Aeroplan Reserve vs RBC Avion is a comparison between two different ideas of a premium travel card. The American Express Aeroplan Reserve costs $599 a year and is built around Air Canada; the RBC Avion Visa Infinite costs $120 a year and is built around booking any airline with a fixed points chart. This page sets out the fees, welcome offers, points and lounge rules side by side, as YieldMaple read them on Amex’s and RBC’s product pages on October 8, 2026. It is general education, not financial advice.
For the full picture on each card, see the American Express Aeroplan Reserve review and the RBC Avion Visa Infinite review. Related comparisons: Scotia Passport vs RBC Avion and Amex Cobalt vs Aeroplan Reserve.
Aeroplan Reserve vs RBC Avion at a glance
| Feature | Aeroplan Reserve | RBC Avion Visa Infinite |
|---|---|---|
| Annual fee | $599; $799 on annual fees charged on or after January 12, 2027 | $120 (better on this row) |
| Additional card | $199 a year for each additional Aeroplan Reserve Card; $249 from January 12, 2027. Or $0 for each additional Aeroplan Reserve No Fee Card | $50 |
| Welcome offer | up to 85,000 Aeroplan points: 60,000 after $7,500 in net purchases in the first 3 months, plus 25,000 when you spend $2,500 in month 13 | up to 70,000 Avion points: 35,000 Avion points on approval, 20,000 bonus points when you spend $5,000 in your first 6 months, and 15,000 one-time anniversary bonus points, credited 12 to 16 weeks after the one-year anniversary of account opening |
| Issuer's value for the offer | up to $1,700 in flights (Amex's estimate, at $0.02 a point or more) | up to $1,500 in travel (RBC's estimate) |
| Top earn rate | 3 Aeroplan points per $1 on eligible Air Canada and Air Canada Vacations purchases (better on this row) | 1.25 Avion points per $1 on travel-related purchases |
| Base earn rate | 1.25 Aeroplan points per $1 on everything else (better on this row) | 1 Avion point per $1 on all other eligible purchases |
| Lounge access | Maple Leaf Lounges in North America and the Air Canada Café for you and a guest, with a same-day ticket on a departing Air Canada or Star Alliance flight (better on this row) | None listed on this card |
| Free first checked bag | a free first checked bag for you and up to eight companions on the same reservation, when travel starts on an Air Canada flight (better on this row) | None listed |
| Where points go | Aeroplan: over 180 destinations on Air Canada and more than 1,200 through airline partners | over 500 airlines, with no blackouts or seat restrictions (better on this row) |
| Purchase interest rate | 21.99% on purchases and 21.99% on advances | 20.99% |
| Stated minimum income | None stated on the product page | $60,000 personal or $100,000 household income |
Sources: americanexpress.com Aeroplan Reserve product page and rbcroyalbank.com Avion Visa Infinite product page, both read October 8, 2026. The Amex welcome offer shown is the standard public offer on the product page; an offer reached through another channel may differ.
How much do the Aeroplan Reserve and RBC Avion cost a year?
The Aeroplan Reserve costs $599 a year and the RBC Avion Visa Infinite costs $120, a gap of $479 a year.
That gap is about to widen. Amex’s page carries a notice that the Reserve fee becomes $799 on annual fees charged on or after January 12, 2027. Once that applies, the difference between the two cards is $679 a year. RBC’s page shows no announced change to the Avion fee.
Adding a second cardholder follows the same pattern. RBC charges $50 for an additional Avion card. Amex charges $199 a year for each additional Aeroplan Reserve Card, and that fee becomes $249 from January 12, 2027. Amex also lists a cheaper route: $0 for each additional Aeroplan Reserve No Fee Card, which Amex describes as a way to earn points faster and which becomes $25 a year, when it is renamed the Aeroplan Reserve Companion Card under Amex's January 12, 2027 fee notice. So the cheaper second card depends on which Amex version is chosen.
Interest rates only matter if a balance is carried. The Reserve charges 21.99% on purchases and 21.99% on advances; the Avion Visa Infinite charges 20.99% on purchases. At those rates, interest on a carried balance quickly outweighs any points earned on either card.
RBC also states an income requirement: $60,000 personal or $100,000 household income. Amex’s Reserve page does not state a minimum income.
Which welcome offer is bigger, Aeroplan Reserve or RBC Avion?
The Aeroplan Reserve offer is bigger by point count, at up to 85,000 Aeroplan points against up to 70,000 Avion points, but it needs twice the spending, and both offers hold back a final instalment until after the first year.
Aeroplan Reserve. Amex’s standard public offer on October 8, 2026 is up to 85,000 Aeroplan points: 60,000 after $7,500 in net purchases in the first 3 months, plus 25,000 when you spend $2,500 in month 13. Earning all of it takes $10,000 in spending across two separate windows. Amex values the full offer at up to $1,700 in flights (Amex's estimate, at $0.02 a point or more). The month-13 portion falls in the second year of membership, when a second annual fee applies, so the first-year portion is the 60,000 Aeroplan points after $7,500 in purchases in the first 3 months, worth about $1,200 at Amex’s own estimate.
Two cautions apply. The figure above is the standard public offer on Amex’s product page; an offer reached through another channel may differ, so the offer on the application page is the one that counts. And Amex states that current or former holders of this card are not eligible for the welcome offer.
RBC Avion Visa Infinite. RBC’s offer is up to 70,000 Avion points for applications by November 25, 2026. It comes in three parts: 35,000 Avion points on approval, 20,000 bonus points when you spend $5,000 in your first 6 months, and 15,000 one-time anniversary bonus points, credited 12 to 16 weeks after the one-year anniversary of account opening. RBC values the full offer at up to $1,500 in travel. RBC’s offer terms apply to new applications, and they state that additional cardholders, and existing RBC personal credit cardholders who transfer to the card during the offer period, are not eligible for the offer.
The anniversary points arrive in the second year, after a second annual fee. The first two parts add up to 55,000 Avion points in the first year. On RBC’s flight chart that covers one long-haul Canada or US round trip and one short-haul round trip, with ticket prices capped at $1,100 combined and 5,000 points left over. Taxes and fees are extra on both awards.
Set against the first-year fee, the order changes on the issuers’ own figures. The Reserve’s first-year points at Amex’s estimate, less its fee, come to about $601. The Avion’s first-year points at the chart’s maximum ticket prices, less its fee, come to about $980. Both figures use issuer estimates and ceilings, not guaranteed values, and real redemptions can come in lower.
Aeroplan vs Avion points: how do redemptions compare?
Aeroplan points are worth whatever the chosen Aeroplan flight delivers, while Avion flight redemptions follow a fixed chart with a maximum ticket price for each points level.
Avion. RBC describes its chart as fixed-points pricing: flight prices may go up, but the points needed stay the same. The published levels include:
- 15,000 points for a round trip within or to an adjacent province, territory or U.S. state, with a maximum ticket price of $350
- 35,000 points for a round-trip flight almost anywhere in Canada or the United States, with a maximum ticket price of $750
- 65,000 points for a round trip to Europe, with a maximum ticket price of $1,300
- 100,000 points for a worldwide round trip such as Tokyo or Bangkok, with a maximum ticket price of $2,000
At the maximum ticket price, those levels work out to about 2.1 cents a point on the long-haul Canada and US award and 2 cents a point on the Europe award. A ticket that costs less than the maximum returns less per point, because the points charged stay the same. Taxes and fees are not covered by the chart.
RBC says Avion points book over 500 airlines, with no blackouts or seat restrictions. For hotels, car rentals and other travel, the conversion is 100 points = $1, which is 1 cent a point, or roughly half the chart’s ceiling value. Points also convert to other programs: RBC names WestJet Rewards, American Airlines, British Airways and Cathay Pacific. RBC states that Avion points never expire.
Aeroplan. Reserve points are Aeroplan points, redeemed through Air Canada’s program. Amex says that covers over 180 destinations on Air Canada and more than 1,200 through airline partners. Amex’s yardstick for value is $0.02 a point or more on flights (Amex's figure, based on most Aeroplan Cardmembers' flight redemptions from November 8, 2020 to September 1, 2025). That figure describes what most cardholders received on past flight redemptions, not a fixed rate: the points needed for a given Aeroplan flight are set by Aeroplan, not by a chart on the card’s page. Amex states that Aeroplan points do not expire as long as you are an American Express Aeroplan Basic Cardmember.
The practical difference: Avion is simpler to predict and is not tied to one airline, while Aeroplan ties the points to one program in exchange for the Air Canada benefits that come with the card.
Does the RBC Avion Visa Infinite have lounge access?
No. RBC’s Avion Visa Infinite page lists no airport lounge benefit and points readers to the Avion Visa Infinite Privilege card for global airport lounge access.
That step-up card costs $399 a year, includes six lounge visits per membership year, and asks for $200,000 personal or household income. The review of the BMO Eclipse VIP covers another bank’s Visa Infinite Privilege card and how its lounge access works.
The Aeroplan Reserve is the lounge card of the pair. It includes Maple Leaf Lounges in North America and the Air Canada Café for you and a guest, with a same-day ticket on a departing Air Canada or Star Alliance flight. Amex’s terms describe this as complimentary access to Maple Leaf Lounges and Air Canada Cafés in Canada and the United States, with one guest per eligible Cardmember. The same-day ticket rule matters: under that wording, a ticket on an airline outside Air Canada and Star Alliance does not open the lounge door.
Amex estimates the lounge benefit at up to $590 a year (Amex's estimate, based on up to 5 visits a year with a guest). Taken at face value, that estimate works out to $118 a visit for two people, and it sits $9 below the current annual fee. Against the announced fee it falls $209 short. A traveller who visits less often than Amex assumes gets proportionally less.
The Reserve also comes with a Priority Pass membership, with a usage fee charged for every lounge visit. That makes it a membership card for non-Air Canada lounges, not free entry.
Other Air Canada benefits on the Reserve, none of which the Avion Visa Infinite matches:
- Checked bags: a free first checked bag for you and up to eight companions on the same reservation, when travel starts on an Air Canada flight. Amex values this at $140 (Amex's estimate for two people on one round trip).
- Priority services: Priority Airport Check-In, Priority Boarding and Priority Baggage Handling for you and up to eight companions on the same Air Canada reservation.
- Companion Pass: one Companion Pass a year after $25,000 in net purchases before your card anniversary; the companion's Air Canada economy base fare is fixed at $99 to $599, plus taxes and fees.
- NEXUS: up to $100 in statement credits every four years toward a NEXUS application or renewal fee.
- Elite status: 1,000 Status Qualifying Credits (SQC) for every $5,000 in eligible net purchases, up to 25,000 SQC.
Earn rates on everyday spending
The Reserve earns at least as many points per dollar as the Avion Visa Infinite in every category the two issuers publish, and more on Air Canada, dining and general spending. It earns 3 Aeroplan points per $1 on eligible Air Canada and Air Canada Vacations purchases, 2 Aeroplan points per $1 on eligible dining and food delivery in Canada, and 1.25 Aeroplan points per $1 on everything else. The Avion Visa Infinite earns 1.25 Avion points per $1 on travel-related purchases and 1 Avion point per $1 on all other eligible purchases.
As an illustration, a household that puts $10,000 a year of general spending on one card would earn 12,500 Aeroplan points on the Reserve or 10,000 Avion points on the Avion Visa Infinite. The extra 2,500 points a year does not come close to covering the fee gap by itself; the Reserve’s case rests on the Air Canada benefits, not the earn rate.
The two currencies are also not interchangeable. An Aeroplan point and an Avion point are redeemed in different programs under different rules, so a higher point count on one card is not automatically a higher dollar value.
Insurance and other perks
Both cards carry travel insurance, described differently by each issuer. Amex lists emergency medical coverage of up to $5,000,000 for the first 15 consecutive days of a trip, if you are under 65, trip cancellation of up to $1,500 per insured person per trip, to a maximum of $3,000 for all insured persons, trip interruption of up to $1,500 per insured person per trip, to a maximum of $6,000 for all insured persons, and flight delay coverage of up to $1,000 (combined maximum with baggage delay insurance).
RBC’s page lists emergency medical insurance RBC describes as unlimited, plus travel accident, trip cancellation and mobile device insurance. The product page gives the headline list only; the limits, trip lengths and age rules are in RBC’s insurance certificates, and those details decide whether a given trip is covered.
RBC adds partner offers for linked cards: 3 cents a litre off fuel and 20% more Petro-Points and Avion points at Petro-Canada with a linked card, and a free 12-month DashPass subscription from DoorDash. Each has its own enrolment steps and terms.
Neither product page advertises a no-foreign-transaction-fee feature. Readers who spend heavily in other currencies can compare the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite review, a card whose foreign transaction fee is none: only the exchange rate applies to foreign-currency purchases.
Which card fits which traveller?
The Aeroplan Reserve fits frequent Air Canada flyers who use lounges and checked bags; the RBC Avion Visa Infinite fits travellers who want a $120 fee and airline choice.
The Aeroplan Reserve fits a traveller who:
- flies Air Canada or Star Alliance often enough to use Maple Leaf Lounges several times a year, usually with a guest
- travels with family or a group, where one free first checked bag each for up to eight companions adds up
- is working toward Aeroplan Elite Status and values 1,000 Status Qualifying Credits (SQC) for every $5,000 in eligible net purchases, up to 25,000 SQC
- is comfortable paying $599 now and the higher fee Amex has announced for 2027
The RBC Avion Visa Infinite fits a traveller who:
- flies a mix of airlines and wants points that book over 500 airlines, with no blackouts or seat restrictions
- prefers a fixed chart to working out the value of each Aeroplan award
- does not use airport lounges, or would rather pay for the occasional visit than for a $599 card
- meets RBC’s income requirement of $60,000 personal or $100,000 household income
Neither card fits someone who carries a balance, because purchase interest of 20.99% or more outweighs the rewards on both.
Where the Reserve clearly wins: lounge access, checked bags, priority airport services and earn rates. Where the Avion Visa Infinite clearly wins: annual fee, the spending needed for its welcome offer, and freedom to book any airline. For a wider field, the travel credit card comparison for Canada and the Aeroplan credit card comparison cover the other cards in each category.