WestJet RBC Mastercard Update: More Flexible Rewards And Vouchers

Some major changes are in store for WestJet RBC Mastercards. On November 5, 2025, you can expect:

• New bonus categories for earning rewards
• Changes to companion vouchers (both good and bad)
• A little extra insurance

In exchange, the annual fees will be increasing.

Until now, the only changes to these cards have been how much it costs to use a companion voucher and the shift from WestJet dollars to WestJet points, where 1 dollar converted to 100 points. Now, WestJet RBC is rolling out a full list of updates, most of which are positive and more than offset the annual fee increases.

Summary of RBC WestJet Mastercard changes

First, here's the quick summary on what's changing for both the WestJet RBC Mastercard and WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard.

WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard changes

Here are the full details on what's new with the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard.

New rewards earn rates

The addition of new bonus rewards categories increases your opportunity to earn WestJet Rewards. You’ll now earn 2 points per $1 spent on:

• Public transit
• Rideshare
• Groceries
• Gas
• EV Charging
• Sunwing Vacations

It's a nice upgrade, but not as big as you might think. The card currently earns 1.5 points per $1 spent on these. Even if you spend $1,000 per month combined on these new categories, you’ll only get an extra $60 in rewards per year.

Companion voucher changes

The other major change is to the companion voucher. WestJet’s companion voucher allows cardholders to get a reduced fee for a guest on WestJet round trips. It's an excellent perk, but it has limited use for anyone who travels alone.

This perk is currently available to all cardholders, but as of November 5, 2025, you’ll need to earn your companion voucher by spending $5,000 annually on your card.

This minimum spend is low compared to what Aeroplan or VIPorter cards charge to access their vouchers.

But, if you have the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard just for the voucher, you'll have to actually start using the card to access it.

The basic functionality of the companion voucher isn’t changing: pay a set fare and bring someone else along for the taxes and fees.

Plus, moving forward, you'll be able to exchange your companion voucher for any of the following:

• 30% discount on the base airfare for one person
• $200 credit towards a WerstJet or Sunwing vacations package
• 2 airport lounge passes (this used to be 4 passes)

This flexibility will give the card a wider range of value.

We strongly recommend against exchanging your voucher for the lounge passes. This card already includes a Mastercard Travel Pass membership. To get into a lounge, you need to pay US$32 per person to enter. For 2 passes, you're looking at roughly $90 in savings, which is much lower than what you can save on airfare or a vacation.

Free checked baggage

The free checked baggage perk isn't changing – you'll continue to get the first checked bag free for the cardholder and up to 8 others travelling on the same reservation.

However, you'll now need to pay for your flight with your WestJet Mastercard and/or with WestJet points for this benefit to be activated. If you used another rewards program to pay for even part of your flight, you won't get access to your free bags.

Insurance coverage

A pair of new insurance coverages are coming to the card. WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard cardholders will be able to access trip cancellation and mobile device insurance.

Annual fee

In exchange for all this, the annual fee is increasing by $20 to $139. However, if you make use of your card, you'll offset this with the new rewards you'll earn.

WestJet RBC Mastercard changes

There are also changes coming to the WestJet RBC Mastercard, but they're not as big. And as such, the annual fee will remain the same at $39.

New rewards

As of November 5, 2025, the following categories will earn 1.5 points per $1 spent.

• Restaurants
• Food delivery
• Digital subscriptions
• Streaming services
• Digital games
• Sunwing Vacations

While this list isn’t as broad as the World Elite card’s categories, it will still help you earn more points on purchases.

Companion voucher changes

Once again, the companion voucher at its core is not changing – pay the companion voucher fare and use it to bring a friend on a WestJet round trip within Canada or to the Continental U.S. for just the taxes and fees.

But as with the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard, WestJet RBC Mastercard cardholders will now have to earn access to their vouchers. However, the minimum spend is lower. You'll only have to spend $2,500 to get access to it.

Or, you can choose to trade your voucher in for either of these perks:

• 25% discount on the base airfare for 1 person
• 5,000 WestJet points

This gives you some flexibility if you prefer to travel alone.

New insurance

There's one new insurance type coming to the WestJet RBC Mastercard – you'll get mobile device insurance.

Let us know what you think of WestJet's Mastercard changes

Overall, we believe that WestJet and RBC have made both products stronger.

But what do you think? Leave a comment below.