The power to fly any airline, any time.

nationalpost.com
NATIONAL POST, SATurdAy, MAy 4, 2013
ESCAPES
WP11
a joint venture with rbc avion
With 15,000 RBC Rewards points imagine where you could fly .
†
®
ALL THE COMFORTS OF HOME
travelling canada
W
hile travel rewards
providers often feature advertisements
of happy people in a
variety of exotic vacation locations, the reality is that escaping does not necessarily mean
a trip to the tropics or to another continent.
For many rBC rewards
members, using points to fly
closer to home can be just as,
well, rewarding.
That has proven to be the
case for Corey Philp, a longtime Avion cardholder who,
along with his wife, has carried and used rBC Visa Infinite Avion cards for business
and personal spending to accumulate rewards points that
they use primarily to visit
family and friends on the east
coast of Canada.
“We’re both accountants;
we always look for value and
we often use points for holiday travel or situations where
we might otherwise not do the
trip — like a weekend golfing
with buddies. It’s a lot easier
to go if the flight portion is
free,” he says.
He and his wife are “very
strategic” in how they utilize
their points. If seats are more
expensive than usual, such
as during a holiday, they will
use points to pay for flights.
If an airline is having a seat
sale, however, “we will probably pay rather than use the
points,” he says. “The way it
works is a flight to Halifax is
capped at $750” under the
rBC rewards program. “If we
can get tickets for $400 round
trip per person we will generally pay that ourselves rather
than use the points.”
Mr. Philp estimates that
he and his wife will use rBC
rewards points to take an
average of one trip each year
just through everyday spending. The Toronto couple has
a simple operating principle:
“Whenever we can, everything
goes on the card.”
Corey Philp with wife Brianne Mullowney and daughter Peighton Philp. Picture was taken at Peggy’s Cove, N.S.
That put-it-all-on-the-card
strategy means that they can
rapidly accumulate rBC
rewards points with their
Avion card to take those nice
little side trips throughout
the year. In fact, Mr. Philp
says that the only time he
truly thinks about racking up
points is when he or his wife
whip out their rBC Visa Infinite Avion for major purchases.
“We only each have that one
card, the Avion, so it is not like
a decision between two cards
to get extra points,” he says.
Putting all of their household
spending on just one card also
makes it supremely simple to
track spending and budgeting.
Even accountants like to keep
finances easy, it turns out.
“We each have our own
cards, so we are accumulating our own points,” he says.
“I have been trying to use my
points to get the total down
but they just keep going back
up. If we are travelling together, one of us books both flights
using their own points and
then the next time the other
person will book flights and
redeem points.”
Booking airline flights online is “very easy,” he says,
“even easier than using the
phone system.”
Because each consumer is
unique with regards to how
they want to collect and redeem their rewards points,
the rBC rewards program is
“designed to be as flexible as
possible to allow our members to construct their perfect
travel plans,” says donna LueAtkinson, vice-president of
Global Loyalty Programs and
rewards at rBC.
To make the program more
flexible and powerful for
members, rBC rewards has
formed a strategic partnership
with the online travel booking
organization Travelocity.
“Through our partnership,
our site has become a destination place where our members
can research, plan and redeem
their points and it covers the
spectrum of travel content from
airline flights on any airline and
also hotels, tens of thousands of
hotels, as well as car rentals and
cruises,” she says.
The growth of the rBC rewards suite of offerings has
made it one of the most popular rewards programs in the
country. While not exactly
evangelical about the benefits
of the rBC rewards program,
Mr. Philp and his wife have
noticed a growing use of Avion
cards among their circle of acquaintances.
“Most of our friends and
family have them, whether it
is coincidence or recommendation,” he says.
The rBC rewards program’s
popularity is also due in part to
the fact that the loyalty program is one of the most flexible so that travel can be customized and allow members
to take advantage of the best
deals, says Ms. Lue-Atkinson.
Giving collectors the option
of flying within Canada on the
airline of their choosing is a
major Avion attraction. “Fully
one-third of all the travel
bookings that are being done
inside our program are for
flights within Canada,” says
the rBC executive.
Postmedia
Avioners can do that.
®
The power to fly
The power to
flyairline, any time.
any
any airline, any time.
With points that don’t expire^, the RBC® Visa Infinite‡ Avion®
card gives you the power to fly with any airline on any flight,
whenever you want ~. That means no blackout periods or
seat restrictions – even during holidays and peak seasons~.
Plus, you’ll earn 1 RBC Rewards® point for every dollar in
purchases*. That’s the power of being an Avioner ®.
Receive 15,000 welcome points upon enrolment†.
Plus receive the chance to WIN** 1 of 10 trips
worth $10,000 in the Avion Power to Fly Contest.
Apply
Apply
A
l today
tod
day att rbc.com/avion
rb
bc com//avion
i
or call 1-800-769-2511.
TM
® / TM Trademark(s) of Royal Bank of Canada. RBC and Royal Bank are registered trademarks of Royal Bank of Canada. ‡ All other trademarks are the property of their respective owner(s). ^RBC Rewards points will be cancelled if they remain unredeemed within ninety (90) days after the termination of the
RBC Rewards program or after you voluntarily close your RBC Royal Bank credit card account. ~ Subject to availability. *RBC Rewards points are earned on net purchases only; they are not earned on cash advances (including RBC Royal Bank credit card cheques, balance transfers, cash-like transactions
and bill payments that are not pre-authorized charges that you set up with a merchant), interest charges or fees, and credits for returns and adjustments will reduce or cancel the points earned by the amounts originally charged. †To receive the 15,000 bonus RBC Rewards points which will appear on your
first statement, your application form must be received by June 30, 2013 and approved by us. Additional cardholders, as well as cardholder(s) with existing RBC Royal Bank travel rewards credit cards, applying for or transferring to an RBC Visa Infinite Avion card as of the offer eligibility period, are not
eligible for this offer. This offer may not be combined or used in conjunction with another offer. For complete terms, conditions and restrictions that apply to the RBC Rewards program, visit: www.rbcrewards.com or call 1-800-769-2512. ** No purchase necessary. Contest starts April 8, 2013 and ends
May 31, 2013. Skill-testing question required. For complete contest rules, visit www.rbc.com/avion