Two ‘buy miles’ bonuses currently running – with Etihad Guest and Flying Blue

Etihad is currently offering up to 30% discount when you buy Etihad Guest miles.  This is a chance to top up your account if you are a little short of a redemption.

The discount is staggered:

Buy 6,000 – 20,000 points = 10% discount
Buy 21,000 – 40,000 points = 20% discount
Buy 41,000 – 60,000 points = 30% discount

The offer ends on 23rd December.  The page to buy is here.

Flying Blue, the Air France / KLM loyalty programme, is also running a bonus promotion for anyone who is looking to top up their account.

This offer is the best we have seen for a while for anyone who wants to buy a large number of Flying Blue miles – 75% is very good by their standards.

Again, the discount is staggered:

Buy 4,000 – 8,000 miles = 50% bonus
Buy 10,000 – 28,000 miles = 60% bonus
Buy 30,000 – 75,000 miles = 75% bonus

The annual ‘buy miles’ cap depends on your status level – 75,000 miles for Explorer members or unlimited for elite members. Bonus miles are exempt during promotional periods and the maximum you can buy pre-bonus in this promotion is 75,000 miles.

75,000 miles, the annual cap for a non elite member, + 75% means you are paying €2,062 for 131,250 miles.  That is 1.57 Eurocents per mile.

Is that a good deal? Well, Flying Blue is not exactly well regarded amongst European frequent flyer programmes. However it does have regular ‘50% discount’ sales on some routes.

The Flying Blue ‘buy miles’ page is here.  The offer runs until 14th January.

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.