Flying Blue Gold Status Match Ends Saturday, Unlocking Free Delta Bags, Boarding, And Exit Rows

I have Air France KLM Flying Blue Gold status through Bilt Rewards. It’s great because when I fly Delta that gets me:

• Free checked bags (plus priority check-in which saves time checking bags)
  
• Priority boarding so I don’t have to check my carry-on bag due to full overhead bins
  
• Free emergency exit row seating

That makes Delta a much better deal, since I fly them only occasionally. They’re really building up their service in Austin, and they currently have the best lounge at the airport which I access thanks to my American Express Platinum Card® (see rates and fees) when flying Delta.

It’s a lot easier to access Flying Blue status, though, than earning Bilt Rewards Platinum and transferring 10,000 points to Flying Blue to claim the status. There’s a status match offer. And my reason for flagging it now is that I am told it ends for U.S. and Canadian members on Saturday, June 13th. So this is your last shot to jump on it.

• U.S. members have to pay $199 to match to Flying Blue Gold status. (Members in many countries, but not the U.S. or Canada, can match up to Platinum which even comes with increased award availability.)

• They mach status broadly, from instance American AAdvantage Platinum and United MIleagePlus Gold members can receive Flying Blue Gold status.

A family of four on an itinerary, each checking a bag, would save $360 roundtrip. And the status can save on seat fees, too. So the price is reasonable, especially for someone that’ll fly Delta more than once this year.

Flying Blue is one of my better points transfer use cases, since I find their award availability to Europe on Air France is often pretty good – it’s better award availability than offered to their partners, they fly to and from numerous U.S. cities, and even when the lowest-price award isn’t available the incremental price for space can sometimes still be modest. Having the elite phone number can be useful, too.

So grab this match now, before Saturday if it’s something you’ll find useful over the next year. You can even use the status head start to earn higher levels of status with the refreshed Flying Blue credit card and even now combine that with paying rent on the card through Bilt to generate spend (the card is really geared towards U.S. customers trying to generate status from spend).

For rates and fees of the American Express Platinum Card®, click here.