Amex Membership Rewards has just rolled out its newest points transfer bonus, which I’m sure many members will find to be valuable.
In this post:
Amex offering 20% Flying Blue transfer bonus
Between October 10 and November 10, 2024, you can receive a 20% bonus when you transfer Amex Membership Rewards points to Air France-KLM Flying Blue.
This promotion is being offered on Amex’s end (in the United States), and is hard coded into the transfer ratio, meaning you should see the bonus at the time that you make the transfer. You can take advantage of this offer an unlimited number of times, though you’re limited to transferring 999,999 points per transaction (not that this is a limit that will impact many people).
There are lots of fantastic cards for earning Amex Membership Rewards points, so this is an awesome opportunity. Transfers from Amex to Flying Blue are generally instant.
Should you transfer Amex points to Flying Blue?
Air France-KLM Flying Blue is a valuable SkyTeam frequent flyer program. The program has attractive award pricing on Air France and KLM, offering many of the best ways to cross the Atlantic.
On top of that, Air France and KLM make more award seats available to members of the Flying Blue program than to members of partner programs. So even when Flying Blue’s pricing isn’t the best, there are situations where it could make sense to book through Flying Blue (though with all of the Delta SkyMiles devaluations we’ve seen, typically you will find the best pricing through Flying Blue).
There’s always value in having a stash of Flying Blue miles if you think you’ll be traveling transatlantic in the coming months. I redeem through Flying Blue every year (usually multiple times per year), and consistently get value. I find it to be one of the most useful frequent flyer programs for redeeming points.
Personally I plan to make a speculative points transfer here, as we haven’t seen a transfer bonus from Amex Membership Rewards to Air France-KLM Flying Blue since around the same time last year.
Bottom line
At the moment you can receive a 20% bonus when you transfer Amex Membership Rewards points to Air France-KLM Flying Blue.
I’m always conflicted when it comes to transferring points during bonuses like this. On one hand, a lot of the value from transferrable points comes from the flexibility you have of being able to transfer them to any program once you actually have a specific redemption in mind. That’s the best way to protect yourself from devaluations.
At the same time, you’re going to get the most value if you can transfer points while there’s also a bonus, since your points can be stretched a lot further.
Do you plan on transferring Amex points to Flying Blue with a 20% bonus?
I'm currently gold with Skyteam and I know Ben finds value in this program but the low miles redemptions he obtains have always eluded me. I don't think I'll be pursuing a status renewal.
Flying Blue’s expiration policy remains one of the most commonly misunderstood policies in this hobby. It’s simple - As long as you don’t credit actual flights to Flying Blue, any “partner” activity, including transferring points, extends all your miles for another two years. I always transfer points during any bonus period, often just to further extend miles. The Flying Blue expiration policy deserves an updated, detailed post from Ben and others…
Maybe include at the top the history of bonuses for Amex to FB (beyond the 1 datapoint in text) like you have previously done for other transfers with bonuses?
Do you think it would be unwise to transfer points now for a trip in spring of '26?
Air France points have an expiry date. I agree with Ben on the value and in fact am on an AF points flight this month, but that's because if I didn't use them, regardless of activity/accrual in the account, they do disappear, unlike say Aeroplan, where all you have to do is add a single point to keep the whole balance intact.
Flying Blue splits their miles into two different pools- one for flight activity and one for non-flight activity. Each pool has a different expiration date. The flight activity miles expiration extension requires flying (or certain co-branded credit cards) but FB miles from non-flight activity can be extended indefinitely by other non-flight activity miles. My most recent extension of FB miles is from the bonus miles that Sixt gives you with Platinum status and I rented...
Flying Blue splits their miles into two different pools- one for flight activity and one for non-flight activity. Each pool has a different expiration date. The flight activity miles expiration extension requires flying (or certain co-branded credit cards) but FB miles from non-flight activity can be extended indefinitely by other non-flight activity miles. My most recent extension of FB miles is from the bonus miles that Sixt gives you with Platinum status and I rented a car from them back in July. So my non-flight FB miles now don’t expire until July, 2026.
Transferred points 4 days ago, so annoyed