25% Amex Transfer Bonus to Flying Blue= Cheap Business Class and Delta One-way Awards
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
Thru February 29, 2012 you can get a 25% bonus on American Express Membership Rewards points transferred to Flying Blue (the frequent flyer program of Air France and KLM).
The Flying Blue program isn't great normally - while they have a reasonable award chart (50,000 miles roundtrip for coach to Europe and 100,000 miles for business), their fees and fuel surcharges can easily cost more than the price of a coach ticket. Therefore, I rarely recommend booking through them - generally it makes sense to transfer to Delta, unless you need a one-way award, which Delta charges the same price as a roundtrip.
However, you can get huge value out of this special 25% transfer bonus, especially when taking advantage of:
1) Promo awards, especially in business class and to far destinations like Istanbul and Tel Aviv. Note: you need to leave from the city listed in the chart and transit via Amsterdam (KLM) or Paris (Air France). However, you don't need to end in either of those cities - you can go anywhere in Europe 1/2/3 and flying Blue classifies Tel Aviv as part of Europe 3! In the example below I was able to pull up a promo award from JFK to Istanbul one way in business class for 25,000 miles and $362. That's 20,000 Amex and $362 for a $5,000+ flight! Granted, I would never pay that much, but you still get the point.
Check out this guide for details on booking Promo Awards
2) Intra US awards on Delta has low fees. Plus you can book one-way awards for half the price of a roundtrip - Delta charges the same price as roundtrip to their own Skymiles members.
3) Delta awards to South America - low fees
If you need a Flying Blue account, you can get one here for free. AirFrance.us isn't perfect and I noticed several times that after a bunch of searches it starts to go insane and produce wacky results (kind of like delta.com). I recommend closing out of your browser and starting fresh again.
If you want to get a Membership Rewards credit card, the best offers right now are private referrals - 50,000 points for the Platinum Card after $3,000 spend in 3 months ($450 annual fee) and 25,000 for Premier Rewards Gold after $2,000 spend in 3 months ($175 annual fee, waived the first year). Email me at info @ thepointsguy.com and use subject AMEX REFERRAL if you need a referral or ask someone you know who has the card and tell them to go to Americanexpress.com/refer. If they get an error, tell them to log-out of their Amex account and try again.
[card card-name='Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express' card-id='22034414' type='javascript' bullet-id='1']
TPG featured card
at American Express's secure site
Terms & restrictions apply. See rates & fees.
| 3X | Earn 3X Miles on Delta purchases. |
| 1X | Earn 1X Miles on all other eligible purchases. |
Pros
- Delta SkyClub access when flying Delta
- Annual companion ticket for travel on Delta (upon renewal)
- Ability to earn MQDs through spending
- Various statement credits for eligible purchases
Cons
- Steep annual fee of $650
- Other Delta cobranded cards offer superior earning categories
- Earn 100,000 Bonus Miles after you spend $6,000 or more in purchases with your new Card within the first 6 months of Card Membership and an additional 25,000 bonus miles after you make an additional $3,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 6 months, starting from the date that your account is opened. Offer Ends 04/01/2026.
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card Members receive 15 Visits per Medallion® Year to the Delta Sky Club® when flying Delta and can unlock an unlimited number of Visits after spending $75,000 in purchases on your Card in a calendar year. Plus, you’ll receive four One-Time Guest Passes each Medallion Year so you can share the experience with family and friends when traveling Delta together.
- Enjoy complimentary access to The Centurion® Lounge in the U.S. and select international locations (as set forth on the Centurion Lounge Website), Sidecar by The Centurion® Lounge in the U.S. (see the Centurion Lounge Website for more information on Sidecar by The Centurion® Lounge availability), and Escape Lounges when flying on a Delta flight booked with the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card. § To access Sidecar by The Centurion® Lounge, Card Members must arrive within 90 minutes of their departing flight (including layovers). To access The Centurion® Lounge, Card Members must arrive within 3 hours of their departing flight. Effective July 8, 2026, during a layover, Card Members must arrive within 5 hours of the connecting flight.
- Receive $2,500 Medallion® Qualification Dollars with MQD Headstart each Medallion Qualification Year and earn $1 MQD for each $10 in purchases on your Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card with MQD Boost to get closer to Status next Medallion Year.
- Enjoy a Companion Certificate on a Delta First, Delta Comfort, or Delta Main round-trip flight to select destinations each year after renewal of your Card. The Companion Certificate requires payment of government-imposed taxes and fees of between $22 and $250 (for itineraries with up to four flight segments). Baggage charges and other restrictions apply. Delta Basic experiences are not eligible for this benefit.
- $240 Resy Credit: When you use your Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card for eligible purchases with U.S. Resy restaurants, you can earn up to $20 each month in statement credits. Enrollment required.
- $120 Rideshare Credit: Earn up to $10 back in statement credits each month after you use your Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card to pay for U.S. rideshare purchases with select providers. Enrollment required.
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card Members get 15% off when using miles to book Award Travel on Delta flights through delta.com and the Fly Delta app. Discount not applicable to partner-operated flights or to taxes and fees.
- With your Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card, receive upgrade priority over others with the same Medallion tier, product and fare experience purchased, and Million Miler milestone when you fly with Delta.
- Earn 3X Miles on Delta purchases and earn 1X Miles on all other eligible purchases.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees. Enjoy international travel without additional fees on purchases made abroad.
- $650 Annual Fee.
- Apply with confidence. Know if you're approved for a Card with no impact to your credit score. If you're approved and you choose to accept this Card, your credit score may be impacted.
- Terms Apply.
- See Rates & Fees