If you’re comparing RBC travel credit cards, the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite may be one to consider. With a $165 annual fee, a purchase rate of 20.99%, and a cash advance rate of 22.99%, it’s worth doing the math: Can the rewards and benefits deliver enough value to offset the cost?
We’re taking a closer look at what the card offers, how much value a typical cardholder could get from it, and whether it’s worth adding to your wallet.
What does the offer?
Since we’re weighing the $165 annual fee against the value of the card, we started by focusing on benefits that make the card valuable:
A generous welcome bonus
If you applied for and were approved for the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite card before September 9, 2026, you can earn a 30,000-point bonus for spending at least $5,000 in the first 90 days of having the card. Then, you can earn an additional 30,000 points for spending at least $5,000 in the following 90 days.
That’s a total of 60,000 bonus Avios points, just for using the card regularly and keeping your account in good standing. As RBC points out, that’s enough points to book a return reward flight to London from all Canadian destinations.
The ability to earn Avios reward points
Every purchase you make with the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite earns at least 1 Avios reward point per $1 spent on all other qualifying purchases, but it gives accelerated rewards in specific spending categories. Cardholders earn 2 Avios points per $1 spent on dining and food delivery, and 3 points per $1 spent on British Airways purchases.
What can you spend Avios points on?
Once you’ve accumulated Avios points, you can book reward flights with British Airways or a oneworld alliance partner. If you don’t have enough points to cover an entire trip, pay for your travel with cash and points. You can also redeem points for travel upgrades, hotel stays, rental cars, merchandise, and donations to sustainable aviation fuels.
Unique travel benefits and perks
As you might guess, this credit card gives special British Airways benefits, like 10% off British Airways flights that are booked and paid for with the credit card. Cardholders also get a free companion voucher once they spend $30,000 a year. Cardholders who don’t want to travel with a companion can choose to fly solo for a 50% discount on the Avios fare of the reward seat ticket.
As a Visa Infinite card, it includes these Visa Infinite Benefits:
- Access to the Visa Infinite Luxury Hotel Collection
- Discounts with Park n’ Fly, Viator, and Via Rail
- Discounted GigSky data plans
- Visa Infinite Dining Series
- Wine country benefits like tours and tasting experiences
- 24/7 complimentary concierge
A comprehensive travel insurance package
This RBC Visa Infinite has the standard coverage included with most credit cards: purchase protection and extended warranty, but frequent travellers will appreciate this coverage:
- $500,000 of travel accident insurance
- 31 days of emergency medical coverage
- Unlimited emergency medical coverage
- 7 days of emergency medical over age 65
- $500 of flight delay
- $500 of baggage delay
- $500 of lost or stolen baggage
- $2,500 of hotel burglary
- Rental car theft and damage
As we’ll explain in a minute, this insurance only adds value to the credit card if you actually have to file a claim and use the included coverage.
Add-on services
RBC gives cardholders the opportunity to add custom insurance coverage to the card. These include: add-on travel insurance, RBC Road Assist, RBC BalanceProtector Max insurance, and identity theft and credit insurance.
Optional benefits with added value
The RBC British Airways Visa Infinite partners with brands you might already shop at to offer extra rewards like:
- Fuel discounts at Petro-Canada. Link the card and instantly save 3 cents per litre. Cardholders also earn 20% more Petro Points.
- 3x the Triangle Rewards. Canadian Triangle shoppers earn extra rewards by scanning their Triangle Rewards card and paying with the British Airways credit card.
- A free 12-month subscription to DashPass. With a free year of DashPass and $0 delivery fees on orders of $15+, regular users could see a benefit worth $120.
- Bonus Be Well points at Rexall. Members of Rexall’s loyalty program can link cards to earn an additional 50 Be Well points per $1 spent at the pharmacy.
Is it worth it for you? Here’s our math
Everyone’s spending and travel habits are different, so the value you get from a travel credit card will depend on how you use it. To estimate the potential value of the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite, we created a hypothetical cardholder and used this formula:
Net annual value = estimated rewards value + realistic value of benefits used − annual fee
You can use the same approach to estimate the card’s value for your own spending and travel habits. Here’s an example to get you started.
For our hypothetical cardholder, we assumed a reasonable amount of everyday spending on the card, including purchases that earn 1x and 2x Avios, plus at least one British Airways trip per year, which earns 3x Avios. We also looked at the card over multiple years, so the welcome bonus is included in the first year but not subsequent years.
| First year having the card | Second and subsequent years | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual spending | $20,040 based on $1,670 spent per month | $24,000 based on $2,000 spent per month |
| Avios earned | 33,080 plus 60,000 welcome bonus Avios = 93,080 points | 40,000 points |
| Estimated value of Avios | $1,861.60 | $800 |
| Value of benefits actually used | $808 in total $72 Petro-Canada discount (estimating 3 cents off a 60-litre fuel-up three times a month for a year)
$736 companion voucher fare (estimated by subtracting taxes and fees from a return flight between Toronto and London) |
$974.44 in total$72 Petro-Canada discount$871 companion voucher fare (estimated by subtracting taxes and fees from a return flight between Toronto and Paris)
$31.44 GigSky eSim |
| Card value: | $2,669.60 | $1,774.44 |
| – Annual fee | $165 | $165 |
| Estimated net value: | = $2,504.60 | = $1,609 |
Here’s how we arrived at those numbers.
