A Couple of Ways To Use the 20K Membership Reward Amex Offer for Air France – Last Chance!

Tomorrow is the final day of a really great Amex Offer – earn 20,000 Membership Reward points for spending $1,000 or more on Air France. The great thing is that it just does not have to be on Air France flights and it does not have to originate in the US. Those two things are often requirements for other Amex Offers on airlines but not on this one!

I had already saved it so I do not know if it is still available to save to your card(s) or not.

Couple of Ways to Use the 20K Membership Reward Amex Offer for Air France

Link: Amex Offer Post for Air France Deal

So, this deal expires tomorrow which means your tickets have to be booked – not flown – by tomorrow. Not only do they need to be booked, but they need to be charged to get the credit from Amex. That part is not too difficult as airlines will charge the card when they ticket the reservation and that all typically happens within a couple of hours.

This offer basically equates to earning 21 Membership Reward points per dollar if you spend just over the $1,000 mark. That is incredible! So, how should you use it?

Unfortunately, Air France’s website does not sell gift cards. But, they do let you book flights on partner airlines like Delta, Alitalia, and, of course, KLM. Not only that, but your flight does not have to originate in the US. The only requirements for this offer are:

“Offer valid only for purchases made directly with airfrance.us online or via the Air France mobile app.”

So, if you can find the reservation at the airfrance.us website, you are all set! If you are nervous at all or find that it may send you to a different country version of Air France, just use the app as any purchases made directly through the app will work as well. Here are a couple of suggestions to help you get the most out of this awesome deal before it is too late.

How To Get The Most Out Of This Offer

Originate in Europe

While we have seen some pretty good deals from the US to Europe, there are consistently great deals that originate in Europe to the US. This is especially true with some airports in Italy, Oslo, Athens, and some other cities. It is pretty common to find prices under $500 from some of these airports to JFK and other airports.

Mix Classes

This works better if you originate in Europe again, but it is entirely possible to mix business class with economy to get some great rates. When I was playing around, I found business class on Delta from Athens to JFK for $1,065 and the return segment in coach for $203. If you wanted, you could dump the return and you have Delta business class from Athens to JFK (the longest route that Delta flies from Europe to NYC) for under $1,300 – and 20,000 Membership Reward points (which could easily be worth at least 2 cents per point). Not bad!

Mix classes to get a better deal on business class for a direction

You could also do it in the reverse – book one leg in economy to the US and then book business class back. It would be a good way to rack up some miles and get a really nice ride back to Europe in the future. This is generally a much cheaper way to book a business class ticket that departs from the US.

Individual Tickets / Separate Trips

Remember, this is for a minimum of $1,000 spent in one or more transactions. That means it does not have to be one trip. So, you could mix and match from above or even book separate trips – book a trip to Europe, use Air France to fly someplace in the world that they or a partner flies, return to Europe – whatever you need to get to the $1,000.

If you have some travel coming up, it would be worth an extra $100-200 (maybe more, depending on your value of Amex points) to book with this offer. If you have the Amex Business Platinum card, you can pay with points for business/first class and get 50% of the points used returned to you (or if you book coach on your airline choice). That turns this into a $400 rebate of sorts! Not too bad!

Takeaway

I certainly am not saying to just drop $1,000 if you have no travel plans just to get 20,000 MR points. But, here are a couple of suggestions that may help you figure out the best way to use your travels to hit that $1k amount to earn the 20,000 Membership Reward points before it is too late. Remember, this expires April 14, 2017!