CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* Card Review
If you’re a Canadian who travels regularly and you’re in the market for a credit card that offers a generous welcome bonus, plenty of perks, and a comprehensive travel insurance program, the CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* Card is worth a closer look.
In This Article:
At a Glance
- $139 annual fee (rebated for the first year), including on up three additional authorized users ($50 each): over $189 in value†
- 20,000 Aventura points when you make your first purchase†
- 20,000 Aventura Points when you spend $1,000 or more in the first 4 monthly statement periods†
- Get a NEXUS◊ application fee rebate ($50 USD value)†
- Elevate your airport experience with 4 complimentary visits at 1,200+ lounges globally through Visa Airport Companion Program: over $190 in value.†
- 1.5 points for every $1 spent on eligible gas stations, grocery stores, and drug stores† (up to $80K spent in these categories annually)
- 1 point for every $1 spent on all other purchases†
- Comprehensive travel insurance
- Insurance coverage up to $1000 for mobile devices purchased with the card†
Rewards Structure
CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* cardholders will receive 1-2 Aventura points for every $1 of eligible purchases made on their credit card:
- 2 points per $1 spent on travel purchases through the CIBC Rewards Centre†
- 1.5 points for every $1 spent on eligible purchases at a gas station, grocery store, or drugstores†. This special earn rate in these categories is only applicable through the first $80k spent on the account annually, including on supplementary cards; after exceeding $80k in purchases, cardholders will earn 1 point per $1 spent in these categories until the annual limit resets each December.
- All other eligible purchases will earn 1 point per $1 spent.†
New cardholders who apply will receive a welcome bonus of up to 20,000 Aventura Points after making the first eligible purchase on the card†, and 20,000 Aventura Points when you spend $1,000 or more in the first 4 monthly statement periods†. See “About Aventura Points” below to learn more about how you can use your points.
About Aventura Points
Unlike some competing credit card rewards programs, Aventura points are relatively easy to understand and use.
When using CIBC Aventura points for travel-related purchases, the redemption rate is variable depending on your destination when booking with any of several airlines available through the CIBC Rewards program.
The Aventura Airline Rewards Chart includes five flight categories: short- and long-haul between the US and Canada, flights to Europe and the rest of the world, and a range of points required to redeem for flights in each category.
Short-haul flights, such as Toronto to New York City, can be booked for as low as 10,000 points plus tax, while European destinations can be booked for 50,000-70,000 points plus tax. Taxes and fees do need to be paid on top of the base fair, but you can use your points to pay for them at a rate of 1 point per 1 cent.
One of the best things about using Aventura points to book travel is that there are no blackout dates, since you are booking in real time. You can also call CIBC Rewards to book anything that you have found on Expedia or Orbitz.
Finally, Aventura points can be redeemed for gift cards, a statement credit, financial products such as a TFSA contribution with CIBC, and merchandise, but these redemption paths offer less value compared to travel rewards redemptions.
Additional Benefits
The CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* Card has lots of additional benefits and perks, some of which are a part of the Visa Infinite program, that will come in handy both at home in Canada and while travelling abroad. Among the most notable is mobile device insurance coverage, which reimburses cardholders up to $1000 for a mobile device that is lost, stolen, or accidentally damaged†. The phone needs to be purchased on the CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Card for this insurance to apply.
Two other great perks for travellers include the rebate on the NEXUS◊ application fee† and 4 complimentary visits at 1,200+ lounges globally through Visa Airport Companion Program: over $190 in value.†
CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* Card Travel Insurance
The CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* Card offers a fairly comprehensive travel insurance package, which includes coverage of the following:
- Flight Delay and Baggage Insurance†
- Trip cancellation and trip interruption Insurance†
- Out-of-province emergency travel medical Insurance†
- Auto rental collision and loss damage Insurance†
- $500,000 common carrier accident Insurance†
- Purchase security and extended protection Insurance†
- Hotel burglary Insurance†
- Mobile Device Insurance†
Cardholders should be aware that out of province travel medical insurance applies for 15 consecutive days per trip for those aged 64 or under, but only 3 days for those aged 65 or over. The coverage is valid only if you charge the entirety of your travel expenses (flights, car rentals, hotels etc.) to your CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* Card.
Interest Rates
The CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* Card has a 20.99%† Purchase Annual Interest Rate, 22.99%† (for non-Quebec residents only) Cash Advance Annual Interest Rate, and a 22.99%† (for non-Quebec residents only) Balance Transfer Annual Interest Rate.
Who’s the Card For?
The CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* Card is particularly valuable for those drawn to a big initial signup bonus and who don’t mind maximizing the value of the points they earn by redeeming them exclusively for travel. Its mobile device insurance is also very relevant for those planning to buy an expensive new phone in the near future and who are concerned about the cost of replacing it in the event that it’s lost/stolen.
The card is less suitable for those who value flexibility in how they redeem rewards points, or for those looking for specific travel features not included in the card (like the aforementioned waiving of foreign transaction fees).
This is a digital-exclusive offer.† To be eligible for this offer, you must apply for a new eligible card using the “Apply Now” link available on this webpage.†
†Conditions apply
Quebec Residents – Learn More about this CIBC product here
Résidents du Québec : Pour en savoir plus sur ce produit CIBC, suivez ce lien
Article comments
Really difficult to contact reward travel centre.You can hang on the phone two hours listening marry music and warm promises. No way to get your travel points.
Hi Sergey,
That’s infuriating- I can’t believe you stuck around for two hours. I’ve heard similar stories with ridiculous call centre queues brought on by the pandemic, but the bulk of those challenges should have been accommodated for by now. Hope that you’ve since been able to reach them and get your situation sorted out. If not, consider asking for compensation for the level of service you’ve received. Would be interested to find out how things turned out.
Dont recommend. My card often gets declined when i try use it because of suspicious activity??? Tried calling to rectify the problem, and was told its for my own safety and nothing they could do… i pay for a card that doesnt work…
Hi Chester,
Have you tried asking for a replacement card with a new card number connected to the same account? Normally, when a bank finds suspicious activity you can call them up and they will go over your recent transactions and if there’s any you don’t recognize or anything they don’t like, they will simply cancel your card and issue you a new one. You should request this. Then you can move on without your card being declined all the time. No fuss, no muss.
Don’t use this bank, these people are crooks. I have been with this bank since 1993. I have an investor’s edge account with around 100k.
Thanks to thier financial advisors they lost 10k of my principal amount because these financial advisors did not care about other people’s money.
They want to make commissions selling you mutual funds that don’t make money.
And if you owe them money they call you every week asking you to pay up.
These banks are the thieves of today’s world.
Hi Jack,
It’s too bad you feel that way and I’m sorry you’ve had such a bad experience. But, if you hate them so much, how come you haven’t switched banks?
If I’ve paid for a future flight with my card and the airline goes bankrupt ; will my charges be reimbursed on my visa.
Hey Kerry,
Wow, we hope this doesn’t happen, but with the turbulence (no pun intended) in the airline market today we think it’s an appropriate thing to ask. Essentially, if you’ve already booked tickets and the airline goes bust, then you’re entitled to your money back under laws that exist in many major regulated economies. Some countries don’t have such provisions, however, so it’s crucial to figure out first. The second thing you’d do is check the airline itself for guidance on how to get your refund, and if it’s already bust, then with the credit card issuer or travel agent or tour operator you booked the trip with. They should be able to give you the money back quickly.
In some cases, especially when the airline goes bust mid-trip, your best bet is to simply buy a new ticket and figure out the refund later. If you used a debit card to pay for the trip through a suddenly defunct airline, then the resolution will take some time to sort out. If you have another source of travel insurance you might be covered as well, but a lot of people tend to rely on their credit cards for this.
GreedyRates
Do you have to book the flight using the Aventura card in order to get the lounge passes?
Hey Max,
Great question! With the CIBC Aventura Infinite card, you’re given automatic membership to Priority Pass, which is worth at least $99 per year and lets you enter any airport lounge in the network of over 1,200 worldwide lounges. That doesn’t mean entry is free. You’ll need to use one of your 4 vouchers given to you by CIBC each year, or otherwise show your membership card (your Aventura) and then pay around $30 to get in. To be clear, non-members can’t get in even if they pay, so the membership and vouchers are each a separate and valuable benefit.
To answer your question about payment prerequisites, there are none. As long as you’re a cardholder then you can show up and get into the lounge, even if you aren’t flying at all. That also means you can book and pay for the flight entirely outside of CIBC and without using the card, and still expect to enter the lounge for free! Enjoy.
GreedyRates
I have aventura cibc card how I get back money rewarded
Hey Faleh,
Good question. If you have the CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite card or another card that earns Aventura points, you’ll have no doubt made many purchases and want to know where your points are—and more importantly, how to spend them! Essentially, after you make an eligible purchase with the Aventura Visa card, you’ll wait up to 8 weeks for the corresponding points to hit your Aventura account, which you can access by logging in online.
Using the information associated with your Aventura Visa you’ll see your Aventura points balance, and also be able to book travel or browse through the catalog of other options, making purchases using your shown points balance. Let us know if that helps and if you need further assistance – thanks!
GreedyRates
WARNING: Aventura Travel INSURANCE: I thought I would share my bad experience encountered with the travel insurance included with the Aventura card. They use a company called Global Excel to handle the insurance. My wife and I had a trip booked with Aventura that had to be cancelled a week before because of an accident. We filled out the appropriate paperwork with Global Excel, including the doctors sign off etc. A month later I received a letter in the mail indicating my claim was DECLINED. After many emails back and forth, it turns out since the Airlines (Air Canada / WestJet in Canada) offer a one year flight credit for the ticket, they won’t pay the insurance until that credit is gone – Thus you need to wait a year before you can receive the payment. So if you want to try an book a new trip that uses a different airline, then you are OUT OF LUCK. I tried to work with the travel agent and WestJet to cancel the credit, but Global Excel want to see very specific evidence of cancellation before they would pay out. WestJet was not able to cancel the credit for reasons I don’t understand.
BUYER BEWARE – Nova Scotia…
Hi Rob902,
So essentially what you’re saying is that your trip was cancelled for a covered reason, and you received a flight credit to replace the cancelled trip that is redeemable any time within the next year. It doesn’t sound so bad but involves some clever games between the airlines and their insurance companies. Many airlines operate like this, as it effectively returns the original value lost to the cardholder but also pigeonholes you into buying from them again (because a cancelled trip that was reimbursed to you is also money that they’ve lost). You’d rather have cash or a direct credit to your card account, but the insurer can claim that you’ve been reimbursed already and therefore denies your claim.
We suppose the easiest thing to do, if you don’t want to book your next trip with Air Canada or WestJet, is to wait for the flight credit to expire. However, it sounds like the insurance agency gave you an out, and that there’s a chance you can still cancel the credit and then provide evidence, which would accelerate the process a bit. It sounds thorny, but possible. Best of luck.
GreedyRates Staff
I have had the Aventura card for a few years and just redeemed some points to travel to Europe. I was a little surprised to find out that the return flights would cost 70,000 points each plus taxes of about $650. Seemed high but I had nothing to compare with and not much choice. The over phone service was good and efficient and the rep found me flights on the days needed with one stop there and direct coming home. Overall I was satisfied.
The second part of my story is, we invited some friends to join us. We booked first and they are trying to use Aeroplan points about ten days later than us. So far they cannot get a flight on the same day as us, they are leaving 3 days later and have two stops??
As far as Aventura, I believe they have a wider option of airlines to travel as we are flying KLM and Air France (both affiliated with Delta) whereas Aeroplan is Star Alliance. I believe Delta provides a larger range of flight options which likely accounts for me being able to book flights to Europe within five weeks of my required departure.
I guess the long and short of it is, you get what you pay for. You may burn off more points for a flight but if I can get the dates and times on short notice, I don’t mind it. I have Aeroplan and find that if I am planning far in advance I can get my flights but rarely without at least one stop over. I have also found that booking flights to popular destination, it is better to pay for them rather than burn up those hard earned points.
Yep, not happy with this card either. POOR service. They say that there are discounts for car rentals. However, it is impossible to find information about it on their website. I searched high and low and ended up spending 24 minutes on the phone with a rep who also could not find any details about it on online where they say you can find info. So frustrating. Eventually the rep gave me a supposed code for AVIS car rentals and another supposed code for Budget car rentals. When I went to book with AVIS on the phone and provided the code they said it gave no discount. Some fraudulent advertising. Cancelling the card.
My advice..stay away from ALL cards, they all lead you to believe that they are the cat’s ass, turns out they are all a Rat’s ass!! Aventura being the worst of the lot I have, some of which include, Air Miles and Aeroplan. Neither one of these are much better but at least you have no “upfront” fees. Try booking a flight!! Then see the “ADDITIONAL” fees and charges.
Hi Fred,
That’s some restrictive advice you’re giving there! While we understand you might feel misled by your Aventura card, we assure you that taxes and fees on airfare are an industry-wide concept, and many rewards programs allow you to cover them with the points you’ve collected. Some don’t and make you pay fees and taxes in cash. Either way, settling on the best credit card for you is always a compromise, and you’ll rarely find a card that matches every preference you may have. You should have at least one or two cards, though, to maintain your credit score. Having absolutely zero credit cards isn’t good. We’re willing to bet that there are things you like about the Aventura card also, but it’s your right to cancel it and switch if you like!
If you want a card that lets you pay the extra charges with miles, go for an Aeroplan card. If what you said is true, and that the Aventura card is the “worst” of the ones you’ve had, simply go back to one of the older cards. We’ve also found that some cardholders who don’t like being restricted by traditional travel programs enjoy more flexibility. There are credit cards that allow you to book any travel anywhere and then pay for the travel with the points. Scotiabank still offers a Gold card with similar functionality, so some research into that one is well worth your time. Thanks!
GreedyRates
Greedy, I am not sure why you say that “taxes and fees on airfare are an industry-wide concept”. Neither BMO WorldElite nor TD Infinite separate those fees from the ticket prices and, as far as I know, in Ontario it is illegal to not include them. This Aventure card is a piece of fraud, from start to end, and defending them, you are discrediting yourselves. As for Fred’s advice, I would say stay from ALL Cards where benefits are not pegged to single cash value. Better off, get a cashback card with decent travel insurance and win the guessing game. Rogers WorldElite and, previously as they are changing for the worse in August, Scotia Infinite where 2 good credit cards to go with.
As a CIBC customer and previous employee, I signed up for the Adventura card when it was first made available, after listing to the sales pitch and also out of loyality. I had worked for CIBC for 15 years in NL, Ont. and B.C. and now receive a pension from them.
Then I decided to book a flight to eastern Canada to visit relatives a few months ago. I was very surprised to find that Adventura program would charge me 35,000 points, while with Aeroplan I could book a reservation for 25,000 points. I called the Adventura representative and was told that they were unable to discuss the reason for the differrence in points required. The representative’s attitude was rude and dismissive and I was thoroughly offended.
I will be following up to find out how quickly I can transfer my remaining points to Aeroplan, no matter what the loss. To charge me 30% more in points is totally outrageous, but to refuse to answer my question is not the way we treated customers during my 15 years with CIBC.
Signed up for this card in Feb 2015. We still have not received the 15,000 bonus points. We inquired about it a 6 weeks ago and still nothing! Gonna use up the points we have and get a new card. Beware of this card
I am finding that the points required are creeping. If there is a dollar cap then why drain me 30000 points on certain flights and 50000 on an other?
The experts always cite the Amex card as a geleeat value. The one thing they forget though is that Amex is sworn off by many retailers because of the extortion like charges they charge the merchants. Thus on paper it may look like a good travel card… In reality it won’t cut it unless you can consolidate ALL of your spending onto it.
Aventura points are very frustrating; They only pay up to 500$ of the cost of a ticket, they will take your 20 thousand points and you have to pay the difference of the cost of the ticket. In northern Canada “short haul” flights do not cost lower than 500$. The frustrating part of the point system is you can’t increase your points to cover the remaining cost of the flight. So 20 thousand points only gives you a credit of 500 dollars maximum and you can’t “top up”. And I was told Aventura doesn’t cover one-way tickets. however the other day I inquired about a one way ticket and I was told it would be 96000. thousand points plus an additional 328 dollars! The short haul was from Edmonton AB to Fort Nelson BC. I’ll be switching back to Aeroplan this way I know my “short haul” will be 15000 points and all I pay are the taxes!