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This month, Capital One is offering a 20% transfer bonus to Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles. Instead of a 1:1 transfer ratio, the ratio is now 1:1.2 through 4:59 a.m. EDT on December 1, 2021. So for every 1000 Capital One miles, you get 1200 Flying Blue miles.
I own the Capital One Venture Rewards card, and I have some Capital One miles available. I normally don’t participate in transfer bonuses, but I’m strongly considering this one. (Also note that Amex has a 25% transfer bonus from Membership Rewards to Flying Blue through November 30, 2021. I don’t have any MR points at this time to transfer).
Why I’m Tempted
A few months ago, I used Flying Blue miles to book my family on business class seats to Europe. Miraculously, I was able to book six seats (my family members plus one) on the same nonstop flight to Paris! The flights cost 56,000 miles plus $222 in taxes and fees each. To get the Flying Blue miles, my husband and I transferred Chase Ultimate Rewards to Flying Blue. We also transferred some Marriott points and Capital One miles to get all the points we needed.
While we already have our round-trips flights for this European vacation happening in Summer 2022, we are already planning on another European vacation in 2023. In fact, both my husband and I applied for and were approved for the Bank of America Air France World Elite Mastercard (see this post). My hope is that we can repeat our luck with Air France and secure seats for that 2023 trip as well.
The Downside to Jumping on the Transfer Bonus
The big downside in transferring my Capital One miles now is that my plans are not solid. I can’t book award flights for at least 8 months. A lot can happen in that time. My plans may change. Air France may eliminate routes, increase award costs or decrease availability. Once I transfer those miles over, I can’t get them back. I would lose the flexibility I have by keeping them in the Capital One program.
The good news is that I have a month to think about what to do. Are you planning on taking advantage of the current Flying Blue transfer bonus offered by Capital One and American Express?
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Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
I can totally relate to the feeling. I was feeling the same way about the MR to BA transfer. In the end I didn’t transfer as my best use for Avios is short on AA.
With AA being so unpredictable and with them opening up the most availability to their web specials versus their partners, I didn’t take advantage of the offer.
My new predicament is trying to determine if a speculative transfer of ThankYou points over to AA by the cut which is in about 10 days or so, is worth it.
Web specials on AA is the best way to secure award seating vs their partners…but AA may devalue the program even further before I can burn the miles.
Decisions, decisions.
@2808 Heavy I’ve had really good luck with AA web specials lately. But who knows if that will continue? Good luck with your decision.