As I first mentioned in our YouTube Live This week in RWRDS broadcast last Friday and on the blog on Sunday, there will be a flight offer to keep an eye out for on May 1st and this is it. Air France KLM Flying Blue‘s Promo Rewards for May are offering 25% off KLM business class from Montreal to Europe, North Africa and Turkey.
The Promo Rewards
May Promo Rewards – Save 20% to 50% on the Award Miles usually required for a reward ticket to/from various destinations worldwide. Book by May 31, 23 for travel until Oct 31, 23. Click here for more details
This month’s Canadian cities:
Montreal: 25% off KLM business class to Europe, North Africa, Turkey
25% off Montreal to Europe in Business Class
We see a really good Promo Rewards offer of 25% off for business class departures from Montreal and the timing couldn’t be better as KLM will be increasing their flights out of Montreal to 6x weekly as of July 4 (Source Aeroroutes)
Business class flights on KLM without the discount start at 55,000 miles one way out of Montreal. Round trip will start at exactly double that at 110,000 miles. Thus with a 25% discount one way flights will start at 41,250 and round trip for 82,500. Sure it’s not the 50% we saw offered in December but considering we’re into the busier summer travel season we’ll take the 25%. On any given day 82,500 miles for round trip business class flights across the Atlantic is good so don’t ignore these just because they are not 50% off!
When you do search flights the mileage amounts will vary depending on which destinations you choose in Europe, North Africa or Turkey. As well the dates play a big part in finding those lowest amounts. My initial searches earlier this week showed the best availability in July and August between Montreal and Amsteradam! Yes the peak summer months – but that’s peak for vacation travel which means more people flying in economy class and there is less business travel so there is better availability.
Here’s some quick examples of what we found this morning:
And from Europe to Montreal:
Booking and travel dates:
You can book these rewards starting on May 1st right through to May 31st on the Air France or KLM websites. You can travel on these offers anytime between May 1, 2023 and October 30, 2023.
You may have to get creative with booking as return flights seem hit and miss across Europe. Look at flying one way into one city and then returning from another. For example you could fly Montreal to Madrid on August 8 and then fly from Amsterdam to Montreal on August 28 all for 81,500 miles in total.
Transfer from American Express Membership Rewards
Even though Air France KLM have launched their own credit card in Canada now, it is still quite new that if anyone was just starting out with it you most likely will not have enough miles from your spending to book these flights. That means if you don’t have enough Flying Blue miles or any at all, your best option is to convert American Express Membership Rewards points to Flying Blue Miles. The transfers are typically near-instant but American Express does state they can take up to 3 days.
Membership Rewards points transfer at a 1 to 0.75 ratio to Flying Blue. Which means you’ll need to transfer as little as 55,000 points for a one way KLM business class flight out of Montreal or 110,000 points for a round trip.
Even with the 1 to 0.75 ratio these represent great redemption options for your Membership Rewards points. This especially true for the American Express Cobalt Card if you earned most or all of your points at the 5x level. If you can score a round trip economy class flight for 110,000 Membership Rewards points (82,500 miles) it represents only $22,000 in 5x points spending. You wouldn’t come even close to getting a redemption like this for that amount spendingwith any other credit card in Canada.
For comparison Amex’s own Fixed Points for Travel requires 140,000 points for round trip business class flights to Europe and and higher fees and taxes. With Aeroplan you’d be looking at 120,000 or more Aeroplan points which equates to 120,000 Membership Rewards points so you can see how this Flying Blue offer makes for a great conversion from Membership Rewards.
Wrapping it up
For the first time in a long time we have now had back to back Air France KLM Flying Blue’s Promo Rewards for Canada! This month they feature 25% off business class flights out out of Montreal and with those flights starting as low as 41,250 miles each way this is good promotion to try to score some premium flights for summer travel to Europe!
Click here to learn more about Air France KLM Flying Blue Promo Rewards
Talk to us
Help the Rewards Canada community out! Let us know what you book or what availability you find in the comments below