[PROMOTION] RBC Rewards Conversion Bonuses (October 15, 2013 – December 31, 2013) (expired)
It is not well publicized, but RBC Rewards is current holding several different conversion bonus promotions. Here is a breakdown of the different promotions.
American Airlines AAdvantage
Between October 15, 2013 and November 30, 2013, you can convert your RBC Rewards points to American Airlines AAdvantage points and receive a 20% bonus. RBC Rewards and AAdvantage convert at a 1 to 1 ratio. You will need to convert a minimum of 5,000 RBC points, which will give you 6,000 AAdvantage points.
Do not forget that American Airlines is part of the Oneworld alliance , so you can use your rewards points on partnered airlines as well.
British Airways Executive Club Avios
Between November 1, 2013 and December 31, 2013, you can convert your RBC Rewards into British Airways Executive Club Avios points and receive a 50% bonus. RBC Rewards and Avios convert at a 1 to 1 ratio. You will need to convert a minimum of 10,000 RBC points, which will give you 15,000 Avios points.
Do not forget that British Airways is also part of the Oneworld alliance , so you can use your rewards points on partnered airlines as well.
WestJet
Between October 15, 2013 and November 30, 2013, you can convert your RBC Rewards points into WestJet dollars and receive a 25% bonus. You will receive 1 WestJet dollar for every 100 RBC Rewards points. You will need to convert a minimum of 1,000 RBC Rewards points, which will net you 12.5 WestJet dollars.
WestJet is not part of any alliances, but they are partners with American Airlines.
Conclusion
As you all know, I am a big fan of double-dipping, so if you plan on converting your points anyway, this is a great opportunity to do so. Furthermore, if you need to convert points to keep your accounts active, namely with WestJet Rewards and AAdvantage, this would be a great time to do it.
WestJet Rewards expire for every 12 months of inactivity, so this is a great opportunity to help reset the expiry date. If you don’t see yourself needing the points anytime soon, you can convert only the minimum points required just to keep your account active (in case you do not have any means to do it later on). You can also wait until closer to the November 30th deadline to push your reset deadline further.
AAdvantage points expire every 18 months of inactivity. Even if you did a recent transaction to reset it, what’s more important is when do you think you will be able to do another transaction in the next 18 months. This is a great opportunity to take advantage of a bonus promotion and to reset your expiry.
British Airways has a better expiration policy of 36 months, but they do have the highest percentage of bonus points (50%).
If you have all three accounts and you have no imminent trip that you need to take, where you’ll need to top up your account, then you can also consider spreading the wealth between all three accounts.