The Bank of America-issued U.S. credit card for Air France KLM Flying Blue has an offer that’s better than any I’ve seen before. And it’s interesting for more than just the bonus miles. It opens up elite status and potentially first class awards, too.
- 70,000 Flying Blue miles and 40 elite (‘XP’) points after $2,000 in purchases within the first 90 days of your account opening
- Plus 60 elite (‘XP’) points on approval
Air France Business Class
This $89 annual fee card isn’t bad for spend, earning 3x on SkyTeam airline purchases and 1.5 points per dollar on all other spend. But what’s intriguing is a mix of the biggest-ever bonus that I’ve seen for the card and the elite credits you receive.
100 elite points is enough for Flying Blue Silver status. That may not seem like much, but it’s enough for Silver status. If you can get yourself Gold you can unlock Air France first class awards which are limited to Flying Blue Gold and Platinum elite members. Those can be pricey (no saver awards) but Flying Blue partners with every major points transfer currency so their miles are easy to get.
Flying Blue is the best value program in SkyTeam for U.S. members, and since whatever bank card’s transferable points you have can be moved into Flying Blue these 70,000 points can be made especially useful. My recent Paris – Houston business class redemption cost 66,500 points though if I’d originated elsewhere in Europe it would have been less.
Don’t you need to be Flying Blue Gold to book first class awards, Gary? I’m silver and it never gives me the option….
Yeah Gary this changed. It’s Gold only.
Are XPs earned on Delta at the same rate as those shown online for AF/KLM? 10 XPs for a domestic DL first class flight?
@CR- Yes as long as it is a paid ticket as long as it is Basic economy or higher.
@CR, Yes. I earn elite status on FlyingBlue with about half my flying on Delta.
They have a bonus XP promo going on right now through June or so.
It’s 180xp’s to Gold and 300 to Platinum. Silver doesn’t provide much beyond the credit card benefits. You really need Gold or higher to be worth it. The XP earning is very strange in that long domestic flights aren’t worth as many XP’s as short international flights. For example, JFK-LAX is only 2 XP’s but LHR-AMS is 15. DTW-YYZ=15 but ATL-HNL is only 2.