WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard Review

Ranked as the number two airline credit card in Canada, the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard popularized many benefits that you can find on various other cards in Canada now. The card for Canada's second largest airline has proven very popular with Canadians as it was one of the first cards to offer an annual companion pass and first checked bag free benefit. In fact, in many of our discussions with readers and the general public, they choose to get this card just for those two reasons rather than for earning actual WestJet dollars.

Read our old review here: WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard Review (Old 2016 version)

Overview

The WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard is the co-brand card for the WestJet Rewards frequent flyer program. The card was launched in 2010 with RBC and has always been a really good option for WestJet travel. It is the ideal card for individuals who travel on WestJet regularly and check bags, as well as for couples or families who travel on WestJet at least once per year. There is one other version of the card, the WestJet RBC Mastercard which is their entry level card with a lower annual fee that has lower earn rates and has less benefits.

Costs & Sign up Features

The WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard comes with a $119 primary card annual fee which is now on the lower end as we have seen many premium cards bump up their annual fees to $139 and $150. Supplementary cards are $59 each which is higher than most competing cards that charge $50 for each additional card but lower than its most direct competitor the TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card.

Elevated welcome bonus of up to 450 WestJet dollars!

Typically, the standard welcome bonus offer on this card is 250 WestJet Dollars however right now the welcome bonus on the card offers up to 450 WestJet Dollars. With this limited time welcome bonus you'll earn 250 WestJet dollars on your first purchase with the card and an additional 200 when you spend $5,000 in the first three months.

The interest rate on the card is 20.99% on purchases. 22.99% on cash advances and balance transfers. These rates are equivalent to or below many cards at this level. As it is a World Elite Mastercard, the card does have higher annual income requirements of $80,000 personal or $150,000 household.

Earning

The card earns WestJet dollars and earns those dollars as follows:

• 2% back in WestJet dollars on flights or packages with WestJet or WestJet Vacations
• 1.5% back in WestJet dollars on all other eligible purchases

The card had a new earn benefit added to it in 2021 called Status Lift. Status Lift is a response to the 2020 changes to the Aeroplan co-brand cards which started offering elite status qualifying points when you hit certain spend levels on the cards. Status lift works the same way, you will be awarded with $500 in WestJet elite status qualifying spend for every $15,000 spent on the card between January 1 and December 31 each year. You can earn up to $1,500 in qualifying spend each year ($45,000 in card spending) which on its own is half of the requirement for Silver elite tier status.

Point Valuation Chart

Spending Category	Percent earned per dollar spent	Effective Rate of return (Travel)
WestJet & WestJet Vacations	2%	2%
All other spending	1.5%	1.5%

 

Redeeming

As this is a co-brand airline card you guessed it, the dollars you earn on this card are redeem for flights on WestJet through the WestJet Rewards program. WestJet's program works more like a cash back program rather than your traditional frequent flyer programs which have or had set mileage award charts. One WestJet dollar is equivalent to one Canadian dollar and you can redeem them when you have as little as 15 WestJet dollars in your account. When you redeem you are buying an actual ticket from WestJet (not an award ticket like your traditional frequent flyer programs) for cash and then applying WestJet dollars towards that ticket as a discount. So if you buy a ticket for $450 and have 125 WestJet dollars you can apply that amount to the ticket and end up paying $325 plus any taxes and fees. Just like virtually all frequent flyer programs you cannot use WestJet dollars toward the taxes and fees portion of the tickets.

WestJet Rewards also has a flight redemption option called Member Exclusive Fares. These are sort like WestJet's take on the traditional frequent flyer reward chart as you need to have the full amount of dollars to redeem for them. When they were first introduced they provided excellent value (such as $99 one way in Canada) and you could also redeem for flights on partner airlines like Qantas. However more recently WestJet revamped this redemption option and the potential outsized value it provided has disappeared. The new incarnation of Member Exclusives Fares is akin to a small discount on the fare you would normally pay if you were just using cash. Sure a discount is great but the competitiveness of this option when compared to other programs is no longer there. At the time these were changed WestJet also removed the option to redeem for travel on their partner airlines. There are still ways you can use WestJet dollars on airlines like Air France, Delta and Qantas and that is to book a WestJet codeshare on those airlines, in those cases you can redeem WestJet dollars towards the fare.

Finally you can also redeem your WestJet dollars for vacation packages booked via WestJet Vacations.

Features and Benefits

This is the area where this card shines as it has some great features and benefits that are particularly useful to those who fly with WestJet. Two of those key benefits are the first checked bag free and the annual companion voucher and these are what make this card popular. I remember being at my kid's sporting events and the other parents on the team telling me that's why they have this card. Some get it for the free bags others for the companion fare and of course, for some it is for both of those benefits.

First Checked Bag Free

When you hold the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard, you and up to 8 guest travelling on the same reservation can each check your first bag for free. That is at least a $30 savings per person per direction of flight. If you have a family of four and you all check bags in both directions on a round trip that's $240 in savings right there. The crazy thing is you don't even have to purchase those actual flight tickets on your WestJet RBC World Mastercard! So long as you are a cardholder, which will be identified by your WestJet Rewards number you can take advantage of this benefit.

Annual Companion Voucher

The second and potentially most valuable benefit that this card comes with the annual Companion Voucher. That's right it's annual - not just limited to a one time welcome bonus like this card's biggest competitor and not with an annual spend requirement to earn it like others. You get it each year when you pay your annual fee on the card and it can provide some amazing value. Prior to March 2016 this offer was limited to Canada and the Continental U.S. but that was expanded to be able to use on any WestJet operated flight. The way it works is that when you purchase one ticket with WestJet you can get a companion ticket for as a little as $119.

The annual companion ticket options are as follows (prices don’t include taxes, fees and charges):

• Canada and the Continental U.S. for $119
• The rest of WestJet's network for $399

What does this mean? Well, it means it can save a boat load of money when you travel as the beauty of the voucher is that it works on any economy fare class including Premium at anytime with no blackouts. So you could book a more expensive Premium Fare to Hawaii and get your companion in Premium as well for only $399 + taxes and fees! Or it can provide huge savings on last minute travel when fares tend to skyrocket (this is typically when we have used them as a lot of our travel is not planned very far in advance)

Here is an example of economy class flights between Toronto and Kahului, Maui in May 2022:

In the above example the voucher provides a $565 savings. Not bad considering the card only costs you $119 per year and then you have to take into account the card will save you on your bag fees on this flight as well!

One more example, here is Calgary to London Heathrow in Premium Economy on their Boeing 787 Dreamliner:

Here you have $918.50 in savings just from the voucher. That's over seven years of annual fees saved in one fell swoop on this card and you still get this voucher each and every year.

Solo Traveller Tip: WestJet also provides the option to exchange your annual round-trip companion voucher for 4 business class lounge vouchers.

If you are a family of four or more, and do fly WestJet, Rewards Canada recommends that two people in the family each get their own card (not a supplementary card but rather own account) as that would provide you with two companion vouchers to use each year. To learn more read the following article:

Recommended reading: Why my wife and I each grabbed our own WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercards

The card also has a strong insurance package that places it in the middle of the road with its competitors. It includes emergency medical insurance (15 days for those 64 and under; 3 days for 65+), travel accident insurance, trip interruption insurance, hotel and rental car insurance. Plus it also has extended warranty and purchase protection. Some key insurances it is missing compared with competing cards are baggage insurance and trip cancellation insurance.

World Elite Mastercard benefits

• Airport Lounge Access The card comes with Mastercard Travel Pass provided by DragonPass which is a standard feature across all World Elite Mastercards in Canada. This means you get free membership in the lounge access program that is pretty much the same as Priority Pass. While the card covers your annual membership it does not cover the actual lounge visit fees which are currently US$32 per person.
• Boingo Wi-Fi Boingo Wi-Fi for Mastercard Cardholders provides access to more than 1 million premium Wi-Fi hotspots worldwide at no charge. This also covers Wi-Fi on several airlines including WestJet. As of March 9, 2023 members are limited twelve 90 minute in-flight sessions per year.
  

Insurance

The WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard has a strong insurance package that places it in the middle of the road with its competitors. The coverage is as follows:

• Out of Province/Country Emergency Medical Insurance (up to 15 days for hose under age 65, 3 days for 65+)
• Trip Interruption Insurance
• Flight Delay Insurance
• Baggage Delay Insurance
• Car Rental Theft and Damage Insurance (up to $65,000 MSRP)
• Hotel Burglary Insurance
• Travel Accident Insurance
• Purchase Protection Plan
• Buyer’s Assurance Protection Plan

Some key insurance coverage it is missing compared with competing cards are lost or damaged baggage insurance and trip cancellation insurance.

 

What is good about this card

The increased welcome bonus of up to 450 WestJet dollars is great and allows for a sizeable discount on future WestJet flights.

Next is the first checked bag free benefit, to save $30 or more per bag per direction is such a great benefit for those who buy fares that don't include checked bags. In fact by having the card, you can actually choose those lower fares to save some money.

The primary card $119 annual fee could also be seen as a good thing as we have seen many premium cards including some direct competitors bump up those primary card fees as high as $150 annually.

What is not so good about this card

There are just a few things that are not so good about this card. The first is the earn rate, while 1.5% on the majority of purchases is equal to many competitors, the latter tend to have category spend accelerators (ie grocery, dining, recurring bills etc.) where you can really rack up to points and miles. This card's only accelerator, the 2% back is only good for WestJet purchases whereas other cards will award a similar amount or more on WestJet and other travel purchases including hotels, car rentals and so on.

The second issue we have with the card is more so with the WestJet Rewards program and not the card itself but being a co-brand card these go hand in hand! This is an inherent issue with all co-brand cards as you are limited by the attached reward program. And with WestJet Rewards you are limited in the redemption options in terms of where and whom you can fly with.

With the WestJet dollars you earn you are limited to only redeeming for WestJet flights or WestJet code-share flights on partner airlines. This limits the number of destinations you can get to using WestJet dollars (or portion thereof) and there is no outsized value in redeeming what you have earned like you can find with traditional frequent flyer programs (such Aeroplan points for first class on Lufthansa).

Who should get this card

• Anyone who flies with WestJet several times per year and checks bags on those flights to save on the fee (or even just one flight per year when travelling with 2 or more people)
• Couples or families who fly with WestJet as least once per year to make use of the savings the companion voucher can provide
• Frequent WestJet travellers who earn quite a few WestJet dollars and want to contribute more to that balance by earning dollars with the card

Conclusion

Should you get this card? As is always the case it depends on your travel habits! If you travel on WestJet then in most cases the card will make sense but not always. If you are a solo traveller who rarely checks bags and who only flies WestJet once or twice per year you are better off getting a credit card that offers a higher return like MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard as you'll get a better return on your purchases that you can still redeem on WestJet flights. Being a solo traveller you won't make use of the companion voucher but you can convert them to lounge vouchers.

However if you travel at least once a year with two or more people or as a single traveller frequently with checked baggage on WestJet then the card is a no-brainer as you can make use of the companion voucher and the first checked bag free benefits to save you a ton of cash. On the flip side if you travel to places that WestJet doesn't serve or their partners don't serve the card doesn't make much sense. With all that being said, at a minimum if you know you are going to fly WestJet at least once, and this goes for even that solo traveller as well you may want to get the card just to save on that one flight. How? Why? Well for the $119 annual fee you can get up to 600 WestJet dollars with the first part of the welcome bonus. This means you can save $481 on that one WestJet flight and then cancel the card. Don't tell them that we told you to do this though! ;-)

Overall this card makes great sense for a lot of Canadians who foresee themselves travelling on WestJet with a companion at least once per year or a few times per year individually. The benefits the card comes with are really second to none as no other card has a companion voucher offer like this and very few have a checked bag benefit. When you get this card it isn't so much the WestJet dollars you earn on your everyday spending even though they will add up, it is about those two huge benefits it comes with.

Latest card details:

Other cards to consider if you are looking at this card:

• American Express® Aeroplan®* Card
  
• American Express Cobalt™ Card
  
• American Express® Gold Rewards Card
  
• RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card
  
• Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite card
  
• TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card

This review was first posted on November 23, 2016 and is updated on a regular basis

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