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AirFrance/KLM announced their first international promo awards in well over a year and the timing couldn’t be more perfect for Amex and Capital One cardholders. As I mentioned in a prior post…Amex is getting a 25% transfer bonus and Cap1 also has its own 20% bonus. This comes on the heels of the new Cap1 Premium Card!
Let’s take a look at how these two offers can be stacked for
Transfer Cap1 to FlyingBlue with a 20% transfer bonus
Stack with Flying Blue Promo Awards
Currently you can find the list of Air France FlyingBlue Promo Awards by going here. One option that is intriguing is the long haul 25% discount on flights to/from Miami – I found several dates with flights as low as 55k, which equates to 44k Amex points one way. Pretty screaming good deal.
- Promo awards are changeable but not cancellable
- You can book between 11/1/21 and 4/30/22
- Make sure you check all the terms and conditions prior to booking
Look at these redemptions!
With the current promo… you’d only need to transfer 34k Capital One Miles to fly business class each way. Note that the taxes and fees are something to consider and roughly $200 to $400 each way. 68k Cap1 Miles and
Some cool options for Air France/KLM Flying Blue?
Using Air France to fly on Air France Business Class
Air France offers one of the very best business class products to fly across the Atlantic to Europe. Quick tip…avoid the A380.
Aside from that aircraft, you’ll get a swanky business class to fly flat on your back, toast champagne high over your head, and experience some tasty wine and food in flight.
One thing to note – not every date is going to show reduced promo prices, and only Miami will price in at the sub 40k level. You will find many other dates pricing around 55k or 46k Cap1 Miles. I booked the 77W in business class and you can read the full review here.
Using Air France to fly Virgin Atlantic Upper Class
These will be redeemable with the transfer bonus, but not the promo awards
This is a great use of Cap1 miles since it capitalizes on the Air France and Virgin Atlantic partnership. Air France doesn’t throw as many taxes and fees on bookings vs what Virgin puts on their own award flight so you ought to be able to book Virgin Atlantic Upper Class starting at 61k + $200 give or take.
Don’t forget there is are two versions. The classic herringbone styled Virgin Atlantic Upper Class seen below on the A330.
But also the new Upper Class featured on the A350
Overall
This could certainly be valuable to you when combining it with a FlyingBlue Promo award
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.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.