A look at the business class redemption feature for the CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Privilege Card - it offers up to a 7.5% return!

The CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Privilege Card is a relative newcomer to our market with it only being released late in 2019 but it is really starting to make some inroads in our market. The card comes with a 50,000 point welcome bonus, a $200 annual travel credit, Priority Pass Lounge access with 6 passes per year, 2 NEXUS fee rebates and much more.


One thing we didn't cover when the card came out was that you can actually redeem the CIBC Rewards Points earned on the card for business class flights. This is a redemption feature that is exclusive to the Aventura Infinite Privilege card - you won't find it on any of the other Aventura cards. And the redemption rates are really good for a fixed point credit card program:

This is a pretty impressive business class redemption chart! Here are the maximum cents per point redemption values for each area:

• Canada and U.S. (short-haul):2.5 cents per point
• Canada and U.S. (long-haul): 2.5 cents per point
• Sun Destinations: 2.5 cents per point
• Europe: 2 cents per points
• Rest of the world: 2 cents per points

When you factor in how you earn points with the card - 3 points per dollar on travel booked via CIBC Rewards, 2 points per dollar on eligible dining, entertainment, transportation, gas and groceries and then 1.25 points on everything else you can see that the card can offers a minimum 3.5%  return all the up to a maximum 7.5% return on your spending when you redeem for business class flights! Those are some impressive numbers.

To compare there are really only two other programs offering business class redemption options outside of your typical 1 cent per point any travel anywhere option. Those are American Express' Membership Rewards and RBC Rewards. The latter is only available for the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege for Private Banking, RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege, RBC Avion Visa Infinite Business or RBC Commercial Avion Visas. With this RBC option they allow you to redeem 100 points towards a $2 credit towards business class flights.  If you take the comparable RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege, it earns 1.25 points per dollar on all spending which means you are getting a flat 3.5% return if you redeem for business class flights. As you can see it is only equal to the lowest amount seen on the CIBC offer. 

Now lets compare it to Amex's popular fixed point travel chart for business class:

This chart offers a redemption rate of 1.6 to 1.8 cents per point - translated to returns it works out to a minimum 1.6% return but jumps as high 9% if you collect all your Membership Rewards points on the American Express Cobalt Card at the 5x points level and redeem for long haul Canada/U.S. or a worldwide business class flight. You must also consider that most Amex cards have lower annual fees than the $499 seen on the CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Privilege Card.

So as you can see, the business class redemption option for the  CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Privilege Card isn't something to balk at - it provides a ton of value when you look at the earn rates and the potential to redeem at 2.5 cents per point. This is definitely a card to take into consideration if business class flights are on your radar and you don't want to be committed to one airline program.

If business class isn't your cup of tea or aren't interested in a ultra premium card like the CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Privilege Card you should check out the CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Card which is offering up to 40,000 bonus CIBC Rewards points at this time.