We're always watching for transfer bonuses that allow you to get more out of your credit card points by sending them to specific airlines … and a great new one just popped up for American Express cardholders.
Points from cards like the *amex gold card* or *amex platinum card* can now earn you a bunch of bonus miles with Air France or KLM. American Express just rolled out a new 20% bonus on transfers to Air France/KLM Flying Blue, a great mileage program to get from the U.S. to Europe – or even for travelers with their hearts set on flying Delta.
This bonus runs through Nov. 10, so you have a whole month to take advantage before it's gone.
Not sure where to start? Read our guide on Amex transfer partners and how to make it happen!
Using transfer partners like Air France/KLM is one of the best ways to use Amex Membership Rewards points for even more value. And these transfer bonuses make it even better – think of it as a way to get some free airline miles. Transfer bonuses to Air France seem to crop up a few times a year.
No matter how appealing a 20% bonus might be, you should never transfer credit card points willy nilly. This is a one-way street: Once you send your credit card points to an airline account, you can't get them back. That means you'll want to have a purpose for these miles.
Fortunately, there are some great ways to put this bonus to use. Keep reading.
Best Ways to Use This Bonus
We'll never turn down some free Flying Blue miles.
This is the combined mileage program for Air France and KLM, and it's one of the best ways to book flights with SkyTeam airlines including Delta, Korean Air, and Air France or KLM, of course.
Fly Air France or KLM to Europe
With low rates and fairly solid availability to actually book these flights with your miles, this is one of the best ways to book business class to Europe.
Whether you want to get to Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG), Amsterdam (AMS), or connect almost anywhere flying business class to Europe, Flying Blue charges as low as 50,000 each way. With this transfer bonus, you’d need just 41,700 Amex points to make it happen.
You can also book economy awards to Europe using Air France and KLM miles – including one-way trips from several U.S. cities for less than 20,000 miles. But Flying Blue also passes on some hefty cash surcharges on award tickets that make it less appealing for economy prices, while it can easily be worth paying $200 or so for a one-way business class ticket for Europe.
Finding flights at these low rates may require some flexibility, as you won't find them on every single date. Luckily, Air France and KLM allow you to easily scroll through up to a month's worth of flights to find the best deals. Flying Blue typically tacks on about $200 for a one-way business class award to Europe – and about $380 or more for the way back. As steep as it sounds, that's a small price to pay for $6,000-plus flights.
And it’s a great ride across the Atlantic Ocean whether you’re flying with Air France or KLM.
Read our full Air France business class review!
Occasionally, though, the deals get even better.
Book Discounted Promo Rewards
Every month, Flying Blue unleashes a set of discounted routes it calls Promo Rewards. And the airlines' latest monthly promo is a decent one, offering deeply discounted economy rates to Europe from a handful of U.S. cities. Occasionally, we even see deep discounts for business class.
Just beware: You'll have to act fast, as availability at these rates tends to go fast (or has already disappeared). With fares as low as 15,000 miles each way (12,000 with the transfer bonus!), it could easily be worth paying $150 or so in taxes and fees to pull off a trip to Europe this fall or winter.
For travel through March 2025, you can book:
- Atlanta (ATL) starting at 15,000 Flying Blue Miles
- Austin (AUS) starting at 15,000 Flying Blue Miles
- Chicago (ORD) starting at 15,000 Flying Blue Miles
- Dallas (DFW) starting at 15,000 Flying Blue Miles
- Detroit (DTW) starting at 15,000 Flying Blue Miles
- Houston-Intercontinental (IAH) starting at 15,000 Flying Blue Miles
- Los Angeles (LAX) starting at 15,000 Flying Blue Miles
- Miami (MIA) starting at 15,000 Flying Blue Miles
- Toronto (YYZ) starting at 15,000 Flying Blue Miles
No matter which route or cabin you choose, this 20% bonus just makes these flights even cheaper.
Book Delta for Less!
For years, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club was the go-to method to book Delta-operated flights when the airline was charging far too many SkyMiles. But after a slew of devaluations in recent years to that program, those days are over.
Now, Flying Blue is the best workaround to book many Delta flights. And this 20% transfer bonus means you can do it for even fewer Amex points.
Want to book short Delta domestic flights? Flying Blue charges as few as 6,000 or so miles, like for these flights from Minneapolis to Chicago-O'Hare (ORD). With that 20% bonus, you'd need only transfer 5,500 Amex points to Air France/KLM.
Delta might be charging 70,000 SkyMiles or more for roundtrip flights to Hawaii, but you can book those exact same flights for under 40,000 miles through Flying Blue. With this transfer bonus, that's just 31,000 Amex points.
Flights down to Mexico and the Caribbean are a serious sweet spot for Flying Blue, like this flight on the new route from Minneapolis to Aruba (AUA) for just 37,000 miles roundtrip. With that 20% transfer bonus, that's just 30,000 Amex points!
Sadly, the days of booking Delta One business class to Europe for 50,000 points each way via Virgin Atlantic are over. Luckily, it can still be a bargain through Flying Blue: Air France/KLM, meanwhile, still charge low cash fees on top of your miles.
While finding availability on any of Delta's nonstop routes from Europe can be a challenge, we recently alerted our Thrifty Traveler Premium members to multiple deals flying Delta One from New York (JFK) to London-Heathrow Airport (LHR) for just 63,5000 miles one-way and $10 in fees.
With that 20% bonus in mind, you'd only need to transfer 53,000 Amex points for this lie-flat seat to London!
Fly to Taipei in Business Class
One of the best ways to get to Taiwan – or connect elsewhere in Southeast Asia – is in China Airlines' spiffy business class seats. And using Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles is the best way to make it happen.
You could fly from Vancouver (YVR) to Taipei (TPE) for just 65,500 Flying Blue miles.
Factor in this 20% transfer bonus, and you'll need to transfer just 54,600 Amex points. Not bad for a 12-plus hour flight in seats like these, right?
Bottom Line
Transfer bonuses like this one are great – it means you need fewer points to book your next getaway. And a 20% bonus when transferring Amex points to Air France/KLM Flying Blue is a great one.
If more Flying Blue miles fit your travel plans, and they likely do, be sure to take advantage of this bonus before it ends next month on Nov. 10!
I transferred some amex miles to Flying Blue couple weeks ago and did see the miles plus 25% bonus in Air France. But today when i tried to book a flight, all the miles are gone and then i realized they are back to Amex w/o getting any emails.
Do other people have the same issue?
Can a delta skymiles number be applied to booked klm award flights?
Yes you can
But do you have to do it through Delta Website rather than KLM if you have skymiles?
Have been trying to transfer Amex miles to Flying Blue for past week. They reject the transfer and points bounce back to my Amex account. Amex says they are rejecting transfer. Very frustrating as I would like to book an award flight. Is anyone else experiencing this problem?