Do not use Avion Rewards
by David Classo on Jan 6, 2024
1 out of 5 stars
Earn 10% cash back on all purchases for the first 3 months (up to $2,000 in total purchases). Plus, no annual fee in the first year, including on supplementary cards. A welcome offer value of $350.
Booked an "all inclusive". Well everything was fine until the airline changed our departure date. It was at that point we found out "all inclusive" is far from. Apparently the fine print says that avion does not have to align the hotel date with your arrival. Noticed the flight change before anyone from that classless, unprofessional, unethical, horrid company notified us. We were told that we should have read the fine print (they were never going to inform us) and left us stranded with a senior and 2 children under 12 in a foreign country in the middle of the night with nowhere to go.
I booked a flight through Air Avion and Air Canada made a change to one leg of the flight which affected my connection time. Air Avion would not let me book an earlier flight to remedy the problem. I was locked in and all due to a flight change that was out of my control. Air Canada would not deal with me at all. The charge for changing one leg of the trip via Avion was $8000.00 to which I laughed as I thought it was a joke. It was not. I could have cancelled and rebooked the first class for that price. It’s a terrible service. I’ll get rid of my points and be done with this card.
Earn up to 40,000 bonus Scotia Rewards points in your first year (that's up to $400 towards travel). Earn 5 Scotia Rewards points for every $1 you spend at eligible grocery stores, dining and entertainment
Please read before you decide to get this credit card. I used to be a huge advocate for Avion and their rewards programs. Now it's a disaster. Avion was great for booking vacations and especially all-inclusive, they had great rates, and you could search all the same destinations as you could on any other travel site. THAT IS NO MORE. Avion decided to use an archaic way of doing things. Now you have to call some random number to book and you can't search for any trips because they don't have a website that searches them for all-inclusive. Instead, you have to call some number and talk to someone who can give you suggestions. Well sorry, Avion but I want to see ALL the options and see pictures and look at reviews. I am canceling my Avion card because of this as it was the only good thing about this card. Avion went from the best travel card to the absolute worst.
We booked a hotel with fairly good reviews through Avion and upon arrival, the hotel was clearly not safe. We stayed 2 nights (late arrival and exhausted the first, and worked on alternate accommodations on the 2nd) and were on hold with the Avion rep for over 2 hours until he eventually said he was "authorized" to phone the hotel to cancel our reservation. This did not happen. We left the next day (the front desk said that the only one who could cancel the reservation was the booking agent - Avion) assuming that the Avion rep had followed through and made the call. Nope. 6 months trying to resolve. I phoned twice to Avion and was sent an email not to contact. Not that I was rude - they just didn't want to have to respond with updates. Finally, got an email saying that no refund would be forthcoming. What??!! From this point on, the message is on repeat. We are sorry... You are a valued customer... We hope we can be of service to you again... Absolute garbage. Will be cutting up this card today.
I'm guessing RBC had a lot of upset customers after the pandemic cancelled many vacations and has recently sub-contracted all all-inclusive and cruise bookings to Expedia Cruises.
The problem is, the wonderful online booking option they previously had has now been replaced with a new process whereby you have to call/visit an actual travel agent to make your booking. This is bad on so many levels.
For one, before I could book a trip within 30 minutes. Now, it has taken me 1.5 weeks, and still no luck booking a trip. The travel agents don't answer the phone when they get you a quote that you confirm unless they execute right away the price/availability changes. They do not work evenings or weekends. And, when you need help they are generally not available.
I have 4.5 million points ($45k worth), and the only reason I got an RBC visa was for travel. Now that I can't even book a trip, what am I supposed to do? I am beyond frustrated with Expedia Cruises, and no one at RBC is able to help as they just deflect all responsibility to Expedia now.
Apparently, this change is new and just went live a month or two ago, so hopefully, someone at RBC reads this and quickly makes a pivot back to the old online booking software. NO ONE in 2022 should be forced to book a vacation with a travel agent. It is not 1995.
Earn up to 40,000 bonus Scotia Rewards points in your first year (that's up to $400 towards travel). What else will you get:
I tried booking a flight from YHM to YHX. Both these airports are not on the Avion reservation site. It also does not recognize airlines.
Avion claim to fame. Any Flight Anytime... I tried contacting someone. To ask why all they did was transfer me to representatives. Who obviously can not help. They would not provide me with any management numbers that could look into this. Over 2 hours on the phone with no solution! Totally unacceptable!
Each time it is empty promises. The customer service is terrible. Had no option to book but by phone because of airline credits. 2.5 hours on the call to make a simple booking. 2 weeks later my booking doesn't exist. Another hour on the phone. can't wait to cancel my Avion credit card and go to another bank. Would recommend canceling RBC together.
Have spent 15 hours on the phone/on hold with these people over the last week with no resolution to my issue. 3 promised callbacks from a supervisor with the last name Rubal, have yet to be fulfilled.
I booked a flight ywg to lax through yvr (return) but currently have to walk to yvr as the Avion travel has screwed up. No, the airline did NOT cancel the flight to yvr Avion travel did.
Points aren’t worth the hassle… and I have over 360,000
I have been an RBC customer since the 70's and I am considering switching institutions.
Earn 10% cash back on all purchases for the first 3 months (up to $2,000 in total purchases). Plus, no annual fee in the first year, including on supplementary cards. A welcome offer value of $350. What else will you get:
It’s reasonably easy to book a flight but God helps you if there is ever a change or cancellation you need to deal with. These generally can’t be done online and they make you call in, you’ll wait 1-2 hours to speak with someone and then half the time they can’t help you for some reason, then you have to start all over, or be transferred and end up at the back of the queue. As soon as I get my credits used I’m cancelling this card. Stay away from Avion, unless you have lots of time on your hands to spend waiting on hold and like having to chase your refund. Oh, I forgot to mention, that their average time to process a refund is 12 weeks!
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It's farud. If you book directly from airline or get all-inclusive package directly from provider, you will save a lot more money. Also any change or cancellation will be a nightmare with Avion rewards even though you have paid extra for flexibility