In this feature of Rewards Canada' Ultimate Credit Card Portfolios we look at the ultimate wallet for earning and redeeming WestJet Rewards dollars and for flying with WestJet. We have always recommended that you should carry a Visa, a Mastercard and an American Express card in your wallet. The reason why is that there are benefits, promotions and earning potential unique to each brand of credit card. In this feature we outline one card from each brand that will help you build up those WestJet dollars faster than ever and/or save on your WestJet flights. Ultimately there are various options that could be utilized for a WestJet portfolio but we look at one card from each issuing family that provide strong WestJet dollars earning, discounts for flying on WestJet along with very strong insurance and travel benefits.
What is Rewards Canada's Ultimate WestJet Rewards Credit Card Wallet? It is the following three cards
The WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard is the obvious choice as it is the primary card out there for WestJet Rewards. It should also be the primary card you use in this ultimate portfolio. It will earn 1.5% back in WestJet dollars on all purchases except for WestJet/WestJet Vacations purchases where that is bumped up to 2%. The RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card earns RBC Rewards Points which can then be converted to WestJet dollars. The rate they convert at is 100 RBC Rewards Points to 1 WestJet dollar which translates to 1% back on all Avion purchases except travel where it is 1.25%. There are times when RBC holds a transfer bonus to WestJet that provides 10 to 30% more WestJet dollars. The final card, the Platinum Card from American Express does not actually earn any points that can be converted to WestJet dollars but provides discounts for buying tickets on WestJet and you can also apply the Platinum card's points to those ticket purchases as well.
This is the primary card for the Ultimate WestJet Credit Card portfolio. It provides the best earn rates for WestJet dollars at 1.5% for all purchases except WestJet flights and WestJet Vacations packages in which case the card earns 2% back.
On top of the best WestJet earn the card also provides numerous benefits for travelling with WestJet. The most famous being the first checked bag free benefit which waives the fee for the first bag for the cardholder and up to 8 additional passengers on the same reservation. With baggage fees starting at $30 one way, you can see how big of savings this can provide. The great thing with this benefit is that you actually don't have to buy the flights with this card you simply have to have it connected to your WestJet Rewards account and make sure your WestJet Rewards membership number is attached to your reservation (see the Platinum Card option below)
The next benefit is the annual companion voucher that the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard provides. This is the yearly benefit from the card where you can buy a second ticket on a flight for a fixed fee plus the ticket's normal taxes and fees. If you play your cards right and redeem on expensive tickets you can extract big value from the voucher. The flat redemption fees for the voucher are as follows:
There are additional features and insurance benefits the card brings to the table as well which won't cover here save for the free Global Wi-Fi the card provides. This benefit via Boingo is available on all World Elite Mastercards in Canada and is especially noteworthy for this WestJet portfolio as Boingo membership means you get free Wi-Fi on WestJet flights!
Read our review of the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard to learn more.
In reality you are grabbing the RBC Avion Visa Infinite card for its ability to give you a quick boost of WestJet dollars thanks to its great welcome bonus offer. Not only that it fulfills the Visa position in the portfolio so if you are at a retailer that happens to only accept Visa or if there is a special offer only available to Visa cardholders you have card to handle that purchase and then those points can be converted to WestJet dollars.
The current welcome bonus on the card provides up to 55,000 Avion Rewards points which can be converted to 550 WestJet dollars before any potential bonuses. The 55,000 welcome point bonus is broken down as follows:
This is one of the easiest large ticket bonus offers to achieve in the Canadian market right now.
Any points you do earn on this card can be converted to WestJet Rewards dollars and they do on occasion have bonuses for transferring. The bonus has been as high as 30% however most recently over the past couple of years we have only seen 10% bonuses.
Read our review of the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card to learn more about this card!
While the Platinum card does not earn WestJet Dollars, it does earn membership rewards which can be redeemed for WestJet flights separately but you’re getting this card more so for discounts on WestJet flights, airport lounge access and a plethora of other travel benefits.
The Platinum Card has a benefit called the International Airline Program which provides discounts on premium travel with many of the world’s top airlines and this also includes WestJet. The beauty of WestJet is the discount is extended to any economy class fare above Basic. So unless you are buying the absolute cheapest fare with WestJet (which isn’t always available on all routes) you can purchase it cheaper via American Express. The discount also grows with the higher fare class you book. A recent check of two business class seats between Calgary and Maui priced at $5,175 on WestJet’s site and only $4,297 with Amex! On top of this you can redeem the Membership Rewards points you have earned on the Platinum Card towards these flights or any other flights you purchase on the card.
And as mentioned above even though you are buying these tickets through Amex Travel and paying with your Platinum Card so long as you have the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard you won't pay the first bag fee on these bookings. On top of this you'll still earn your WestJet dollars and you will receive any elite status benefits should you happen to have WestJet Elite Status.
The Platinum Card has the best airport lounge access hands down out of any cards in Canada. Yes, the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard has Mastercard Travel Pass by DragonPass but that only covers your annual membership not the actual fee to access any lounges. The Platinum card has membership and access fees covered! And depending on which lounge it may cover your entire family’s entry fees. Whether it’s a lounge in Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto or London, England you’re covered with the Platinum Card.
Then you have additional benefits like a $200 annual travel credit which you can apply to WestJet flights you book via the International Airline program or virtually any other travel. It provides hotel elite status and much more.
Read our review of the Platinum card to get all the juicy details!
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![]() RBC Avion Visa Infinite Annual Fee: $120 Additional Card Fee: $50 Get up to 55,000 bonus points (a value of up to $1,100), that’s enough to fly anywhere in North America or the Caribbean! (Taxes and Fees extra) - You’ll get 35,000 Welcome Points on approval and 20,000 bonus points when you spend $5,000 in your first 6 months. Apply by January 31, 2023
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Platinum Card® Unlock special experiences with the Platinum Card®
• Earn 3 points for every $1 in Card purchases on eligible dining and food delivery in Canada, 2 points for every $1 in Card purchases on eligible travel, and 1 point for every $1 in all other Card purchases |
There you go. With these three cards you are pretty much covered for all your travels with WestJet and maximizing your WestJet Rewards dollar earning.
Although we feel the combination above is your best bet there are other card options that can fit the bill for all three of the issuers. On the Amex side you could consider the American Express Cobalt Card - in fact in the first version of this portfolio it was the recommended Amex card but that was before WestJet became an International Airline Program partner. You would get the Cobalt card for its super strong 5x points earning on Eats and Drinks, and then book WestJet flights on this card, redeem the points against the charge for a 5% return. That's higher than anything else in this portfolio. For the Visa portion, you could look at the sibling to the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card, the RBC Avion Platinum Visa Card. It is virtually identical to the Infinite Card in terms of earning and redeeming (just no 1.25 points on travel purchases) and comes with a smaller insurance benefits package. On the Mastercard side you could consider the lower end WestJet RBC Mastercard however it has lower earn rates, no First Checked Bag free benefit and its companion voucher is limited to Canada and the U.S..