Just read about it. Interesting!
Let's see if I get my math right.
RBC Avion: 2,500pts bonus points every year. So $32,500 in spending gets you 35,000pts which is good for $750 worth of a round trip ticket in North America on any airline in North America + taxes.
$120/yr in fees unless you have a RBC VIP Package.
Can collect frequent flyer miles with the ticket you're flying on. (BIG bonus for us).
I'm not including the 15,000pts on sign up with this math.
WJ RBC MC: $100 on sign up and 1.5% of spending in WJ dollars. So if I spend $32,500 in a year I get the $100 + $487.50 = $587.50 to spend on WJ. + taxes. The second year would only be $487.50 since you don't get the $100 sign up bonus every year.
$79/yr in fees.
Did I miss anything?
Good card, but I don't think I would give up my Avion for it.
Thoughts?
The 2 things to remember are this...
With the Avion program yes, you get a ticket valued up to $750 for those 35,000 points, but you have to pay the taxes. So to fly down to the US you'd have to pay about $170 I think it is out of pocket. And if your long haul continental flight is worth more than $750 you pay the difference. If your long haul flight has a seat sale and the actual value of it is $450, you still pay the same 35,000 points. So you're not actually getting $750 value out of it most times, although you may occasionally.
With the WJ card you just pay for the ticket up front and your WJ dollars pay for it. So you book a ticket to Florida, it costs $480 including tax, you have enough to pay, nothing else due.
As well, if you book WJ you earn 2% in rewards for anything you spend on the card.
I've done so many comaprisons between the regular RBC rewards program (non Avion) and the Avion program, and it works out about even. Sometimes Avion gives you a better deal, but other times the RBC rewards does (which works like the WJ program in that you just use points to 'pay' for your ticket).
And the insurance on the cards are exactly the same.
I think they're pretty close in value for the points. For somebody who doesn't normally fly WJ, then the Avion might be better (or the Gold Preferred since it has cancellation coverage on it and the Avion doesn't). But for somebody who flies WJ all the time, it might be a better value, especially with the extra % you earn booking flights on WJ.
J
