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Update 8/18/20: There is now an offer available on this card that adds a $150 statement credit after meeting minimum spending requirements and we have added that offer to our card-specific page as shown below. That makes this offer the best we’ve seen on this card. It could certainly be an interesting option if you’ve found yourself stuck with Air France miles from canceled travel that would otherwise expire since, as noted below, this card could help keep them alive. (H/T: Reader Carol)
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The Air France KLM Flying Blue credit card from Bank of America now has an increased welcome offer: get 50K miles after spending $2K on purchases in the first 3 months. That’s double the previous “standard” offer (though the 25K offer came with a $150 statement credit for a while).
The Offer & Key Card Details
For more information about this card and to find an application link, click the card info below to go to our dedicated page for this card.
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
70K miles + 40XP + 60XP ⓘ Non-Affiliate 70K miles + 40 XP after $3K in the first 90 days + 60 XP upon approval$89 Annual Fee Alternate Offer: Going through the steps to make a dummy booking at the Air France website may result in an offer that only gives 60K miles but also includes a $150 statement credit. 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. FM Mini Review: Valuable primarily only for the welcome offer, then it should go off to the sock drawer unless you're interested in Flying Blue elite status. Click here for our complete card review Earning rate: 3X on Air France, KLM, and SkyTeam purchases ✦ 1.5X everywhere else Card Info: Mastercard World Elite issued by BOA. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: 5K after anniversary when you spend $50 or more the previous year ✦ 40XP points towards status after anniversary when you spend $15K or more the previous year Noteworthy perks: 20 Experience Points every year; Miles don't expire as long as you make a purchase once every 2 years. |
Quick Thoughts
Air France KLM miles can be valuable in the right circumstances — whether for Delta flights to Hawaii or when Air France KLM releases monthly Promo Rewards for their own flights. Obviously, given the current COVID situation, their miles aren’t going to be terribly useful for most readers at the moment. Still, the card can be worthwhile if you have a stash of Air France miles as making a purchase on the card and paying the bill keeps miles alive (whereas you otherwise need to credit a flight to Flying Blue once every 24 months in order to keep miles active — transfers from partner programs won’t do it).
This card is pretty far down my wish list — or, more accurately, it misses my wish list altogether and wouldn’t be a priority for me unless I had a big stash of miles close to expiration.
Note that we’ve gotten reports from readers about tighter approvals nearly across the board at this point. We recently opened a Premium Rewards card and it took several days to get a decision — though the application was eventually auto-approved after a wait of several days. I would therefore recommend sitting tight if you don’t get an instant approval and calling recon only if you get denied.
H/T: Deals Points
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Are these useful for Delta domestic?
If you find Delta flights that are available to partners they may be. Air France has variable pricing and Delta is very unpredictable in terms of which flights they make available for partners. I wouldn’t pick up this card if that’s your primary use.
Bank of America sent me a mailer for their Virgin card once making that pitch too. In general, with Delta and United using dynamic pricing, I think it’s always going to be hit-and-miss how much saver availability they will offer (and thus bookable through their partners). Still useful if you find something good though!
Thx for the post Nick. Had applied earlier without the $150 – any data points from past about whether BOA will match?
following
I haven’t heard yet. I heard from another reader in the same shoes and advised that she reach out to BOA and ask because I know with 100% certainty that they won’t match if you don’t ask. I’m not sure how likely it is that they will match though — please do report back with your results when you ask.
Called, sadly no, escalated to supervisor and she said same thing – they can’t switch the offers
btw, thanks for the post Nick !!
Went for it even though I had only 18K FB miles. Needed a new plaything…. getting the Covid Blues.
Instant approval, even let me make a purchase immediately after giving me my card details right then and there. Very cool.
One group that this might prove particularly useful for are those who now have a big stash of Flying Blue miles because of award trips cancelled because of covid-19. If the points were transferred from say Amex or Chase in 2019 for a 2020 booking, they would be expiring in 2021. That alone might make it worth it for some people if they think they will not be able to book something using Flying Blue miles until after 2021.
Yep, that’s exactly what I meant.
Not a big stash, but yeah…jumped on a few 50% off promo awards out of BOS in February :/
Yep — this is Mrs. Larry K. One of those little stories about how this game can reach out and bite you if you don’t pay attention to the little details. We wanted to book air france award tickets and she had pretty close to exactly the right number of capital one points on a card she was getting ready to cancel soon. Since you can’t transfer C1 points to another person’s frequent flier account (I don’t think), we transferred them to her flying blue account and booked out of her account. Then we had to cancel the flight and now the points are in back in her AF account. If they had been in my account it probably wouldn’t be a big deal because I should have a chance to fly delta before they expire but she doesn’t fly much and rarely delta. We could have easily just transferred from her C1 to my C1 and then to my AF account, but didn’t because it required a phone call — all that to avoid a phone call! At 50k, getting the card to keep her miles from expiring now starts to make a lot of sense but she’s getting close to 48 months since a sapphire bonus and so we need to keep open her last 5/24 slot for a few more months. This game can really humble you sometimes!
@ Nick — Given that I have pretty much run out of cards for which to apply, this one may make the top of my list! Do you know if better offers have been available for this card in the past?
This is the best I can recall. The card has only been around for a year or maybe just over that if I recall correctly.
Thanks, Nick! I will give it a spin.
Approved instantly today. No more cards for 12 months now so I can access Chase products again.