The Air France-KLM Flying Blue program has a credit card in the United States, issued by Bank of America. It’s a card that I have, as someone who has Flying Blue Platinum status. We’ve just learned about some changes coming to the card, and they’re entirely positive, as I see it (thanks to Levi for flagging this).
In this post:
What’s changing about the Air France-KLM credit card
Over the coming weeks, we’re going to see some major changes to Flying Blue’s credit card in the United States.
For one, in March 2026 we’re going to see the card converted from a Mastercard to a Visa — specifically, it’ll go from being the Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard to being the Air France KLM Visa Signature Card. The transition should be seamless, so existing cardmembers should automatically receive a new version of the card, with a new card number.
More immediately, for applications as of Wednesday, January 21, 2026 (and for existing cardmembers), we’re seeing some improvements to the benefits of the card. It’ll maintain the same $89 annual fee it currently has, with a couple of major changes.
First, we’ll see the card get a new bonus category of earning 3x miles on dining. This complements the existing rewards structure of 3x miles on Air France, KLM, and SkyTeam bookings, plus 1.5x miles on all other everyday spending.
On top of that, we’ll see new anniversary rewards on the card. As before, the card will offer 5,000 anniversary bonus miles after $50 in annual purchases, in addition to 20XPs each card anniversary just for having the card. With these updates, you’ll also be able to earn 80 XPs for annual purchases of at least $15,000, and an enhanced offer of an additional 60 XPs for annual purchases of at least $25,000.
In other words, in total cardmembers will be able to earn 160 XPs if they spend $25,000 on the card in anniversary year.
I’m very happy to see these changes to the card!
I find the Air France-KLM Flying Blue program to be super useful, which is why I have Platinum status in the program. It’s fantastic to see Flying Blue actually make it more compelling to use the card for spending.
If I can earn 160 XPs per year by spending $25,000 on the card, all while earning a minimum of 1.5x miles, I’d consider that to be a worthwhile opportunity. For context on XPs, that’s the metric by which you earn status with the Flying Blue program:
- 100 XPs gets you Silver status
- You then need 180 additional XPs to earn Gold status
- You then need 300 additional XPs to earn Platinum status
The clock resets as you work your way up the tiers. In other words, if you’re starting from scratch, you’d need a total of 580 XPs to earn Platinum status, but you’d have more than a year, since the tiers keep resetting. Meanwhile if you already have Platinum status, you only need 300 XPs to requalify for the status.
So by spending $25,000 on the card per year, that’ll get me over half way to Platinum status. Personally, I didn’t find it worthwhile to put spending on the card before, so I’m very happy to see this. I also find the annual fee on the card easy to justify, since the 5,000 miles go a long way to offsetting the $89 annual fee.
Kudos to Flying Blue on these changes. If I had any wish, it’s that it would be awesome if there were even more opportunities to earn XPs for spending on the card. The folks at Flying Blue are savvy and understand the US market really well, so you’d think they’d embrace credit card spending as much as possible.
Bottom line
The Air France-KLM credit card in the United States is going to see some updates. For one, it’ll go from being a Mastercard to a Visa, which is the most minor change, as I see it. On top of that, the card will earn 3x miles on dining, and it’ll also be possible to earn up to 160 XPs on the card per year, by spending $25,000.
When you consider that the annual fee is staying the same, I’d consider these to be entirely positive changes. At least for me, Flying Blue will accomplish its goal — I’ll be switching some spending to the card!
What do you make of these Air France-KLM Flying Blue credit card changes?
What an interesting change, it’s now an AF/KLM chase freedom unlimited, albeit with an annual fee.
If it's not for you, it's not for you.
The benefits of silver status are pretty feeble.
That’s a fair point, but that’s also pretty true across all three major alliances, especially SkyTeam members.
Would the XPs earned from $25k in spend be credited this year or next anniversary?
Next card anniversary after the change.
If you spend $25,000 in 2026 after new cards arrive and your anniversary date is after the cards arrive, then will that generate the new XP benefits in 2026?
What matters is that you've spend the $25k during your BofA *cardmember* year. If you do, then you would receive the 160 XPs at FB within one to two billing cycles after your BofA *cardmember* anniversary. Whenever that occurs, it will be at some point in your FB *membership* year. If you product-change into the card, your BofA *cardmember* anniversary date is reset to the date of conversation and you'll wait an entire year for the XPs to hit. I hope this helps.
Or will spending $25,000 beginning January 21st qualify if the anniversary date is in 2026?
Please refer to my other two responses. It's live now and it's with respect to your cardmember year. So, if you have heretofore spent $13k in your current cardmember year and it renews (say) at the end of February, you have until the end of February to spend another $12k. And, you'd receive the 160 XPs as described.
The new benefits are LIVE right now in the Mastercard's terms and conditions. Publication under the Mastercard's terms and conditions suggests it will be applicable now and not simply after conversion. And, a plain language reading also suggests any renewal as of right now will qualify. Lastly, someone who has received an email from BofA says that the language of the email suggests the new renewal XP scheme would apply to all renewals from this...
The new benefits are LIVE right now in the Mastercard's terms and conditions. Publication under the Mastercard's terms and conditions suggests it will be applicable now and not simply after conversion. And, a plain language reading also suggests any renewal as of right now will qualify. Lastly, someone who has received an email from BofA says that the language of the email suggests the new renewal XP scheme would apply to all renewals from this point on. We shall see.
That would be awesome if 2025 spend will count towards these new benefits to earn the XP's by reaching $25,000. My renewal is coming up soon so keeping figures crossed!!
Good news for US members, bad news for their core market
The US members are primarily going to be booking flights from the US. I'm not sure how much appetite there is right now for their core market to fly to the US.
As for short-haul, the US credit card crowd will be connecting to AMS/CDG, but it's not like AFKL short-haul J is something anyone would buy without a long-haul connection (especially given what AF is downgrading the catering to on most routes for the next few months: a couple of sandwiches).
It is good news about the extra XPs by spending, and as a VISA it will now be accepted at Costco, so earning 1.5 miles there. As the new card will be mailed around March 20th, I wonder if the spending to achieve the bonus XPs thresholds will start counting from that date, or it will be regular anniversary spending counting also the money already spent until March 20th.
It would be nice if it was UXP for those of us requalifying ULTI. Help, Ben Lipsey!
This probably isn't good news for the value of miles in a programme without a chart and with recent history of brutal overnight devaluations. Another reason to stay away from building balances on FB.
100+180+300=580
In the article you said 480 XP to Platinum if you start from scratch - am I missing something?
Yes, it's 580XP from scratch. I wonder if Ben was thinking about the 100XP from $15k of spend.
In the past, there have been 100XP SUBs offered on this card: it wouldn't surprise me if there's a 100XP offer for the relaunched card in the near future.
@ Neal -- Sorry, that should've said 580, not 480! Fixed now.