30% Switch Bonus from RBC Avion to British Airways Avios

It’s once again a great time to convert your RBC Avion points to British Airways Avios. Until May 15, 2023, RBC Avion is offering a 30% transfer bonus when converting your points to Avios.

The last time we saw this transfer bonus was in Fall 2022, so this is a hopeful sign of regular transfer bonuses to come in the future.

The 30% Transfer Bonus

The usual conversion ratio from Avion to Avios is 1:1, so this bonus makes it an effective ratio of 1:1.3.

You need to transfer a minimum of 10,000 Avion points (which would equal 13,000 Avios), but you can transfer in increments of 1 point thereafter.

Remember that if you want to earn additional RBC Avion points to take advantage of this bonus, there are currently record-high offers of 55,000 Avion points on all of the personal RBC Avion cards (which last until April 30), which would translate into 71,500 Avios under this bonus.

If you opened, say, both the RBC Avion Visa Infinite and the RBC Avion Visa Platinum for 55,000 points each, that would earn you a total of 91,000 Avios with no minimum spend, or 143,000 Avios upon maximizing both offers. 

It’s worth noting that the bonus doesn’t show up on the RBC Avion Rewards website when you initiate the transfer. When you input the number of Avios you’d like to convert, it will show the regular 1:1 ratio.

However, the conversion indeed shows up when the points land in your Avios account. As long as you initiate the transfer within the valid time period, you’ll receive the 30% bonus.

Is It a Good Deal to Transfer Avion Points to Avios?

The best way to leverage this 30% bonus is to take advantage of existing sweet spots within the British Airways Avios program (i.e., redemption opportunities that would’ve been a good deal even without the 30% bonus in place).

Let’s remind ourselves of the best Avios sweet spots for Canadian travellers and how they can be supercharged to even greater value by the current 30% bonus from RBC Avion:

• North America to Doha on Qatar Airways Qsuites normally costs 70,000 Avios, which is equivalent to only 53,847 Avion points with the 30% bonus.
• North America to the Maldives on Qatar Airways Qsuites normally costs 85,000 Avios, which is equivalent to only 65,385 Avion points with the 30% bonus.
• North America to Bangkok on Qatar Airways Qsuites followed by Qatar Airways First Class normally costs 95,000 Avios, which is equivalent to only 73,077 Avion points with the 30% bonus.
• Toronto to Dublin on Aer Lingus normally costs 13,000 or 50,000 Avios in economy or business class, which is equivalent to only 10,000 or 38,462 Avion points with the 30% bonus.
• Seattle to Hawaii on Alaska Airlines normally costs 16,250 or 62,500 Avios in economy or business class, which is equivalent to only 12,500 or 48,077 Avion points with the 30% bonus.
• North American short-haul flights normally start at 9,000 Avios in economy class, which is equivalent to only 6,923 Avion points with the 30% bonus.
• Oneworld short-haul flights around the world normally start at 6,000 Avios in economy class, which is equivalent to only 4,615 Avion points with the 30% bonus.
• Oneworld multi-carrier awards allow you to build a fairly comprehensive round-the-world award in “economy class” for 100,000 Avios all-in, which would be equivalent to 76,923 Avion points with the 30% bonus.

If some of these Avios sweet spots sound appealing to you, then it’s a great time to take advantage of the 30% transfer bonus and book an Avios sweet spot for your upcoming travel.

Indeed, this is the just the second time we’re seeing the RBC to Avios transfer bonus after Qatar Airways joined the program back in March 2022, which brought along many new and interesting sweet spots to the Avios program.

The ability to earn a Qsuites flight by converting a single RBC Avion welcome bonus over to Avios is highly attractive, and I’d imagine many Avion points collectors who had jumped on the recent all-time-high welcome bonuses would’ve been waiting for a transfer bonus just like this one to arrive. 

Conclusion

The recurring transfer bonus from RBC Avion to British Airways Avios is back again for 2023, offering those of us who’ve recently capitalized on record-high RBC welcome bonuses the opportunity to book flights through Avios with a 30% boost.

Despite some devaluations here and there, Avios still offers its fair share of sweet spots on Oneworld and its associated airlines around the world, and it remains the primary diversification option for Canadians who are largely tied to Air Canada and Star Alliance.

If you plan to book one of these sweet spots over the foreseeable future, then the 30% transfer bonus from RBC Avion is a great opportunity, so make sure to take advantage by May 15, 2023.