Correct.

I've booked a lot of tickets (10+) with RBC Avion points on US carriers.

You are not going to escape paying for the taxes, surcharges, and fees because those are hard costs that the airline has to pass on to someone else. They already have the empty seat........so that can be redeemed for points. You want to go to Greece. So, all those European airports are very fee intensive, for example, before the advertising rules changed, tickets to LHR (London UK) used to be $400 round trip, but the small print for fees, taxes, surcharges, etc, added ***another*** $400 to the ticket price. Ouch !!

Now, having said that, the last Avion flight I booked thru RBC Avion (which used Carlsson Wagonlit Travel at the time) allowed me to pay these charges with points as well. If that has changed I can't say as it was 3 years ago when I last ran up my points account on Avion and redeemed the ticket I am walking about. Today all my spending is on AMEX, but, the same rules apply with them also.

I know the booklet they send you is wordy, in very small print, and contains lots of pages, but you really should have read it, as this is a very clearly stated condition of the program. That may not help you, but it is not Avion's fault, sorry to say, although their customer facing marketing campaign could have been a little clearer too.

You have still saved a lot on airfare with the points, and that is a good thing.