[ANALYSIS] British Airways Executive Club (Avios)

British Airways has a loyalty program called the Executive Club where you can earn Avios points through many different avenues in Canada. First of all, British Airways is a member of the Oneworld alliance, so if you fly on any of its member airlines, you can bank your points to the Avios program.

As a Canadian, you can rack up your Avios points through several different avenues:

1) Earn a 15,000 sign up bonus with the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite. You will also earn 2 point for every $1 spent on British Airways purchases and 1 point for every $1 spent on all other purchases. Though this card comes with a $165 annual fee, we have seen a 45,000 sign up bonus before, so you can wait for the next big sign up bonus if you are not in a hurry to get this card.

2) If you have American Express Membership Rewards points, you can transfer a minimum of 1,000 Membership Rewards Points for 1,000 Avios, and increments of 100 thereafter. We have seen a 50% transfer bonus before, (I am hoping to see transfer bonuses more often).

3) You can convert your RBC Rewards into British Airways Executive Club Avios points at a 1:1 ratio. You will need to convert a minimum of 10,000 RBC points.

4) You can transfer Starwood Preferred Guest points at a 1:1 ratio. Keep in mind that you get an additional 5,000 bonus points every time you transfer 20,000 points.

5) You can transfer your E-reward points, from doing surveys, to Avios.

Keep in mind that Avios points need to be active once every 36 months, which is a fairly generous timeframe. Avios can become very valuable because they are redeem based on distance base travel. The only thing to keep in mind is that high tax and fuel charges on British Airway flights. So if you can take advantage of your Avios points on Oneworld partners, you can get a lot of value with your points.