marks

Did a search for this but didn't come across anything relevant.

When booking an Avion reward through Royal Bank will I collect Aeroplan points and/or status miles? Quote my Aeroplan # to the booking agent?

Slightly off topic but the same question applies to Cathay Pacific's Asiamiles? They have a double point promotion right now for tickets to HKG which is the destination I'm looking at booking.

Altaflyer

Have no first hand experience but if Avion is buying the ticket for you as opposed to you transferring the miles into a frequent flyer program then you should earn miles. Just ask the agent what booking class the ticket is in and then verify with AP or Asiamiles to be sure.

FLY YQA

The Avion Card will buy the ticket for you up to a certain price for a fixed amount of points. However, you must pay all taxes and additional fees not covered by the base ticket. You will collect Aeroplan and Cathay points, however, the status points will depend on the class of ticket Avion books for you. The advantage of the card is that there is usually no restrictions like Aeroplan and when you redeem, you can actually earn more points with whatever program you are with. WIN WIN!

parnel

Exactly!!

HeyAussie

Yes, you will get points for your Avion reward flights presuming you are in an eligible booking code. You can manipulate this a little by using some of the mileage run tools (see mileage run forum) to see what booking code, price and so on is available and what flight numbers, etc. This actually saves the phone agent some time when you phone to redeem. To maximize the value of your RBC points you should be looking for the flights closest to the maximum dollar value allowed for the reward level . Remember the reward level refers to the pre-tax value of the airfare. If you find your own availability on airlines and pricing for the reward you want, it is quite a quick transaction with Avion to redeem, surprisingly pain free ^

Another tweak which may be useful is booking and cancelling. When I used my Avion reward for UA flights, I was told that if I cancelled, I would get a UA voucher for the value of the tickets. Not sure on how this works exactly and YMMV, but it could be a good way to turn Avion points into an airline credit which can be used for whatever. Avion has a couple of restrictions, no J class and you must stay over Saturday so this technique could be useful here.

Once Avion has made the booking, you can phone the airline direct and have your frequent flyer number added to the booking. Avion emails a travel confirmation with the record locator to you once its all booked.

parnel

Has anyone had experience redeeming TD GOLD Travel Visa points? I have a whack of those I may use if AE miles are available.
I wouldassume they work the same way.

Tractor Boy

I've used TD a number of times. Its somewhat different than Avion and very straight forward. The TD points act as a straight cash credit with the TD travel agency - every 5000 points gives you $75. You can apply this credit towards whatever you want - specific flights and fare buckets, car rentals, hotels etc. Very easy to use. TD does have a version of "sabre lite" that you can use but its not that user friendly - I usually go through one of the agents. Tell them exactly what you want to book and its all very easy.

Vaclav

I have been using Scotia Gold Preferred Visa since they had a promotion of giving out 10,000 points two summers ago.

This year they improved/changed slightly the ways how to accumulate points with some partners awarding up tp 10x the points, mostly dining establishments.

5,000 points = $50 travel discount (never mind the merchandise catalogue). That is the minimum to redeem with no upper limit. You can pay for the whole ticket. The beauty is that they will also give you 5% rebate on the cash portion of you airfare/package before taxes. You can use points only or combination of points and cash.

They can book most airlines (not all) in any class of service. The booking has to be made through their office (this is a minor limitation since it is not over 24/7) and the cash portion has to be charged to the Scotia Visa. There are no additional fees, and I have found their agents very capable and highly professional, something I cannot always say. e.g. about people making travel arrangements at the Airmiles office.

The card costs $95 a year with free supplementary cards and if you use it smartly, it pays for itself.

I do not hear much about it here, are there any other satisfied or not users?

I know that this issue is OT.

100,000miler

Due to budget cuts this year, I have redeemed alot of my RBC Avion as well as AMEX Plat MR points and earned AP miles on all. Works like a dream once you are registered for redemption with both ccs. IMO, this is the best value for redeeming these points as costs for hotels and car rentals are at inflated values. Airline tickets are straight forward values at any available fare.

patty canuck

Just to clarify - if a base ticket is bought for $1000 and taxes total $200 (total of $1200) and max can spend is $1300, does that mean that you as the reward receiver must still pay the taxes of $200?

Thoughts anyone?

jnswinnipeg

With Avion you always have to pay the taxes and fees.

One bonus is with Air Canada's new policy, Avion now books Tango Plus tickets instead of just Tango.

Tractor Boy

Avion is great for the flexibility to transfer to BA/CX (and AA while it lasts). If, however, you are using the points solely to purchase AC tickets you may want to look at TD Visa which provides more flexibility. With TD the points are essentially cash and can be used to pay taxes etc.

SCMM

I look at it this way.

25,000 = $250 credit on some cards, but with the Avion I can transfer those 25,000 to BA and use that to upgrade from Premium Economy to Club World for a return trip to the UK = >$2500.00 more bang for my buck.

zoyabean

I was just comparing the TD & RBC cards last night and at my anticipated spending level (80k) the RBC reward is worth up to $1800 and the TD worth $1200. While the TD is more flexibe, it isn't of equal value.