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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
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 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, 2024
- $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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