Elite status via the Air France KLM credit card

I’m intrigued by the possibility of earning Air France KLM Flying Blue Platinum elite status. Two features of Platinum status are particularly compelling to me: 1) better access to lowest-level awards (such as 60K for business class between the U.S. and Europe); and 2) the ability to change and cancel awards for free. To decide whether it’s worth pursuing, I first had to wrap my head around how Flying Blue elite status works and how the Air France KLM Visa Signature® Credit Card can help. This post is intended to be a general primer on the topic, and it should be useful too for those interested in earning Silver or Gold status (either of which can be useful when flying Delta).

Flying Blue Elite Status

Before detailing how the Air France KLM credit card can help, let’s cover Flying Blue elite status, in general…

Elite Status Requirements

Flying Blue elite status is achieved by earning XP (Experience Points). Silver requires 100 XP, Gold requires 180 XP, and Platinum requires 300 XP. Unlike programs that have fixed elite-earning years (usually calendar year), Flying Blue status is based on XPs earned in the 12 months since you last achieved a level of status. For example, once you move from no status (Explorer) to Silver, you have 12 months to earn enough XP to maintain Silver status (100 XP) or move up to Gold (180 XP). Here are the XPs required to earn or maintain each status level:

• Silver Status: 100 XP
• Gold Status: 180 XP
• Platinum Status: 300 XP
• Ultimate Status: 900 UXP. UXP = XP earned from flying Air France or KLM. Since this is an extremely high bar, and since UXP can’t be earned from the credit card, I’ll no longer discuss Ultimate Status in this post.

Note that you can’t jump directly from no status to Gold with 180 XP or to Platinum with 300 XP. Instead, you need to earn Silver status first, then earn 180 XP to get to Gold, then earn 300 XP to get to Platinum. Once you’re at a particular level, though, you can maintain status with 100 XP for Silver, 180 XP for Gold, or 300 XP for Platinum.

Elite Status Benefits

Here are some of the key benefits of each status level:

And here are the benefits you can expect to receive when flying Delta (assuming your Flying Blue number is on the reservation):

* ^{Sky Club access is available only when flying on the same day on an international SkyTeam flight, or on a domestic flight connecting to an international flight.}

XP Rollover

When you reach a new status level, or maintain an existing one, the XPs required for that level are deducted from your account, but any extras remain. For example, let’s say that you had Silver status and then earned 200 XP. 180 XP would be deducted from your account in order to grant you Gold status, and 20 XP would remain. So you’d have 20 XP toward maintaining Gold status or toward earning Platinum status. Rollovers are capped at 300 XP.

Soft Landings

Flying Blue will never drop you more than one elite level per year. For example, if you earn Platinum status but don’t earn any XP over the next 12 months, you’ll be dropped to Gold.

Earning XP

Flying for XP

The primary way to earn Flying Blue XP is via paid flights. The following chart is for paid flights on Air France or KLM, but it also applies to many of their partners. Not all partner airline flights earn XP. Luckily, for the US audience, Delta flights do earn XP.

Delta cabins map to the chart above as follows:

• Delta Main Basic: Economy
• Delta Main: Economy
• Delta Comfort: Economy
• Delta First: Business
• Delta Premium Select: Premium
• Delta One: Business

Other ways to earn XP

Here are a few other ways to earn XP:

• Via the Air France KLM Visa Signature® Credit Card. Much more about this can be found in the next section.
• Donate miles to charities. 2,000 Flying Blue miles = 1 XP. Details here.
• Contribute to SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel). Earn 1 XP for every €10 contributed. This can only be done in conjunction with a Flying Blue flight booking. Details here.
• This SkyStatus post details each of the above methods for earning XP, plus many more.

The Air France KLM Credit Card (US-based)

Unlike most other airline cards, the Air France KLM Visa Signature® Credit Card doesn’t offer direct in-flight benefits such as free checked bags, priority boarding, or discounted food purchases. However, it does make it easy to earn SkyTeam Elite status, which grants many of those perks when flying Air France, KLM, or their partners (including Delta).

Credit Card Basics (other than elite earning)

Card Offer and Details

Air France KLM Visa Signature® Credit Card ⓘ $787 1st Yr Value EstimateClick to learn about first year value estimates 70K miles + 100XP Non-AffiliateThis is NOT an affiliate offer. We always present the best offer even when it means less revenue for Frequent Miler 70K bonus miles + 100 Experience Points (XP) after $3K spend in the first 90 days $89 Annual Fee Learn more Alternate Offer: Some people get an offer for $100 statement credit while doing a dummy booking. Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Recent better offer: This is the best offer we've ever seen on this card FM Mini Review: Valuable primarily for the welcome offer, then it should go off to the sock drawer unless you're interested in spending your way to Flying Blue elite status. Earning rate: 3X on Air France, KLM, and SkyTeam purchases ✦ 3X dining ✦ 1.5X everywhere else Base: 1.5X (1.95%) Dine: 3X (3.9%) Brand: 3X (3.9%) Card Info: Visa Signature issued by Bank of America. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: 5K after anniversary when you spend $50 or more the previous year ✦ 20XP towards status on account anniversary ✦ Additional 80XP towards status on account anniversary when you spend $15K+ the previous cardholder year ✦ Additional 60XP towards status on account anniversary when you spend $25K+ the previous cardholder year Noteworthy perks: 20 Experience Points every year ✦ 5K bonus miles at renewal if you've spent $50 the previous year ✦ Miles don't expire as long as you make a purchase once every 2 years ✦ Ability to spend your way to status

Before considering earning elite status, this card isn’t very interesting. On the plus side, it has a low $89 annual fee and, depending upon how much you value Flying Blue miles, the annual 5,000 miles after spending $50 may offset that fee entirely. On the other hand, I can’t think of any reason to get the card if you’re not interested in elite status. Other cards earn 3x or more on all airfare and dining. And while the base earning rate of 1.5X is decent, there are a number of cards that earn 2X transferable points everywhere. And, since nearly all transferable points programs transfer 1-to-1 to Flying Blue, you’d do better spending on one of those cards.

Credit Card Elite Earning

The Air France KLM Visa Signature® Credit Card offers multiple ways to earn XPs:

• Welcome bonus: 100 XP
• Account anniversary: 20 XP
• Earn up to 140 XP through spend (awarded on your account anniversary):
  • Earn an additional 80 XP each anniversary after $15,000 in qualifying purchases within the anniversary year
  • Earn an additional 60 XP each anniversary after $25,000 in qualifying purchases within the anniversary year

Using the card to earn and maintain Silver status

The Air France KLM card makes it super easy to maintain Silver status. For flying Delta, that means getting a free checked bag and preferred seat selection.

Since Silver status requires only 100 XP, this card’s welcome bonus alone will get you there. Then, I believe that you can maintain Silver status as follows:

• Year 1:
  • Sign up for the card and meet its minimum spend requirements. Earn 100 XP from the welcome bonus. You will then get Silver status, and those 100 XP will be deducted from your account.
  • Spend $15,000 during your first membership year and earn 100 XP on your cardmember anniversary (20 XP is automatic + 80 XP from spend). Silver status will renew 12 months from when it was granted and 100 XP will be subtracted from your account.
• Future years: Spend $15,000 and earn 100 XP each cardmember anniversary.

Short version: To earn and maintain Silver status, simply spend $15,000 each year on the card.

Using the card to earn and maintain Gold status

Gold status (which requires 180 XP) adds Delta Sky Club access, but only on international itineraries. If that interests you, here’s a path:

• Year 1:
  • Sign up for the card, but don’t yet meet its minimum spend requirements.
  • Find a way to get temporary status (through a status match, for example) before earning the welcome bonus. This is important because if you don’t have status, the welcome bonus 100 XP will be “wasted” by earning Silver status.
  • Earn 100 XP from the welcome bonus.
  • Spend $25,000 during your first membership year and earn 160 XP on your cardmember anniversary (20 XP is automatic + 140 XP from spend). You should now have 260 XP.
  • 12 months from your temporary status, 180 of your 260 XP will be deducted in order to grant you another year of Gold status. 80 XP should roll over.
• Year 2:
  • Spend $25,000 and earn 160 XP on your next cardmember anniversary. Thanks to the 80 XP rollover, you should now have 240 XP.
  • 180 of your 240 XP will be deducted in order to grant you another year of Gold status. 60 XP should roll over.
• Year 3:
  • Spend $25,000 and earn 160 XP on your next cardmember anniversary. Thanks to the 60 XP rollover, you should now have 220 XP.
  • 180 of your 220 XP will be deducted in order to grant you another year of Gold status. 40 XP should roll over.

Short version: If you time things right by first signing up for the Air France KLM card, then obtaining a status match, and then meeting the minimum spend, you should be able to earn and maintain Gold status for many years simply by spending $25,000 per year on the card.

Using the card to earn and maintain Platinum status

Platinum status (which requires 300 XP) is where the gold is. You need this status to unlock better Air France KLM lowest-award-fare availability, free award changes and cancellations, and the ability to book La Première first-class awards. Unfortunately, it’s also a stretch to maintain long-term, even with the Air France KLM card.

• Year 1:
  • Sign up for the card, but don’t yet meet its minimum spend requirements.
  • Find a way to get temporary Gold status (through a status match, for example) before earning the welcome bonus. This is important because if you don’t have Gold status, the welcome bonus 100 XP will be “wasted” by earning Silver or Gold status. If you already have status before getting the card, things get even more complicated.
  • Earn 100 XP from the welcome bonus.
  • Spend $25,000 during your first membership year and earn 160 XP on your cardmember anniversary (20 XP is automatic + 140 XP from spend). You should now have 260 XP.
  • Earn 40 XP through flying and other means. Worst case: donate 80,000 Flying Blue miles to earn 40 XP.
  • Once you earn Platinum status, all 300 XP will be deducted.
• Years 2 and beyond (this is where it gets hard!)
  • Earn a total of 160 XP through card spend
  • Earn 140 XP through other means. This SkyStatus post details many tricks for earning XP quickly and easily.

Conclusion

Flying Blue elite status is obviously useful for those who fly Air France or KLM regularly. For the rest of us, there are some reasons to pursue status. For example, if you fly Delta occasionally, Flying Blue elite status offers free preferred seat selection and a free checked bag. The Air France KLM credit card makes it easy to earn and keep Silver status with $15,000 spent per year, or Gold status with $25,000 spent per year. Platinum status is even more attractive, but it can’t be achieved with the credit card alone. Plus, it requires careful timing to maximize the credit card’s first-year XP bonus. In my case, right before losing Bilt Platinum status in January, I activated Bilt’s Flying Blue Gold status match (details here). So, now I have Gold status until January 2027. To maximize the Air France KLM card’s XP bonus to help me reach Platinum status, I believe I need to wait until my Gold status expires, then apply for the card, then wait a bit and activate the Gold status match again before meeting the card’s minimum spend. So, for now, I’m learning and plotting. If you have suggestions for better ways to get to Flying Blue Platinum status, please comment below.

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