American Express Membership Rewards is offering a 25% bonus on transfers to Air France KLM Flying Blue through June 15. It may be targeted because it only shows up for me when I log into my account.

Air France KLM Flying Blue has moved to a revenue-based system that’s less valuable than Delta’s for earning. June 1 Air France and KLM flights lose their award chart with some flights getting more expensive and others getting cheaper for instance:

The program is useful because they offer much better award availability to their own members than to partners. However I don’t like transferring points on the if-come. T

ransfer points when you need them, because Air France KLM’s expiration policy is 24 months, extendable only with a flight not any activity. And points transfers into your account don’t extend validity, beware of when your account is set to expire before transferring unless redeeming right away.

At the same time it’s important to have an open Air France KLM Flying Blue account before you need one. When you open an account, transfer in points, and book an award right away they have a bad habit of either,

• Shutting down accounts pending a fraud investigation or
  
• Sending you to the airport to issue tickets

I find that new accounts, and accounts that only transfer in points to book awards, should reserve their awards over the phone rather than online to reduce this risk. I’m still seeing Air France shutting down new accounts making online award bookings, but not making phone redemptions.

(HT: @IadisGr8)