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Update 7/15/21: It looks like this transfer bonus is actually not targeted but rather a public offer. Loyalty Lobby reported seeing the offer here on the Flying Blue US website, so I just now gave it a shot and transferred 1,000 Membership Rewards points. Sure enough, the transfer was instant as was a 30% bonus despite not having received an email about this promotion. This could certainly make for a great deal if you have any Flying Blue bookings in mind as this should make business class flights to Europe or beyond very competitive (though note you will still pay moderate surcharges).
Air France / KLM Flying Blue is sending a email to some members offering a 30% transfer bonus when converting American Express Membership Rewards points to Flying Blue miles.
The Deal
- Air France Flying Blue is offering a
targeted(Update: this appears to be a public offer) 30% transfer bonus when converting Amex Membership Rewards points to Flying Blue miles
Key Terms
- Targeted
- Valid for 30 days only
Quick Thoughts
This appears to be offered on the Air France side as Greg received this email from Flying Blue but he does not see this reflected when logged in to his Amex account. I did not receive this offer.
Update: Despite not having received the email, I was able to verify the 30% bonus still applied as shown at the top of this post.
Note that the top of the email says that it is valid “for 30 days only”, so I am assuming it is valid for 30 days from receipt of the email.
We never recommend speculatively transferring points without an immediate use in mind, but the bonus here could make for some excellent deals. Keep in mind also that it may be easier than you thought to keep Flying Blue miles alive.
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I did my transfer this morning and no extra mils showing up. (100k) It’s been more than 6 hours. sad… should I call them tomorrow?
I did a transfer yesterday (Aug 14th) but did not receive the 30% bonus. I wonder if the promo expired on Aug 13th? I could not find a reference to an end date of Aug 15th on the FlyingBlue website.
I got an email on the 10th August saying it’s valid for 5 more days. So, I would assume it’s valid till the 15th. You should call them if it doesn’t get credited in 24 hours.
I actually called them and was told many people were calling regarding the same issue. He then asked me to wait for 3 days before reaching out to them again. Hoping for the best.
Thanks for the update. I sent an email since I try to avoid calling whenever possible. Hope this get resolved for all of us.
Any luck getting this resolved? Still no reply by email from FlyingBlue customer service
Any idea on the start and end dates for this deal? 30 days from when people got the offer?
Aargh… Transferred over 296,000 miles today at 11:50pm. Miles showed up instantly but have an activity date of August 15. Guessing I’ll just have to bite the bullet and transfer 30% more to get the tickets I needed. Does anyone know if FB uses Paris time?
Hey Nick,
Is 64,000 points a good deal for AF business PPT to LAX? I am thinking about doing the transfer!
Yup! That’s about where prices start on that route, so if you’re able to get it for about 50K Amex points each way that’s definitely a deal.
Just locked in 2 biz tickets for 99K (honeymoon). Thanks for this write-up!
Totally legit. Amex account in US… the Amex site doesnt show it, but I transfered 350,000 points (100k + 100k + 150k) to my flying blue, and got 350k + 30k+30k+45k bonus points! Showed up within seconds on the flying blue site.
I just transferred 53k Amex membership rewards to my KLM Flying Blue account and was surprised to see an additional 15,900 bonus points added to my account. I went to Amex website and couldn’t find anything about a bonus promo and then Googled it and came across this website. Apparently no link or anything else is required. I’d attach a screen shot of it if I could.
Yup, that’s correct — it isn’t targeted as noted in the post. Anyone who transfers from Membership Rewards to Flying Blue during the 30-day window will get the 30% bonus.
I wasn’t able to find your post regarding flying blue sweet spots. Can you please link it here?
I think you aren’t able to find it because apparently we haven’t written it. I thought we had one, but it doesn’t look like we do. Going to add that to my to-do list.
So after I transfer, is 73k + 300$ Flyingblue points a good deal for business RT in April from California to Paris? So far I haven’t found a fare to Rome, but I guess I could handle a few days in Paris and a cheap flight to Rome. If I must. 😉
You’re getting RT business class for 73K? That sounds like a one-way price to me.
You’re right, of course. So not as great as I thought. Maybe another MR transfer will be better, like ANA or Aeroplan?
ANA would be 88K round trip on Star Alliance carriers, but fuel surcharges will be very expensive on Lufthansa/Swiss/Austrian (none on Air Canada, United, TAP Air Portugal, or SAS (I think), low on LOT and not unreasonable on Turkish). That is one of the best deals in premium cabin travel.
But if Air France is showing 73K each way, that means you’ll really need to transfer 57K Membership Rewards points. 57K and $300 each way isn’t bad, though if you’re going to be connecting anyway you may as well see if you can find availability through ANA / Star Alliance first.
Keep in mind that ANA requires round trip booking (and searching), so that’s a limitation. Also note that Aeroplan will be more expensive (especially since you’ll be farther along the distance band coming from California), but they do allow a stopover on a one-way for 5K additional miles.
Nick, do you know whether there is a cap for this transfer bonus, and if yes, how much the cap is? I am a Dutch citizen who lives in the USA, I am a frequent user of the FB program, this is one that I will gladly max out!!
(I meant to add this, I transferred 100K points yesterday, and got the 30K extra points, so if there is a cap, it is at least 100.000)
What does Air France charge for a lap infant in business? Should we be utilizing a partner airline?
10% of the adult cash fare (just look up the price of a cash fare and you’ll pay about 10% of that). My first instinct was to say that Virgin Atlantic might be your best bet since they charge very little for lap infant awards (a few thousand miles on partner airlines), but they don’t actually list a price for lap infants on Air France or KLM.
I’m sure that tempts you to call Virgin Atlantic and ask them how much for a lap infant, but that might not be as much of a slam dunk answer as you’d hope.
https://frequentmiler.com/6-calls-6-different-answers-customer-service-doesnt-always-know-best/
I’m not aware of another option for booking on Air France that will be better. In general, your best bet for booking travel with a lap infant is using Air Canada Aeroplan (2,500 miles in each direction in any class of service). Next best bet are programs that charge 10% of the mileage price (British Airways, but beware of high surcharges on their own flights, or ANA Mileage Club).
I transferred 62,000 Amex to Flying Blue on 7/11. Right before I did it I thought well I bet a transfer bonus will be coming really soon. Sometimes it really do be like that.
Would you mind making a transfer to Hyatt today?
Why do you ask? I did the same thing and actually made a transfer last night!
I was being facetious. It was a joke about Larry’s luck causing the transfer bonus.
Man, transferring and hoping Air France gives you the bonus is a long shot…..American Express via phone knows nothing about the promotion but Flying Blue via phone says it is legitimate. Anyone have any success yet?
I can’t imagine that that the Air France marketing department was just looking to trick you into transferring membership rewards points. If you got the email and Air France is telling you they’re going to give you the bonus, I wouldn’t be concerned at all. I also wouldn’t expect Amex to know anything about it since it is on the Air France side.
Thanks, Nick. I opened a ticket with Amex and Flying Blue as the email link takes me to the Amex Great Britain site. The Flying Blue US site clearly has the offer when I log in and takes me to a co-branded landing page at Amex to initiate the transfer. But when I attempt to log in to do so, the offer disappears. So, understand your point and totally agree that it’s legit, but it took 57 minutes to get a Flying Blue rep on the phone today and if the bonus doesn’t appear (given the above), it will be no small matter to get the bonus retro. YMMV.
I take back what I said. Made the transfer and the credit on the Flying Blue side was instant. Loving this deal!
I received the message from flying blue but clicking the link in the email directs me an amex website which is different from the usual transfer portal and when I try logging in, I get an error message. So far has anyone actually been able to redeem this offer?
Since it is being offered on the Flying Blue side, I assume that you won’t see it reflected before transferring — you’ll just transfer from Membership Rewards and see 1:1 and expect to see the 30% bonus on the Flying Blue side after transferring. So you should just log into your Amex account to make the transfer I believe.
Thanks. This makes sense. I’ll give it a try
[…] HT: FM […]
Not showing up on my account either after getting email.