SkyTeam Elite Status the Easy Way: Apply for the Air France-KLM Credit Card!

Air France-KLM, despite being a foreign airline group, has a credit card in the US, issued by Bank of America. I have this credit card myself. While I don’t actually use it much, I like this card for the ongoing perks that it provides. And right now, there is an elevated welcome bonus that can provide you with Air France-KLM Silver status, and by extension, Elite status in the SkyTeam alliance, so that your status transfers over to the likes of Delta, Korean or SAS, among others.

Note that there is no deadline posted for this offer so I don’t know when it will be pulled, but for all intents and purposes, it may well be by the end of February. Apply here.

Why would you want to have Flying Blue or SkyTeam elite status?

To cut to the chase, I think the Air France-KLM credit card’s major value proposition is for its status qualification perks with Flying Blue, the frequent flyer program of Air France-KLM. So, the first question is: why might you want to have Flying Blue status?

I have written quite a lot about Flying Blue, and specifically the perks of Flying Blue Gold status. However, at the most basic level (Flying Blue Silver), Flying Blue provides you with one free checked bag, free standard seat selection, and priority boarding in the form of Group 3 boarding, behind Premium Economy passengers and those with Flying Blue Gold and up.

Importantly, Flying Blue silver maps to SkyTeam Elite status, so that the perks of Flying Blue silver will transfer to other airlines in the SkyTeam alliance. That includes Delta.

But why wouldn’t you simply qualify for Silver status in Delta’s SkyMiles program? Simple: it’s harder to do so and costs a lot more money. That’s because SkyMiles status is principally based on how much money you spend with Delta, whereas Flying Blue status depends on a mix of distance flown and money spent. So, overall, you’ll get Silver status with less spending in Flying Blue, but will still get the perks of Delta SkyMiles Silver status.

Plus, as you qualify for higher status, such as Gold, you’ll find that there are certain perks that Delta will not provide for SkyMiles members that it will provide to SkyTeam Elite Plus members. For example: lounge access to those booked in basic economy.

*Enjoy complimentary Delta Sky Club access if you have Flying Blue Gold, even if you are booked in basic economy – but not if you’re a Delta SkyMiles member!*

Basics of Flying Blue status qualification

To understand the value proposition of the card, it’s important we do a brief recap of how Flying Blue status qualification works. Fundamentally, when you fly a certain distance or perform other qualifying activation, you gain Experience Points (XP).

To qualify for Silver status, you have to accumulate 100XP.
To qualify for Gold status, you have to accumulate 180XP.
To qualify for Platinum status, you have to accumulate 300XP.

Once you hit the Silver Status qualifier, the XP counter and the clock reset: now you have a year to earn 180XP and get to Gold. Then, once you do so, the clock resets again and you have a new year to get to Platinum. So, all in all, to get to Platinum from scratch, you have to earn 580XP total, and you get up to 3 years to do so.

How do you earn the XP? Easiest is by flying. For example, a one-way flight from New York to Paris grants 10XP in economy, 20XP in premium economy, and 30XP in business class. You can then also buy sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), usually at a rate of ~$11 for 1 XP, and you get three options that fit the overall XP amount you’d get by flying. For example, if you earn 30XP with your flight, you’ll find you can receive either 3XP, 10 XP or ~25XP by buying SAF. And to top it off, if you donate miles to a charity, you can get 1 XP for every 2000 miles donated.

*If you fly KLM business class from New York to Amsterdam, you will receive 30XP.*

Elevated welcome bonus: 100XP and 70.000 points grants Flying Blue Silver status for free

Now that you have a basic understanding qualifying for Flying Blue status, let’s look at the elevated welcome bonus, Because the reason I’m writing about this card now is because of the that specifically: for application as of right now, if you spend $3000 within the first 90 days of account opening, you will be given 70.000 points and 100XP. 100XP is enough to gain Flying Blue Silver status. In other words: just by getting this credit card and completing the spend requirement, you can get Flying Blue Silver status for free.

I do want to be honest about one thing: 70.000 points isn’t the highest I’ve seen. When I applied for this card, I was able to get 80.000 points in addition to the 100XP. Just so you know… Though I think 70.000 points is still a solid welcome offer.

*Flying Blue Silver status maps to SkyTeam elite status, granting perks with all the SkyTeam member airlines.*

Basics of the Air France-KLM credit card: all about status qualification

Besides the welcome bonus, what does the card offer? Let’s have a look at what perks the Air France-KLM Visa Signature card provides, and then I’ll describe the elevated welcome offer as well as what I think the major benefits of this card are.

$89 annual fee
3x points on eligible SkyTeam member airline purchases
3x points on eligible dining purchases
1.5x points spent on all other categories (everyday purchases)
Receive 5,000 Miles every year on your account anniversary after you spend $50 or more on purchases within the anniversary year
Earn XP every account anniversary:
- 20XP baseline.
- Earn an additional 80 XP (total 100XP) on the account anniversary after you spend $15,000 or more on purchases within the anniversary year.
- Earn a further 60 XP (total 160 XP) on the account anniversary after you spend $25,000 or more on purchases within the anniversary year.
No foreign transaction fees

As you can see, besides some potentially useful points earning categories, the card is heavy on earning XP with certain spend requirements within a year. This is a major part of the value that I think this card can provide if you’re seeking SkyTeam elite status.

How I value the Air France-KLM credit card’s perks

To be clear, the elevated welcome bonus, with the 100XP and 70.000 points, is an excellent reason by itself to apply if you’re interested in Flying Blue Silver status, and the SkyTeam Elite perks that it provides on airlines such as Delta, Korean, SAS, Virgin etc.

But, for a card to be valuable in the long term, it needs to have a value proposition that is equal to, or exceeds, the Dollar amount of the annual fee. Fortunately, the Air France-KLM credit card checks that box, for as far as I’m concerned:

First of all, if you put a mere $50 spend on the car, you get 5000 miles upon card anniversary. That’s worth $50 already. Now that Flying Blue includes a 3x dining category, I’d recommend to put some dining spending on the card to reach that $50 qualifier.
However, the real benefit for me is the 20XP you get upon card anniversary. As I stated above, if I buy SAF, I will get XP at a rate of about ~$11 for each 1 XP. I have found that this is the best rate there is, so to me, 20XP is worth $220.
The further XP that you can get by putting additional spending on the card is also pretty awesome. However, personally, there is really no way that I can reach those amounts: the minimum is $15.000 for an additional 80XP.

In my opinion, I can get $270 annual value out of this $89 annual fee card, and a big part of that value proposition is because of the Flying Blue status. So to me, this is a vaery valuable card that is worthwhile holding on to.

*Get SkyPriority benefits once you qualify for Flying Blue Gold status, which also maps to SkyTeam Elite Plus status for alliance-wide elevated perks.*

Do let me be clear: because of those additional XP that you can earn through spending alone, you can get Silver status, and almost Gold status, without ever stepping foot on an airplane ($25.000 spend gets you a further 60XP, for 160XP total: that’s 20XP shy of Gold status). That’s pretty awesome! Again, I don’t see myself ever using that option as I just can’t see myself put that spending on the Air France-KLM card.

Why not? Because the opportunity cost would be too high. The bonus categories of the Air France-KLM card are principally on dining and SkyTeam. However, the Amex Gold covers those same categories, and dining is a rate of 4x rather than 3x. Plus, I prefer getting Amex Rewards points since they are flexible: I can decide where I transfer them to, let alone that Flying Blue is an Amex transfer partner anyway.

Summary

Air France-KLM has a credit card in the US that currently has an elevated welcome bonus that essentially provides free silver status with Air France-KLM’s Flying Blue frequent flyer program. But, even beyond that, I think it’s worthwhile holding onto this card because of the annual XP that it provides, which helps to re-qualifying for silver status. Keep in mind that Flying Blue silver status maps onto SkyTeam Elite status, so that you ca get ‘Silver-level’ benefits throughout SkyTeam, including on airlines such as Delta, Korean, Virgin Atlantic or SAS, as well as many others. I think this is a card well worth applying for right now, with the welcome bonus, and then holding onto, as long as you have an interest in SkyTeam Elite status.

Ready to apply? Head over to the card’s webpage and apply from there!