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Yesterday I posted the following article. My biggest concern was that there was some sort of widespread account shutdown, but as many readers suggested, it looks as though it was an unannounced site maintenance. Thank you to everyone who commented – back up!
Early this morning I began working on a few award client itineraries and was hoping to utilize Air France’s FlyingBlue program to perform some searches. I just flew Air France business class from Paris to Washington D.C. and had no issues whatsoever with booking, and it’s one of my favorites because it’s a partner of all 4 transferrable currencies ( Chase, Amex, Citi, and Capital One). There have been reports in the past with accounts getting blocked or shut down due to the sole usage of the account award searches, or booking tickets for other people. I haven’t run into that in the past, but today I logged in and the search function was greyed out.
Typically this isn’t unusual
I’ve encountered this numerous times, but usually a simple log out and back in resolves the issue. If it presses, you can simply clear your cache, delete cookies, etc and that resolves the issue.
I’ve logged into several accounts and even created a new one – the problem persists.
I thought maybe it was because I had triggered something internally on my account that blocked it. Having tried multiple browsers – Chrome, Firefox, and Safari with no luck. Deleting cookies, clearing cache, and even trying a VPN to log in – I was till blocked.
I then started trying other accounts that I manage or maintain and all of them were greyed out. I even created a brand new account to see if the search function would work.
It looks like some users are reporting the issue on Flyertalk as well
Are you guys experiencing similar problems, or is this a targeted issue? Let’s get figure out what’s going on, or build critical mass to get Air France to resolve the issue.
In the past, AF has made comments that allude to the fact that they kinda/sorta want to dissuade people from utilizing the program purely to transfer in points from partners. Their method has historically been to either shut down accounts that do so…or grey them out. WHAT?! I know…ridiculous.
Let’s hope this is a greater AF problem, much like the calendar function being removed last year, and it’ll be fixed sooner than later, and not targeted which inevitably means we’ll all end up on the short end of the stick at some point.
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
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card went through a major refresh in 2026 adding new bonus categories, travel protections, statement credits, and remains one of the best travel starter cards in the market. It earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott. Note that Hyatt is now a 4:3 transfer partner
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Earn
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on gas and EV charging
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on vacation homes at top brands
- Cardmembers will earn 3x points on vacation homes at these top brands: Airbnb, Vrbo, Plu Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com and Vacasa.
- 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)
- 2x on all other travel
- 1x on everyday purchases
- 5x points on Lyft rides Earn 5x total points on eligible Lyft rides including ride share, bike and scooter rides and subscription and membership products through September 30, 2027.
- 5x total points on Peloton equipment Earn 5x total points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 through December 31, 2027.
Benefits and Credits
- $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- NEW: $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS fee credit Cardmembers will receive one statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to the card.
- NEW: Complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
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® Card is great 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: Chase Ink Business Cash® , Chase Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into the Sapphire Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee remains quite low at $95 a year and if you use the $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠ you’ll wipe out that annual fee every year. It has great bonus categories and other useful statement credits to enhance your travel.
One thing that is a bummer is Chase lowered the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3.
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