Air France-KLM Credit Card Bonus: 70K Miles + Up To 100 XPs

The Air France-KLM World Elite Mastercard has been in the US market for several years now, and is issued by Bank of America. We’re increasingly seeing non-US airlines launch credit cards in the United States, and that’s pretty cool.

We’ve seen a new limited time welcome bonus rolled out on this card, which is in line with the best bonuses I’ve ever seen on this card (thanks to Miles to Memories for flagging this). Specifically, you can earn 70,000 Flying Blue miles upon completing minimum spending, plus can get quite a bit of help toward status.

Let’s take a closer look at the card…

Air France-KLM Credit Card details

Here are the basics of the Air France-KLM credit card:

• Welcome bonus: earn 70,000 bonus miles plus 40 XP after making $3,000 or more in purchases within the first 90 days, plus 60 XP upon approval
• Annual fee: $89 (not waived the first year)
• Return on spending: 3x miles per dollar spent directly with Air France, KLM, and SkyTeam member airlines, 1.5x miles per dollar spent on all other purchases
• Other benefits: 5,000 miles every year on your account anniversary after you spend $50 or more on purchases within the anniversary year, plus 20 XP on your account anniversary every year without any spend requirement, plus 40 additional XP on your account anniversary when you spend $15,000 in purchases within the cardmember year
• Foreign transaction fees: None

For context on XPs, that’s the metric by which you earn status with Flying Blue:

• 100 XPs gets you Silver status, which you could earn with this bonus
• You then need 180 additional XPs to earn Gold status
• You then need 300 additional XPs to earn Platinum status

As someone who recently started earning Flying Blue elite status, the 100 XPs I’ve earned from the card have gone a long way to helping me qualify for a higher status tier.

My take on the Air France-KLM Credit Card

In general I don’t recommend using an airline credit card for a majority of your spending, as there are typically better credit cards for everyday spending. That’s more general commentary than something specific to this card.

That’s simply because cards that accrue transferable points give you a lot more flexibility, and often have better bonus categories and welcome bonuses.

Is this the most amazing airline credit card ever? No. But I do think it offers some solid perks and unique benefits that could make it a keeper:

• Earning 1.5x miles per dollar spent on all purchases is better than average for an airline credit card
• While the card has an $89 annual fee, the 5,000 bonus miles when spending $50 on the card in a year (which is a reasonable threshold) should nearly cover the annual fee in terms of value
• The card can help you earn XPs toward Flying Blue status (both as part of the bonus and on an ongoing basis), which some may find to be worthwhile

As someone who is going for Flying Blue Platinum status, this is a card that I have, though it’s not one that I spend a ton on. Flying Blue is transfer partners with Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou, so generally I’d rather maximize my rewards with some of those credit cards, since many of them offer 1.5-2x points per dollar spent.

On top of that, we even sometimes see transfer bonuses to Flying Blue (typically around 25%), which can improve your points earning rates even more.

Bottom line

The Air France-KLM Card is one that many people may not have considered, but it could be worthwhile. The card currently has a bonus of 70,000 Flying Blue miles plus 100 XPs upon completing minimum spending.

This is an excellent offer for those who have had most other cards but not this one. This card is especially valuable if you’re pursuing elite status with the Flying Blue program.

Anyone plan on picking up the Air France-KLM World Elite Mastercard?