New Air France KLM Credit Card out, not very exciting

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Bank of America has launched a new Air France KLM credit card. Hopefuly, this is a sign of Bank of America expanding partnerships to eventually offer a transferable currency…because neither the opening bonus nor ongoing benefits make this card particularly interesting.

a hand holding a credit card

The Offer

Card Offer
70K miles + 100XP ⓘ Non-Affiliate
70K miles + 40 XP after $3K in the first 90 days + 60 XP upon approval
$89 Annual Fee
Alternate Offer: Going through the steps to make a dummy booking at the Air France website may result in an offer that also includes a $100 statement credit.
Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy.
Recent better offer: 70K miles + 100XP points [Expired 9/23]

Key Card Details

Card Name w Details & Review (no offer)
FM Mini Review: Valuable primarily only for the welcome offer, then it should go off to the sock drawer unless you're interested in Flying Blue elite status. Click here for our complete card review

$89 Annual Fee
Earning rate: 3X on Air France, KLM, and SkyTeam purchases ✦ 1.5X everywhere else
Base: 1.5X (1.95%)
Brand: 3X (3.9%)
Card Info: Mastercard World Elite issued by BOA. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees.
Big spend bonus: 5K after anniversary when you spend $50 or more the previous year ✦ 40XP points towards status after anniversary when you spend $15K or more the previous year
Noteworthy perks: 20 Experience Points every year; Miles don't expire as long as you make a purchase once every 2 years.

Quick Thoughts

The initial bonus on this card is disappointingly weak. Air France is an Amex transfer partner, Chase transfer partner, Citi transfer partner, and Marriott/SPG transfer partner. That means that you can do better than 25K for a welcome bonus on a myriad of other cards whose points can transfer to Air France / KLM.

Further, the benefits aren’t particularly exciting. Probably the biggest benefit is that earning miles from using the card will keep your stash of Flying Blue miles from expiring (H/T: Brands). Otherwise, the only free ongoing benefit is 20 XP points towards status each year (Silver status requires 100). Otherwise, yearly benefits are based on spend — 5K miles after your anniversary if you’ve spent $50 or more the previous year and 40 XP points towards elite status if you’ve spent $15K the previous year. The fact that they think they need to incentivize you to spend at least $50 per year on your credit card should really tell you what you need to know about this card.

The everyday earning rate of 1.5x beats out most airline credit cards, but since you can earn an uncapped 1.5x everywhere with a Chase Freedom Unlimited and have the flexibility to transfer to Air France or to use your points differently to higher value means that 1.5x just isn’t special. The fact that the Air France KLM Mastercard earns 3x on all SkyTeam purchases is interesting, but seems like more of a novelty than anything else since plenty of other cards earn 3x on airfare purchased directly from airlines (and many of them come with better travel protection against things like trip delay, baggage loss, etc). If you’re spending enough on SkyTeam airfare to get excited about 3x Air France miles, you should probably be looking at earning Ultimate Rewards, Thank You points, or Membership Rewards.

I’m not sure exactly where BOA is going with this card, but as mentioned at the outset I hope it is towards a transferable currency with bigger plans than this card. You can find more information and a link on our dedicated Air France Flying Blue World Elite Mastercard page by clicking on the name of the card under “The Offer” or “Key Card Details”.

H/T: Doctor of Credit

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