THIS OFFER IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE
A great new welcome bonus has been released for the Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard! When you apply for the card during the month of May and are approved you will receive Flying Blue Silver Elite Status for one year and not pay an annual fee in the first year! This is perfect for anyone who may have or is planning upcoming flights with the either of the two airlines this summer and beyond! By getting the card now you’ll be able to get a higher level of comfort on those travels over the next 12 months.
Receive Flying Blue Silver Elite Status for one year
When you apply for the card by May 31 and are approved you’ll receive Flying Blue Silver Elite Status. The bonus is awarded as 100XP which will be credited to the account holder’s Flying Blue account before July 1, 2023. The Elite status will last for 12 months from the date it is officially applied to your account. For example, if the Silver Elite status is added to your Flying Blue account on June 5, 2023 you’ll have the status until June 5, 2024.
May 3 Update: We have received confirmation from Air France KLM and Brim that the card will also retain the first year annual fee waiver as well! So not only do you get 100XP you won’t have to pay the $132 annual fee in the first year either!
What does Silver Elite Status provide?
Flying Blue Silver Elite Status provides the following benefits:
- Earn 2 extra Miles per euro spent on Air France KLM flights (6 in total) versus Explorer status
- 50% bonus miles on SkyTeam flights
- Priority check-in, baggage drop-off and boarding
- Some free seat options 24 hours before departure
- Free selection of standard seats
- One free extra checked baggage item on SkyTeam flights
- 25% discount on SkyTeam airport lounge access
What does the Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard provide?
In addition to receiving Flying Blue Silver Elite status as your welcome bonus the Air France KLM Flying Blue World Elite Mastercard provides the following:
- Earn an additional 5 Miles per Euro when booking flights with Air France or KLM
- Earn 1 Mile per C$ spent on all purchases;
- Earn 2 Miles per C$ spent on food and beverages;
- Earn up to 30 Miles per $C spent with selected retail partners;
- Purchases with your Air France KLM World Elite MasterCard® extend the validity of your Miles by 2 years.
- An additional 30XP at card renewal (anniversary bonus)
- Mastercard Travel Pass provided by DragonPass lounge access membership
- Free global Boingo Wi-Fi
- Strong travel insurance including out of province emergency medical insurance, flight delay, trip cancellation/interruption and more
The 5 miles per Euro spent on tickets with Air France or KLM from the card earned on top of the 6 miles you’ll earn as a Silver Elite member meaning you’ll earn a total of 11 Flying Miles per Euro. Plus you’ll still earn the 1 mile per C$ spent on those flights.
The card has an $132 annual fee and requires $80,000 personal or $150,000 household income to be considered.
Recommended reading: Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard® Review
The value from Silver Elite Status
Silver Elite Status is the first Elite status level within the Flying Blue program and can provide some substantial cost and time savings when it comes to flying with Air France and KLM.
Standard Seats at no charge
When you book your flights with Air France or KLM you’ll be able to reserve standard seats right away for no charge. Standard seats from Canada to Europe run nearly $38 per person each way ($76 round trip). Here is an example of seat selection fees for a Flying Blue member between Paris and Montreal:
If you are someone who doesn’t like to leave where you are sitting on the plane up to chance, this benefit alone is worthwhile since you can have the peace of mind knowing you have selected seats that you want and like!
Then 24 hours prior to departure you can select front section, extra legroom or duo/2 person seats at no extra charge. From the above example you can see that this will provide even extra savings of nearly another $30 per direction.
One free extra checked baggage item
Next up are cost and time savings at the airport! Silver Elite status provides one free extra checked baggage item on flights with Air France KLM and SkyTeam airlines. If we take the same flight example as above you are looking at $81 for the first checked bag between Montreal and Paris for each direction:
By having the Silver Elite status you’ll save $162 in checked bag fees for the round trip flight! Combine the seat selection fees and these checked bag fees and you’ll have saved a total $245 – not bad for a card that costs $132!
In a nutshell, by having the Silver Elite status you can book the cheapest economy class fare and your status will give you the benefits that would be found on the next higher economy fare class except for ticket change fees. For example you could book Economy Light vs. Economy Standard on Air France.
Priority Airport services
The next benefits will provide valuable time savings at the airport! When you check in for your flight you will receive priority check in and baggage drop off. Just like those flying in business or first class do! Then once you are through security and get to the gate you’ll have more time to get prepared on board your flight as you’ll receive priority boarding.
The best frequent flyer program for Transatlantic economy class flights out of Canada
By getting the Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard not only are you receiving the Silver Elite status but you will also be collecting many more miles for the program that Rewards Canada considers the best for Transatlantic economy class flights out of Canada. On top of that Flying Blue is no slouch when it comes to business class reward flights either !
Recommended reading: Confirmed! Air France KLM Flying Blue’s 15,000/20,000 mile Transatlantic redemptions are here to stay
You can redeem Flying Blue miles for reward tickets on Air France and KLM flights out of Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City or anywhere the two airlines and their partners fly in the world. Those 30+ partners include WestJet, Delta Airlines, Korean Air and all the SkyTeam Alliance airlines.
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 the starting point for each region as follows:
This is the minimum redemption level for flights between Eastern Canada and Europe (as well as Turkey and North Africa) is only 15,000 miles one way, while rewards start at 20,000 miles one way from Western Canada. In our research there tends to be a good amount of availability at those lowest levels. Overall. this means you only need 30,000 to 40,000 Flying Blue miles for a round trip Transatlantic economy class flight. The same thing with competing airlines? You are looking at 50,000 to 70,000 miles/points round trip – and in most cases with those programs you have to pay for your first checked bag while Flying Blue reward tickets includes your first checked bag!
Examples of the 15,000 and 20,000 mile rewards:
It is with these 15,000 and 20,000 mile flights that Rewards Canada considers Flying Blue the best program for Transatlantic economy class flights out of Canada!
You can also book free stopovers on Flying Blue rewards tickets flown on Air France or KLM. That pretty much means a free stopover in Amsterdam or Paris on flights out of Canada. These stopovers are available on all reward tickets – even those that are only 15,000 miles! They can utilized on both one way or round trip rewards. The only caveat right now for booking the stopovers is that you have to call Flying Blue to book you reward tickets as the option is not yet available for online bookings.
Flying Blue is also famous for their monthly Promo Rewards offers. These are discounted reward tickets on select routes around the globe. Those discounts range from 20% to 50% off. These Promo Rewards also count on those low 15,000 mile redemptions – for example Montreal to Europe was recently available at 50% off for Economy Class which put a one way flight at an amazing 7,500 miles!! You will not find lower redemption amounts across the pond than this!
Promo Rewards Update: As of today (May 1, 2023) this month includes 25% off the miles required for business class flights on KLM between Montreal and Europe! Check them out here.
Wrapping it up
Air France KLM and Brim have come out with an amazing new welcome bonus offer on their Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard. When you apply for the card this month and are approved for it you will receive automatic Flying Blue Silver Elite Status! Silver Elite Status will give you a higher level of comfort and value when you fly with Air France or KLM. From seat selection and baggage savings to priority boarding and earning extra Flying Blue miles, you’ll save time and money with just this one credit card.
Click here to learn more and to apply for the Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard.
Note: Applications must be submitted by 23:59 ET on May 31, 23 to receive this offer
This was sponsored by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. The views and opinions expressed in this article, however, are purely those of Rewards Canada.