The Air France KLM World Elite MasterCard® powered by Brim Financial is here! First announced a few months ago the card has come out sooner than we expected! At first glance it appears very appealing for racking up miles to use on Air France KLM and their SkyTeam partners.
Let’s take a look at what the card offers:
Welcome bonus
New card holder bonus: 30 XP yearly + 30 XP as a welcome bonus.
Annual fee
First year annual fee: Free of cost*. Afterward year one, annual fee of CAD $132.00. * Until Dec 15, 2022
Earn rates
- 5 Miles per $ spent when they use their Air France KLM World Elite MasterCard® to purchase Air France and KLM tickets.
- Up to 30 Miles per $1 spent at Merchant Partners
- 2 Miles per $1 spent on food and drinks (restaurants, bars)
- 1 Mile per $1 spent everywhere else
Benefits
The Brim site doesn’t list much for benefits. This is what we know the card will offer:
- 30 XP yearly
- Free global Boingo Wi-Fi which includes WestJet flights
- Mastercard Travel Pass provided by DragonPass (Learn more here)
- CONFIRMED! Purchases with your Air France KLM World Elite MasterCard® extend the validity of your Miles by 2 years
Update: I am surprised to see the card doesn’t offer free access to Air France KLM lounges in Toronto and Montreal!
Insurance
The card features the following insurance:
- Out of Province/Country Emergency Medical Insurance (up to 15 days for hose under age 65, 3 days for 65+)
- Trip Cancellation Insurance
- Trip Interruption Insurance
- Flight Delay Insurance
- Baggage Delay Insurance
- Lost or Stolen Baggage Insurance
- Car Rental Theft and Damage Insurance (up to $85,000 MSRP)
- Hotel Burglary Insurance
- Travel Accident Insurance
- Purchase Protection Plan
- Buyer’s Assurance Protection Plan
- Mobile Device Insurance
- Event Ticket Protector Insurance
Redeeming
Air France KLM Flying Blue uses a dynamic redemption model which means the amount of miles you redeem for flights will vary based on the cash price of tickets. They do however publish what the mileage starting points are and with the news that Rewards Canada broke in August that AF KLM dropped the economy class base level to only 15,000 miles one way (including your first checked bag!) from Canada to Europe, Turkey and North Africa, it makes the earning on this new card very compelling!
Remember you can also redeem Flying Blue miles on WestJet flights, and SkyTeam partners that fly to Canada such as Delta Airlines and Korean Air.
Wrapping it up
This is a super exciting development in the airline credit card space. The Air France KLM World Elite MasterCard® powered by Brim Financial has come out hitting hard and in our minds is one of the break out cards of the year. The only thing missing is bonus miles as part of the welcome offer. Other than that the first year fee, elite status credits that get you more than half way to Silver, very good earn rates coupled with excellent redemption rates make this niche card one to watch out for! You basically get this card for the earn and burn plus keeping your miles from expiring.