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100% bonus when you Buy Air France/KLM miles “Flying Blue” ( 1.525c per point )
Air France / KLM are selling their Flying Blue miles with a 100% bonus until 04/30/23. It’s a quick a little flash sale and could present some great value for you if have flights you’re looking to book. The highest I remember seeing is 120%.
First and foremost, I never recommend buying miles speculatively, but with travel beginning to ramp up as the world reopens, it could help you snag a deal. If you have an immediate use for the miles, amazing, this could help you out. If not…remember points and miles can be devalued at a moment’s notice. Let’s take a look at how buying Flying Blue miles with a 100% bonus could make sense for you.
The offered is tiered with 100% being the biggest bonus at 1.525cent per point
You need to purchase more than 30k miles to trigger the 100% bonus
- Buy 4k to 12k get a 50% bonus
- 12k to 24k get a 70% bonus
- 24k+ get 100% bonus
How many miles can you buy?
Most people will be allowed to buy up to 100k miles; however, in the past my account has allowed me to buy up to 275k with a 275k point bonus. I think this is a glitch since usually only elite members are allowed to buy more than 100k, but YMMV and I would double check
Why would you want to buy miles?
In my opinion there are two major reasons
- You can buy miles to book a flight cheaper than a cash rate
- You need the miles to shore up an account to make a booking
I used 53k Air France miles to book business class from Paris to DC. It had roughly $250 taxes and fees on it, but in total with this offer it would be about $1100. Not bad for a one way business class fare.
Flying Blue Promo Awards
Another reason is that every month Flying Blue has Promo awards. This month we saw Atlanta as low as 10,500 miles and Montreal at just 7500 miles. You could buy the miles to take these flights in Economy.
You may have some Air France/KLM Flying Blue Miles and not realize it
Flying Blue is a transfer partner of 6 different transferrable point currencies and are some of the easiest miles to accrue as a result.
- American Express
- Bilt
- Brex
- Capital One
- Citi
- Chase
- Marriott
You can convert any of the
Our favorite credit cards to earn those points that can be transferred
You can find a full list of cards on our Favorite Cards page, but these are tops of the tops.
Chase
American Express
Bilt Rewards
Capital One
- Capital One Venture X
- Capital One Venture Rewards
- Capital One Spark Miles
Citi
Great uses of Air France/KLM Flying Blue Miles
Air France Business Class
There are many great uses, but in particular redeeming miles for Air France business class is a wonderful use. Normal rates begin at 53k miles – this is a super competitive rate, but keep in mind a couple hundred in taxes and fees will also apply
Virgin Atlantic Upper Class
Starting as low as 61,500 miles and a couple hundred in taxes and fees its a great way to fly on a super cool product and pay fewer taxes and fees than Virgin Atlantic would charge. I’ve flown this many, many times.
KLM Business Class
KLM offers world class service and a great business class – keep your eye out for the planes that offer reverse herringbone 1-2-1 configuration ( primarily the 787-9 ) shown below. It is hands down the best product out there and a great way to fly across the pond
Recap:
This could be a great opportunity to buy miles to get your balance high enough to pull the trigger on a trip you’ve been trying to book. If not…I would hold on and not buy speculatively, points and miles can be devalued at a moment’s notice and you don’t want to be left sitting on a hefty balance of points that have lost their luster.
Buy Miles Here
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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