In this feature of Rewards Canada' Ultimate Credit Card Portfolios we look at the ultimate one for earning British Airways Executive Club Avios. This is an ideal wallet for those who like to fly with British Airways, Aer Lingus, Qatar Airways and other oneworld partner airlines.
We have always recommended that you should carry a Visa, a Mastercard and an American Express card in your wallet as there are benefits, promotions and earning potential unique to each brand of credit card. There are a few options that could be utilized for a British Airways portfolio however we feel the trio listed below are best suited for the task. These cards will provide strong Avios earning along with some good benefits and strong insurance coverage while not breaking the bank on annual fees.
What is Rewards Canada's Ultimate British Airways Executive Club Credit Card Wallet? It is the following three cards:
You may be asking why does a British Airways portfolio even make sense for someone in Canada? There are many reasons! First off, British Airways is founding member of the oneworld alliance which means you can use Avios for flights not only on British Airways but on their oneworld partners like Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Qatar Airways just to name a few. Second, is for some really good redemption options on those airlines. From the famous Aer Lingus Toronto to Dublin Aer Lingus economy class sweet spot to redeeming for Qatar Airways QSuites to low Avios requirements for intra-European and intra-Asia flights, the options with BA's Executive Club are numerous!
A quick overview as to why these three cards make up this portfolio:
The RBC British Airways Visa Card is the obvious choice in this portfolio since it is the only Executive Club co-brand card in Canada and its primary function in the portfolio is to provide discounts on British Airways flights. For American Express it's the Cobalt Card which provides the highest potential Avios earning on many everyday purchases. As there is no longer a publicaly available Mastercard option in Canada that earns British Airways Executive Club Avios (either directly or via conversion) we fill the spot with a no fee high cash back earning Mastercard, the Rogers World Elite Mastercard (you do not have to be a Rogers customer to get this card).
Before we jump into maximizing your earning with these cards let's look at their earn rates in Avios per dollar spent (we'll discuss the conversion rates below).
RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card | American Express Cobalt® Card | Rogers World Elite Mastercard | |
---|---|---|---|
British Airways Flights | 2 Avios | 2 Avios | 1.5% cash back (not Avios) |
Other travel purchases | 1 Avios | 2 Avios | 1.5% cash back (not Avios) |
Grocery | 1 Avios | 5 Avios | 1.5% cash back (not Avios) |
Dining / Food Delivery | 1 Avios | 5 Avios | 1.5% cash back (not Avios) |
Select Streaming Services | 1 Avios | 3 Avios | 1.5% cash back (not Avios) |
Gas | 1 Avios | 2 Avios | 1.5% cash back (not Avios) |
Daily Transit (includes taxi / ride shares) | 1 Avios | 2 Avios | 1.5% cash back (not Avios) |
Drug Stores | 1 Avios | 1 Avios | 1.5% cash back (not Avios) |
All other spending | 1 Avios | 1 Avios | 1.5% cash back (not Avios) |
Right away from the chart you can see that for the most part the card that gives you the best earn rates is the American Express Cobalt Card. The card earns Membership Rewards points that convert 1:1 to British Airways Executive Club. With earn rates of one to five Membership Rewards points it equates to one to five Avios per dollar spent. You'll want to try to funnel as much accelerated category spending as you can onto this card. Do note there is an annual cap of $30,000 on the 5x points earning for eats and drinks. There is no cap on the Cobalt card's 3x and 2x points earning categories. If you hit that cap you can move your spend to the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card to earn 1 Avios per dollar spent for dining while using the HSBC World Elite Mastercard for groceries to earn 1.6 Avios per dollar spent.
For purchases in the few categories where the Cobalt Card isn't accepted you'll want to use the RBC BA Card to maximize your Avios earning. For example, Loblaw's family of grocery store purchases don't accept Amex so you would use your RBC BA Card here. Costco warehouses in Canada only accept Mastercard so the Rogers is your go to card there.
It will also be a mix of the cards when it comes to travel purchases. For any travel outside of flights on British Airways you'll want to utilize the American Express Cobalt Card as it earns the most Avios on those purchases. When purchasing British Airways tickets you are better off purchasing them with the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card for the 10% discount and the purchase(s) will help you reach the $30,000 annual spend requirement to receive the companion voucher.
In general, you will want to funnel as much spending onto the Amex Cobalt Card. In the world of points and miles it is always good to keep a stash of points in a flexible or hybrid rewards program which American Express Membership Rewards provides. By doing so you are not limiting yourself to one program (even though we are focusing on British Airways Executive Club) since you can redeem for any travel via Membership Rewards, use your points for statement credits and even convert to other airline and hotel programs. Essentially you're keeping your all your options open with the Cobalt Card.
The only caveat to funneling all your spend to the Cobalt card is if you do want to reach the annual requirement of $30,000 in spending on the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite card to receive the annual companion voucher (learn more about the voucher in the next section). In that case I would still try to use the Cobalt Card as much as possible for the 5x earning and then put everything else on the RBC card.
As a tie in to keeping your points as flexible as possible we recommend that you do not transfer your American Express Membership Rewards to British Airways Executive Club until you know you are close to actually redeeming for an award ticket.
The only time we recommend converting points without an award in mind is during bonus time! Amex have run bonuses at in the past for transferring their Membership Rewards points to British Airways.
The typical bonus we have seen in the past from Amex is 30% which bumps up the effective earn rate on the Cobalt Card to 1.3 to 6.5 Avios per dollar.
This is where the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite card comes in handy and that is for booking tickets and flying with British Airways. The card offers a 10% discount on British Airways flights and the discount is off the total cost of the fare (including taxes, fees, and carrier charges) for travel in any cabin from economy (World Traveler) to premium economy (World Traveler Plus) for business (Club World) or even First Class. If you buy several British Airways tickets a year, that 10% off can provide big savings – especially if it is for business or first class. Think about a business class flight between Toronto and London that can run $5,000 or more. Ten percent of that is $500 and that alone pays for the $165 annual fee a few times over! Click here to learn more about the 10% discount.
The second benefit to the RBC card is the annual Companion Award eVoucher. You'll receive the voucher when you spend $30,000 or more on the card in any calendar year. This voucher is used when you make an award booking which means it can save you a lot of Avios! What this means is that when you book an award ticket departing from Canada you can use the voucher when to redeem for second award ticket on the same reservation to take a companion along. All you pay are the taxes and fees for the companion fare. Just like the 10% discount this is benefit is available on all fare classes. Thinking about a business class reward that is 100,000 Avios per person? Well, with this voucher it basically becomes 50,000 Avios per person - plus taxes and fees of course!
The American Express Cobalt Card itself does not have a lot of travel benefits outside of its decent insurance coverage. However It does have Amex Offers, which are offers provided to cardmembers throughout the year where you can receive statement credits or bonus points for shopping with specific retailers. The card also has Amex ExperiencesTM which include Front of the Line concert tickets and other special event offers.
Finally, the Rogers World Elite Mastercard provides you with Mastercard Travel Pass by Dragon Pass which provides discounted entry fees to over 1,300 airport lounges worldwide plus discounts on airport dining around the globe. It also provide free Boingo Global Wi-Fi which can actually be used on WestJet flights.
The RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card has a limited time welcome bonus offer providing up to 60,000 Avios in the first year. The bonus is awarded as 15,000 Avios when you are approved for the card and then 35,000 Avios when you spend $6,000 in the first three months. You'll earn the final 10,000 points after the first year with the card as an anniversary bonus
The American Express Cobalt Card offers up 15,000 welcome bonus points over the course of 12 months. It is awarded as 1,250 bonus points for each month that you spend $750 or more on the card. Those 15,000 points work out to 15,000 Avios.
Finally the Rogers World Elite Mastercard offers $25 Welcome Bonus in cash back rewards upon first card purchase within 3 months of receiving your card.
If you do get yourself all the card in the Ultimate British Airways Credit Card Portfolio you'll have 75,000 Avios + $25 cash back. And that doesn't include the points you earn on your actual spending. When you do take into account spending you'll have more than enough Avios for three round trip tickets in economy class between Toronto and Dublin on Aer Lingus.
Recommended reading: RWRDS Availability Alert: Aer Lingus Business Class Toronto to Dublin
Get Up To 60,000 Aviosˆ with the RBC® British Airways Visa Infinite
Annual Fee: $165 | Additional Card Fee: $75 | 20.99% on purchases 22.99%* on cash advances and balance transfers *21.99% if you reside in Quebec.
Corresponding legal references and product terms are available on the RBC website, which will be available and agreed upon in the customer onboarding process.
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2024 Top Overall Travel Rewards Card | 2024 Top Hybrid Travel Rewards Card
In your first year as a new Cobalt Cardmember, you can earn 1,250 Membership Rewards® points for each monthly billing period in which you spend $750 in net purchases on your Card. This could add up to 15,000 points in a year. That’s up to $150 towards a weekend getaway or concert tickets
Monthly Fee $12.99/month of Cardmembership ($155.88 annually) | Additional Cards: $0 | Annual interest rate 21.99% on purchases and 21.99% on funds advances
Enjoy 3% cash back value when you redeem with Rogers plus insurance benefits
Annual Fee: $0 | Additional Card Fee: $0 | Annual interest rate 20.99% on purchases and 22.99% on funds advances | $80,000 personal or $150,000 annual household income
For American Express you actually have a variety of cards you could actually choose from including the American Express Gold Rewards Card or The Platinum Card. These cards will earn less points (Avios) but provide more benefits than the Cobalt Card. The Platinum Card is well known as the best airport lounge access card in Canada so if you fly a lot and need lounge access this is the card to get. The Platinum Card also provides discounts on British Airways flights via the International Airline Program, however the discount is only available on premium fares.
On the Visa side of things the best alternative option is the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card. With the Avion card you are able to convert your Avion Rewards points on a 1:1 based to British Airways and just like HSBC, RBC tends to offer a transfer bonus once or twice per year. If you include that bonus this card will actually earn more than the RBC BA card (outside of British Airways bookings) but you would forego your 10% discount and the ability to earn that companion voucher.
As mentioned with Mastercard there are no options for earning Avios (either directly or by conversion) so there are no other cards that can be truly considered as a British Airways card. We feel the best option is the Rogers card but another card with really good potential for this portfolio would be the BMO AscendTM World Elite®* Mastercard®* - primarily for the four free annual lounge passes it offers with its Mastercard TravelPass by DragonPass membership.
This feature was first posted on August 7, 2017 and is updated regularly.
Title image courtesy of British Airways