Some you win … important updates to recent Flying Blue and Accor articles

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

Here are two important bits of news on deals I have covered this week.

Number 1 – The generous transfer rate from Accor to Iberia Avios

As I wrote here, this deal is back after a hiatus of a few days. However, Accor has now confirmed that it will end on 28th February and the Iberia transfer rate will align with the BA one. If you have any Accor points, try to transfer them before the end of next month.

Number 2 – The Flying Blue status match

Flying Blue has now changed the terms and conditions of the status match I posted about here. Instead of running until May and having no restrictions on eligibility, it now says:

Flying Blue offer is valid until 28 February, 2013 and is only valid for Danish residents

The alternative versions restrict it to Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish residents.

So, you now have two options if you want to take part.

1. Find a friend who lives in Denmark, Norway, Sweden or Finland who will let you use their address

2. Use this rather cheeky method which I outlined in my original post:

1. Create a false Danish street address in your Flying Blue profile

2. Let them match you – the card will be mailed to your fake Danish address, but will take months to be ‘returned to sender’

3. Change your address to your UK address, and request a replacement card from them (not sure if this can be done online, but most airlines let you do it via their website)

It remains to be seen what will happen to people who applied before they changed the rules and the closing date.

How to earn Flying Blue miles from UK credit cards (December 2021)

Air France and KLM do not have a UK Flying Blue credit card. However, you can earn Flying Blue miles by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards. These are:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 20,000 Flying Blue miles. This card is FREE for your first year and also comes with two free airport lounge passes.

The Platinum Card from American Express (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 30,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 30,000 Flying Blue miles

American Express Rewards credit card (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 5,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 5,000 Flying Blue miles. This card is FREE for life.

Membership Rewards points convert at 1:1 into Flying Blue miles which is an attractive rate. The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, which converts to 1 Flying Blue mile. The Gold card earns double points (2 per £1) on all flights you charge to it.

Category

Accor Live Limitless, Air France KLM and Flying Blue, Hilton Honors

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Keith says:

26 Jan26 January 09:01

I have a few Platinum family member Accor accounts with 2k points in each, from the Discovery Tour promo last year. I can’t transfer points out, I believe, until an account has 1 stay, or hit 4k points.
I was planning on sitting on them until either another promo came along, or I could credit some stays to the accounts. Any ideas now how to do either of these faster given the end date of the Iberia bonus?
- Sandgrounder says:
  
  26 Jan26 January 14:37
  
  Go to flyertalk on the link below and follow the instructions in post #183:
  
  http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/le-club-accorhotels/1398022-up-2000-easy-points-facebook-contest-13.html
  
  It gives you details of how to activate immediate transfer to any airline partner via a BAEC promo link. Follow the instructions and you should have your points in a few days.
  - Alan says:
    
    26 Jan26 January 15:25
    
    Thanks for that link to your post. I tried it previously but it hadn’t worked – however this time I received an email confirmation, fingers-crossed there’ll be a points sweep tomorrow morning!! (have 2.5k Accor points from the promos to be used up)
    - Alan says:
      
      27 Jan27 January 10:10
      
      Major thanks again, Sandgrounder – email confirmation received this morning from Accor – 2,500 points converted into 6,250 IB Avios – result!! 😀
      - Sandgrounder says:
        
        29 Jan29 January 07:54
        
        Get in! Shame the rate is going though 🙁
  - Keith says:
    
    27 Jan27 January 02:20
    
    That’s plain awesome. Thanks so much. Lot’s of kudos.
  - Aoife says:
    
    27 Jan27 January 13:22
    
    Thanks very much for this post, very very useful!
gagravarr says:

26 Jan26 January 11:31

The Iberia rate is dropping, but I think it’ll still be higher than the BA / Avios one. The Accor rep said “The conversion rate has indeed changed: from the 1st March 2013, 3000 Le Club by Accorhotels points = 3000 Avios.” BA and Avios avios are two LeClub to one avios, so half what it’ll be
- Raffles says:
  
  26 Jan26 January 14:56
  
  I am waiting until I see this online before mentioning it. Hard to believe IB has agreed a new long term deal at a different rate to BA!
TravelBloggerBuzz says:

28 Jan28 January 01:52

Good comprehensive post on these recent deals, I am sure my readers will appreciate mentioning it. Thanks!
Jason Thorpe says:

31 Jan31 January 11:34

The Flying Blue promotion has been closed. Pity as I just changed my address to a Scandinavian one after my application (UK address) looks like it has been ignored. I have e-mailed FB but will not hold my breath…
Ben E says:

6 Feb6 February 17:27

Damn! Still waiting for my Etihad Gold card to come through as I was going to try to match that (there didn’t seem to be any mention that the matched airline had to be in an alliance).

Any other matches on the go? I’ve read that nobody’s had success so far in 2013 with Turkish…