The Air France KLM Flying Blue Credit Card is one of the more interesting airline credit cards on the market. The card has a great welcome bonus, a reasonable annual fee, and most importantly of all, the card makes it easier to earn Flying Blue elite status.
Personally I greatly value Flying Blue elite status, thanks to all the perks that it offers, particularly around award travel. As a Platinum member I get access to more business class award space, access to first class award seats, and also fewer restrictions on awards.
The Flying Blue Card is worth picking up both for the great welcome bonus, as well as for the ability to earn XPs through spending.
Given the greater focus in the blogging world on this path to making La Premiere bookable with miles, I can’t help but wonder how air france will adjust their La Premiere award pricing and availability down the road to maintain the very exclusive experience they insist on maintaining.
I have a feeling a lot of first class points chasers will be left holding the bag in a couple years.
@FoulOwl — I wouldn’t be surprised if, someday, we found out that Air France itself had been quietly nudging the blogosphere to keep discussing this long-shot path to First Class, because beyond that, there really isn’t much propping up the proposition.
The points on offer aren’t even enough for a Business Standard fare, the level you need for lounge access. The XPs don’t get you meaningful status on their own, either. Taken as a whole, it is one of the weakest SUBs out there.
@ FoulOwl -- LaPremier is severely overpriced anyway. Save your miles and fly J three times instead of F once. With much-improved business class seats these days, international first class is often (not always) not worth the additional cost.
I do agree, It is incredibly expensive in points or in funds when compared to the much improved J options these days…
The whole point of this is Ben's first 2 bullets about the value of FB Plat-
-Flying Blue Platinum members gets access to more award space, which is an incredibly valuable perk
-With the recent Flying Blue devaluation we saw, Flying Blue Platinum status still allows me to book the “Light” fares while being able to have ticket flexibility, access lounges, select seats, etc.
If you're chasing this for one LP redemption, it of course makes no sense.
To reach 280 XPs (Gold status) in your second year (when you no longer receive the welcome bonus), you would need to spend $85,000 on the Air France KLM Flying Blue Credit Card if i am not mistaken. Silver status basically gets you nothing.
You are. And you can get Gold within the first year without flying at all with this card
You can get FB Gold within the 1st year with this card from scratch even without flying. The signup bonus deposits on the statement day during which you meet the spending target, at minimum 1 month after your signup date/anniversary date. This triggers level up to Silver and starts a 12-13 months period to get another 180XP for gold (FB give you 12 months + until the end of the calendar month to meet the next XP target). The anniversary bonus of this card deposits on anniversary date, which is at most 11 months from your level up to Silver date, well within the 12-13 months period. As long as you make another 20XP during that time, you can hop on to Gold exactly on the 1st anniversary of having this card. One of the best way without flying is to sign up for the Overseas Discount Pass. It's 269 euro per year and give you 20XP every year without any requirements
"Note that you can also add authorized users to the card at no extra cost, and of course their spending will help you earn Flying Blue miles, and potentially XPs."
Fun fact about BoA cards: they don't know how to manage AUs, so instead of looking at the competition, they give you a "worst of the worst" configuration:
1. It has the same number as the primary account. So if your primary account is compromised or expires, all AUs need to change too.
2. They can't add AUs to Apple Pay (I just learned this about the Summit card today) - instead only the primary can add it to cards via the BoA app, since they don't support direct Apple Pay enrollments.
3. AUs don't get online profiles to check their spending / budgeting / add to Apple Pay (as discussed above)
Long story short, you are definitely getting a "$0" experience with their AU benefit.
Ben,
Great review as always.
I just applied and was approved for this card. I have a question. Do you get the 3x Flying Blue miles for using the card to pay the surcharge on a miles redemption? My inclination is you do not but it would be great if you did given the high surcharges AF charges these days.
Thanks!
@ OldCrowAZ -- Congrats on the approval! Yes, you absolutely earn 3x miles if you pay taxes and carrier imposed surcharges on an award ticket. 🙂
KLM/AF program is way too complicated (ie extractive) and has been way to devalued lately (ie extractive). Hard pass.
Now maybe if they added value for partners (more seats, better rates, etc) we can talk.