The Air France-KLM World Elite Mastercard has been in the US market for a few years now, and is issued by Bank of America. We’re increasingly seeing non-US airlines launch credit cards in the United States, and that’s pretty cool.
We’ve recently seen a new limited-time welcome bonus rolled out on this card, which is the best bonus I’ve ever seen on this card. Specifically, you can earn 70,000 Flying Blue miles upon completing minimum spending, plus can get quite a bit of help toward status.
Let’s take a closer look at the card…
In this post:
Air France-KLM Credit Card details
Here are the basics of the Air France-KLM credit card:
- Welcome bonus: earn 70,000 bonus miles plus 40 XP after making $2,000 or more in purchases within the first 90 days, plus 60 XP upon approval
- Annual fee: $89 (not waived the first year)
- Return on spending: 3x miles per dollar spent directly with Air France, KLM, and SkyTeam member airlines, 1.5x miles per dollar spent on all other purchases
- Other benefits: 5,000 miles every year on your account anniversary after you spend $50 or more on purchases within the anniversary year, plus 20 XP on your account anniversary every year without any spend requirement, plus 40 additional XP on your account anniversary when you spend $15,000 in purchases within the cardmember year
- Foreign transaction fees: None
For context on XPs, that’s the metric by which you earn status with Flying Blue:
- 100 XPs gets you Silver status, which you could earn with this bonus
- You then need 180 additional XPs to earn Gold status
- You then need 300 additional XPs to earn Platinum status
My take on the Air France-KLM Credit Card
In general I don’t recommend using an airline credit card for a majority of your spending, as there are typically better credit cards for everyday spending. That’s more general commentary than something specific to this card.
That’s simply because cards that accrue transferable points give you a lot more flexibility, and often have better bonus categories and welcome bonuses.
Is this the most amazing airline credit card ever? No. But I do think it offers some solid perks and unique benefits that could make it a keeper:
- Earning 1.5x miles per dollar spent on all purchases is better than average for an airline credit card
- While the card has an $89 annual fee, the 5,000 bonus miles when spending $50 on the card in a year (which is a reasonable threshold) should nearly cover the annual fee in terms of value
- The card can help you earn XPs toward Flying Blue status, which some may find to be worthwhile
Personally I don’t have the card. Flying Blue is transfer partners with Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou. I’d rather maximize my rewards with some of those credit cards, since many of them offer 1.5-2x points per dollar spent.
- 5x total points on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®
- 3x points on dining
- 2x points on travel purchases
- $95
- 3x points on Travel after the $300 Annual Travel Credit
- 3x points on Dining
- $300 Travel Credit
- $550
- Earn 3x points on travel
- Earn 3x points on shipping purchases
- Cell Phone Protection
- $95
- 4x points at restaurants
- 4x points at U.S. supermarkets, on up to $25,000 in purchases annually
- 3x points on flights booked directly with airlines or through amextravel.com
- $250
- Earn 5x points on flights purchased directly from airlines or through Amex Travel (up to $500k/year)
- $200 Annual Uber Credit
- Amex Centurion Lounge Access
- $695
- Earn 3x Points on Airfare
- Earn 3x Points on Hotels
- Earn 3x Points at Restaurants
- $95
- Earn 2x Venture miles on every purchase
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- 10,000 bonus miles every account anniversary
- $395
- Earn 2x Venture miles on every purchase
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check Credit
- $95
- Unlimited 2x miles per dollar
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- Capital One Travel Portal
- $0 intro for first year; $95 after that
On top of that, we even sometimes see transfer bonuses to Flying Blue (typically around 25%), which can improve your points earning rates even more.
Bottom line
The Air France-KLM Card is one that many people may not have considered, but it could be worthwhile. The card currently has a bonus of 70,000 Flying Blue miles plus 100 XPs upon completing minimum spending.
This is an excellent offer for those who have had most other cards but not this one. But in the long run I think there are more lucrative cards out there.
Anyone plan on picking up the Air France-KLM World Elite Mastercard?
Just got approved for the card! although it was a bit confusing. First - the online BofA status website said that I was declined after a week. I waited a couple of days more and received a BofA letter that said that they wanted more information (fraud prevention) so I called and answered their questions, then they said I would be reviewed. The online status page immediately changed from declined to in review. The next...
Just got approved for the card! although it was a bit confusing. First - the online BofA status website said that I was declined after a week. I waited a couple of days more and received a BofA letter that said that they wanted more information (fraud prevention) so I called and answered their questions, then they said I would be reviewed. The online status page immediately changed from declined to in review. The next day their status website said that I was approved but did not say my limit. (my FICO scored is 800+ but I have 4 new cards in the last 2 years).
I only got this card because Flying Blue points expire without a cc or actual flights, and I mistakenly transferred some Citi Points to FB on spec recently. I may (uncertain) fly Delta soon.
My goto card is CapOne Venture X - I love the 2x points simplicity and Priority Pass availability for both me and my wife. I may keep this FB card just to have 1 card with BofA and the cost is actually only $30 /year when you account for their 5k points for year bonus...
to those of us past-5/24 churners it's 70K miles for $89 with small spend. if it's on anything except Ukrainian Air I'm buying.
just got an email offering this bonus. Qualifying for the bonus looks pretty easy so it seems like 70K free miles. I recently booked a 1 way business class ticket on AF for something like 65K
Since you mentioned it in the article, what's the most amazing airline credit card ever? Thanks!
It’s 180 total XP for gold status and 300 total XP for platinum- not additional XP.
That's incorrect.^
What Rick said.
It's a bit more complex than what SpongeBob-CirclePants or Rick have said; in fact both of them are partially correct.
You get Silver if you:
* get 100 XP as a non-status ("Explorer") or Silver in your requalification year
* fail to get 180 XP in your requalification year as a Gold to requalify (soft landing, I believe that if you're a Gold and get more than 100 XP but less than 180...
It's a bit more complex than what SpongeBob-CirclePants or Rick have said; in fact both of them are partially correct.
You get Silver if you:
* get 100 XP as a non-status ("Explorer") or Silver in your requalification year
* fail to get 180 XP in your requalification year as a Gold to requalify (soft landing, I believe that if you're a Gold and get more than 100 XP but less than 180 XP, the XP over 100 will roll over)
You get Gold if you:
* get 180 XP as a Silver or Gold in your requalification year
* fail to get 300 XP in your requalification year as Platinum (soft landing)
You get Platinum if you:
* get 300 XP as a Gold or Platinum in your requalification year
The wrinkle is that every time you move up a status level, the XP to qualify for that level are deducted (the excess are rolled over) and a new 12 month qualification period (versus a calendar year qualification period) starts.
So if you don't already have Flying Blue status, getting this card will add 100 XP to your total, pushing you up to Silver, at which point 100 XP will be deducted, leaving you with Silver status and the same XP balance as before, but now with 12 months to get to 180 XP for Gold.
If you're a Silver, this card will add 100 XP to your balance, more than halfway to Gold (and guaranteeing at least a requalification as Silver). If you had fewer than 80 XP, you'll stay Silver; if you had 80+ XP before, you'll become Gold, 180 XP get deducted and a new 12 month qualification period starts.
This card may also be appealing for Americans who have Platinum status, given that (assuming no future program changes in this area), after 10 years of Platinum status you get Platinum for Life, which in practice is a higher tier than Platinum (and some reports indicate that it in practice gets better treatment on AFKL than Platinum Ultimate). Since XP in the current program structure rollover, 100 XP now may pay dividends years down the road (especially with the status extensions of the past couple of years!).
It should also be noted that Flying Blue seems to take a dim view of people who only use transferred points to fly AFKL business class (as AFKL only allows La Premiere awards to be booked by Gold or Platinums in their program): there are many credible reports on FlyerTalk of AFKL cancelling business class (I'm not aware of economy or premium economy awards being canceled) award tickets if someone has never earned an XP with Flying Blue. It is possible that having had this card at some point will set the "will be allowed to fly business class award tickets" flag in the profile: AFKL's attitude towards transferrable points for business class seems to be that it's a perk for people who credit revenue tickets to AFKL to top off their balance, not for someone who puts spend on cards to fly J (or at least not if AFKL wants the seat).
I fly to Paris about 2x a year for work, so I jumped on this. Was able to get the 70K + $100 statement credit too. My DP’s 7/24 and worse 5/12. I’ve been with BOA since 2008 (checking/saving/credit) but was immediately approved for 19K, Im certain my pre-existing with BOA helped as well as FlyingBlue.
How many Bank of America personal cards have you applied for in last 12 months? Thanks
None. My BOA is my oldest 2009.
I acquired this card last year as one perk valuable to me was the fact that FlyingBlue miles don't expire with activity on the card. I have a bunch of miles from cancelled flights during the pandemic and this was the best way to protect them. The annual miles take much of the sting out of the annual fee.
Having the card also would give me some comfort in speculatively transferring CC points to...
I acquired this card last year as one perk valuable to me was the fact that FlyingBlue miles don't expire with activity on the card. I have a bunch of miles from cancelled flights during the pandemic and this was the best way to protect them. The annual miles take much of the sting out of the annual fee.
Having the card also would give me some comfort in speculatively transferring CC points to FlyingBlue in anticipation of a future booking because I know that if the miles "get trapped" in the program at least they won't expire.
I like this idea. I have a bunch of miles in Flying blue that I had transferred from AMEX for a few business class reward tickets just prior to the pandemic and I had been wondering what I could do to not lose them (other than planning a last minute trip to Europe this fall). Seems like a good way to keep them (and get the sign up bonus).
So AF Gold requires 280 XP points? How long do you have to earn the 180 extra points from the 100 this card provides? Is it a full 12 months from the first XPs earned, or must they be earned by end of the calendar year? And, IF you do make Gold, how long does it last? Curious about the opportunity to unlock AF La Première awards.
Flying Blue Gold Member here, earning status works like this. You start out as a blue member with 0 XP, to reach the next level you will need 100 XP. When you reach 100 XP, you will gain silver status and the counter resets for the next tier to earn 180 XP gold status, and then resets again to earn 300 XP for Platinum status. So in reality the earning XP amount you need for...
Flying Blue Gold Member here, earning status works like this. You start out as a blue member with 0 XP, to reach the next level you will need 100 XP. When you reach 100 XP, you will gain silver status and the counter resets for the next tier to earn 180 XP gold status, and then resets again to earn 300 XP for Platinum status. So in reality the earning XP amount you need for each level when starting out is...
- 100 XP for Silver
- 280 XP for Gold
- 580 XP for Platinum
But if you want to maintain status it's more straightforward with just needing x amount of XP to maintain current status...
- 100 XP to maintain Silver status
- 180 XP to maintain Gold status
- 300 XP to maintain Platinum Status
As for your period of time to earn said status, you have a qualification period of 12 months to earn or maintain elite status. When you take your first AF/KLM or Skyteam Flight, this will start the qualification period. Once you reach an elite level with enough XP, the clock resets for another 12 months to qualify for the next level or to maintain your current elite status. Once the qualification period is over, if you reach the required amount of XP to keep your status, you'll keep. Otherwise you just downgrade to the next level down for the qualification period and so forth.
It's complicated at first and honestly takes a bit to wrap your head around as to how it works, but it makes sense once you understand that the qualification period is not a straight calendar year, some will like this others will not.
How strict is BOA with approvals? I'm at 6/24 but haven't applied for a BOA card in probably 15 years.
Another important question is how earning of XP works. In the La premiere on points post someone mentioned domestic US flights earn a third of intra Europe travel. So is it revenue or distance based? Or neither it sounds like. How many business class CDG to FCO for example would get 180 XP? Sounded like 11-12 LAX to JFK flights domestically. I’ve got two trips where I could fly 3-4 intra Europe flights on AF...
Another important question is how earning of XP works. In the La premiere on points post someone mentioned domestic US flights earn a third of intra Europe travel. So is it revenue or distance based? Or neither it sounds like. How many business class CDG to FCO for example would get 180 XP? Sounded like 11-12 LAX to JFK flights domestically. I’ve got two trips where I could fly 3-4 intra Europe flights on AF each trip so considering this card. Plus the keep FB miles alive for little yearly cost is appealing. And swimming in Amex points so spending 450k on this I’d be willing