward flight, and you can depart and go to any city WestJet normally services. You normally have to pay a base fare, which you don’t with the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card.

With the American Express Cobalt^® Card, you don’t get a companion fare deal but the card features an impressive three accelerated earn categories, which means your points will quickly add up with everyday spending. And while the American Express Membership Rewards you earn aren’t affiliated with a specific airline, you can transfer points to multiple other airlines, including both the popular Aeroplan program and Avios at a rate of 1:1.

Is the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite credit card worth it?

If you meet the eligibility requirements and frequently travel to London or with oneworld travel partners, the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card could be a valuable addition to your wallet. However, before making a decision, it's important to carefully consider the restrictions and additional fees associated with reward flights and companion tickets.

While the card provides great value for those who frequently fly with British Airways or its partners, it may not be the best choice for travellers seeking more flexibility in terms of destinations and base fares. In such cases, alternative options like the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard or the American Express Cobalt® Card may be worth exploring. These cards offer different features and benefits that cater to a wider range of travel preferences and needs. So, take the time to evaluate your travel habits and priorities before making a decision.

Eligibility requirements for the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card

The card requires a personal income of at least $60,000 or a household income of at least $100,000. You’ll also need a good credit score, probably at least 660 or more.

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