Air France KLM’s $89 Card Offers 70,000 Miles—And A Strategy For Cheaper Business Class And First Class Access

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But the reason this card interests me is what it can do for the price and availability of future awards. I’ve already laid out my plan to use the card to help reach Flying Blue Platinum. That means access to more low-priced business class awards, free changes and refunds even on their cheapest awards, and permission to redeem miles for Air France La Première first class. The 70,000 Mile Offer The current offer for the card is 70,000 bonus miles plus 100 Experience Points after $3,000 in purchases within the first 90 days of account opening. Experience Points, usually shortened to XP, are the credits Flying Blue uses for elite status. This is promoted as a limited-time offer, though it’s one we’ve seen before, including when they refreshed the product back in January. The card has an $89 annual fee and no foreign transaction fees. It earns: 3 miles per dollar on eligible Air France, KLM and SkyTeam airline purchases, including Delta. 3 miles per dollar on eligible dining. 1.5 miles per dollar on other purchases. 5,000 anniversary miles after at least $50 in purchases during the card anniversary year. Getting The Most Out Of The Miles Flying Blue remains one of the most useful programs for Americans trying to get to Europe in business class. They have substantial service across the Atlantic, generally make more award space available through their own program than to partners, and accept transfers from the major bank points programs. You can combine miles from this card with transferred points for the same award. I’ve written about 38 ways to get more out of Flying Blue. For this bonus, I’d focus on: Search the whole trip. If you want New York to Rome, search New York to Rome because . Don’t assume that pricing New York to Paris is the same price since adding a connection beyond Paris or Amsterdam can actually lower the mileage price. Look at Promo Rewards. Monthly offers discount selected routes by up to 25%. Use the child discount. Children ages 2 through 11 traveling with an adult receive a 25% mileage discount on eligible Air France and KLM awards. Consider a stopover. Flying Blue permits stopovers on eligible awards without additional miles, booked by phone. Flying Blue introduced Light, Standard and Flex awards on September 8. Business Light includes one checked bag, but no lounge access or voluntary changes or refunds unless your status supplies those benefits. Gold provides lounge access. Platinum and Ultimate members can change or refund Light awards without a fee, although changing to a more expensive award can still require additional miles. Why I Want Platinum I’ve used Flying Blue Gold obtained through Bilt for priority boarding, free checked bags and free exit row seats on Delta. My interest in Platinum is mostly about redeeming miles. Platinum and Ultimate members have access to more awards at the lowest mileage prices. And only Platinum and Ultimate members can redeem for Air France La Première. The awards are expensive, and the published limit is one award seat per flight. The Status Math And Timing The card provides these credits at the account anniversary: 20 XP without a spending requirement. Another 80 XP after $15,000 in purchases during the anniversary year. Another 60 XP after $25,000 in total purchases during that year. That’s 160 XP at the anniversary after $25,000 in spending. The $25,000 includes the first $15,000. Add the 100-XP welcome bonus and the card can generate 260 XP across the welcome offer and first anniversary. Flying Blue starts credits over as you move up: starting without status, you need 100 XP for Silver, another 180 for Gold, and another 300 for Platinum. That’s 580 XP from scratch. Starting with Gold, though, means you need just the 300 XP for Platinum. That’s where my Bilt Platinum status match comes in. Bilt Platinum members can activate 12 months of Flying Blue Gold by transferring 10,000 Bilt points (you receive those 10,000 Flying Blue miles as well). With Gold already in place when the initial bonus’s credits arrive, the card’s 260 XP can leave just 40 more to earn for Platinum. But the 160 annual credits arrive at the anniversary, not when you cross $25,000 in purchases. For someone using a fresh Gold match, the sequence is: Open the credit card first. Time the Gold match so it’s active before the welcome XP posts, while still leaving enough time to complete the $3,000 purchase requirement within 90 days. Leave a buffer between the card anniversary and the end of the matched Gold qualification period, since anniversary credits need time to post. Complete $25,000 in total purchases during the card year. The initial $3,000 counts toward this. Earn the additional 40 XP, through eligible paid flights or other qualifying activities, within the same Gold qualification period as the card credits. The initial bonus helps once. In later years, 160 card XP leaves you 140 XP short of the 300 needed to maintain Platinum. For someone maintaining Gold, the card’s annual maximum leaves a smaller, 20-XP gap. There’s a cost to directing $25,000 in spending here. On purchases earning 1.5 miles per dollar, that’s 37,500 miles, versus 50,000 transferable points from a card earning 2 per dollar. Rent is another way to generate the spending. As I covered in May, the card earns 3 Flying Blue miles per dollar on eligible rent payments through Bilt, up to $50,000 per calendar year, then 1.5 miles per dollar. There’s a 3% fee. You earn miles on the fee too. So $25,000 in eligible rent payments, plus $750 in fees, produces 77,250 miles while supplying the spending for the annual status credits. Whether that’s worthwhile depends on how you’d otherwise pay rent and earn rewards. Air France KLM Visa Signature® credit card Topics on this page Editorial note: any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. Comments made in response to this post are not provided or commissioned nor have they been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any bank. It is not the responsibility of advertisers Citibank, Chase, American Express, Barclays, Capital One or any other advertiser to ensure that questions are answered, either. Terms and limitations apply to all offers.