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Plan for the worst. Hope for the best.
Air France/KLM’s loyalty program, FlyingBlue, went through a change in June that disabled the best feature of their program. No, not their fixed priced award chart, but rather their award calendar. Regardless of whether you utilized their program through redemption, FlyingBlue’s award calendar was one of the best ways to search SkyTeam award availability. Prior to the program change that functionality dropped, and in all honesty, I thought it would be gone forever. But, as OMAAT noted, the calendar is back. HIGH FIVE. It’s not everyday that loyalty programs actually surprise you with dose of good news, but this is great for everyone.
If you’re unfamiliar with the function…this is how you access it:
On the home page of Air France you’ll see the option of using miles. Log in. Then click on “multi-destination.”
It’ll take you to a page with more search options. One of which is the calendar – just check the box that you’re looking for a flight “around these dates.”
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You’ll then see a month long view of award space.
Prior to the program change in June, 62.5k was the saver award price on Biz between the US and Europe. While 67.5 is more expensive, I’ve seen rates in the 50s, and availability could be much, much worse. Remember, Citi is offering a 30% transfer bonus to FlyingBlue which means just 52k Thank You points locks one of these bad boys down. Very solid.
If you want to fly the best biz cabin on Air France, look for those that are configured in a 1-2-1 fashion. You’ll end up with something similar to this:
Those are found on the 77W, 787-9, 772s with plans to continue retrofitting their A330s.
Don’t forget that you can access FlyingBlue with Chase, Amex, Citi, and SPG. This makes is a very attractive partner.
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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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