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Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard Review

overall rating
3.6

Premium rewards applicable to a variety of airlines

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The Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard from Bank of America is the airline's only co-branded credit card available in North America. It has an $89 annual fee and offers 3 miles per $1 spent on purchases with Air France, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, and other SkyTeam alliance airlines. There are also multiple easily earned bonus opportunities, including a one-time offer plus annual ones, some automatic and some based on spending.

Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard®

Overall Rating
3.6
Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard®
On Bank of America's Secured Site.
Current Offer

Limited-Time Offer: get a $100 Statement Credit PLUS 50,000 Bonus Miles after you make $2,000 or more in purchases within the first 90 days of your account opening.

Recommended Credit
Score Our recommended ranges are based off of the FICO® Score 8 credit-scoring model. Credit score is one of the many factors lenders review in considering your application.
350 579
580 669
670 739
740 799
800 850
Good - Excellent
Regular APR (%) 16.24% - 24.24% variable
Annual Fee $89
Rewards Earning Rate 3 Miles per $1 spent directly on Air France, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and SkyTeam member airlines purchases and 1.5 Miles per $1 spent on all other purchases.
Balance Transfer Fee Either $10 or 3% of the amount of each transaction, whichever is greater.
Foreign transaction fee (%) 0%
how this card stacks up
When compared among all rewards cards in our database:
Rewards
Benefits
Low Fees
Security/Customer Experience
Low Interest
worst best

The Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard is not one of our top-rated airline credit cards. You can review our list of the best airline credit cards for what we think are better options.

Full Review of Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard

Pros
  • Premium rewards for purchases from any of 20 airlines

  • Significant one-time bonus offer

  • Anniversary bonus

Cons
  • Lacks benefits, even on Air France and KLM

Pros Explained

  • Premium rewards for purchases from any of 20 airlines: You can earn this card’s best rewards of 3 miles per $1 with many more airlines than the two that are in its name. Air France and KLM are part of the SkyTeam alliance of 20 airlines, and you can earn that premium rate for purchases with any of them. That means you can earn the same number of miles for purchases from Delta, say, as from Air France. You can also use miles to buy or upgrade tickets not only across the SkyTeam alliance but in a still-larger one: Flying Blue, the joint loyalty program for Air France and KLM. While you earn the card’s 3-miles-per-$1 rate only from SkyTeam airlines, you can spend Flying Blue miles for flights with that program’s 35 airline partners.
  • Significant one-time bonus offer: This card’s one-time mileage offer is easy to earn and represents an excellent return on spending. If you spend at least $2,000 in 90 days, you'll receive 70,000 bonus miles and 40 Experience Points. Based on a valuation of 1.54 cents per mile, we estimate the value of that to be $1,078 when used to buy flights. Upon approval for the card, you receive 60 Experience Points (XP) in addition to the 40 earned for spending. Customarily earned by flying, these points help you to earn elite status. If you earn the spending bonus, you'll have the 100 XP needed to reach Silver status, which earns you benefits such as priority check-in, seat discounts, a boost in your mileage-earning rate with the program, and a free checked bag.
  • Anniversary bonus: This card also provides an annual bonus. Every year on your card anniversary you receive 5,000 bonus miles, provided you’ve charged at least $50 to the card over the previous year. Worth an estimated $80 when used to get flights, this bonus nearly equals the value of the card’s $89 annual fee.

Cons Explained

  • Lacks benefits, even with Air France and KLM: Co-branded airline cards that charge an annual fee, as this one does, typically come with a number of benefits, including those with their co-branded carrier or carriers, such as free checked bags or discounts on in-flight purchases. But the only travel-related benefit offered by the Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard is that, like many travel cards, it doesn't charge foreign transaction fees. The card also lacks any other benefits of note, except the ability to use the card for overdraft protection if you also have a bank account with Bank of America, the card's issuer.

Who This Card Is Best For

The Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard is an unusually good choice for customers not only of Air France or KLM Royal Dutch Airlines but of many other carriers. In part, that’s because air purchases made with this card earn a generous 3 miles per $1 spent at any of the 20 carriers of the SkyTeam alliance, including Delta. And the miles you earn with the card, and from flights, can be redeemed with an even-larger number of Air France/KLM Fly-Blue partners.

Those who travel (or use the card) only occasionally can still justify the annual fee of the Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard with relatively little spending. For about $520 or less in purchases cardholders can cover the value of the annual fee with the miles earned. The $5,000 anniversary bonus already covers $77 dollars of value. Taking this into account, you'd achieve $89 of value by meeting about $520 of annual spending. This assumes you are earning 1.5 miles per $1 spent. If you're earning 3 miles per $1 spent with SkyTeam airlines on some or all of your purchases, you can cover the annual fee with less spending.

Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard One-Time Offer

You receive 70,000 bonus miles and 40 XP after spending $2,000 or more within the first 90 days after you open the card’s account. We value the bonus miles at $1,078 when redeemed for flight purchases through Air France, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, SkyTeam, and Flying Blue partner airlines.

Upon card approval, you'll also receive 60 XP, for a possible total of 100 XP.

Rewards Earning Details

You earn 3 miles per $1 spent on flights booked directly with Air France, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, and on purchases made directly with any airline members of SkyTeam. You earn 1.5 miles per $1 spent on all other purchases. In addition to its initial bonus offer, this card offers some ongoing annual bonus opportunities. As long as your account is active, you'll get 5,000 miles each year after making $50 in purchases, a benefit that alone is worth $77.

In order to earn miles and XP, you must be a member of the Flying Blue program. If you aren't already a member of the program, you'll be enrolled when you sign up for this card.

Rewards Redemption Details

Miles can be redeemed towards flights with Air France, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, or any of the 35 airline partners of those two carriers in the Flying Blue program, which include Delta Airlines and Virgin Atlantic.

You can also spend Flying Blue miles directly with a number of hotels, car rentals, and retail merchants who are partners in the program. You can also spend them for museums and other experiences in France and the Netherlands. 

All that said, keep in mind that you’ll generally get the best value by redeeming miles for flights. We value each Flying Blue mile at an average of 1.54 cents when used to book air travel. 

How to Maximize Your Rewards

In order to make the most of this card, first spend the $2,000 necessary within the first 90 days of opening an account in order to earn the 70,000-mile bonus, which we estimate is worth $1,078 when used for flights on Air France, KLM, and their airline partners.

Next, use your card to earn 3 miles per $1 spent on direct flight purchases with Air France, KLM, and their fellow members of the SkyTeam airline alliance. You can, of course, also use this card for other purchases, too. At 1.5 miles per $1, this spending earns you a passable 2.4 cents per $1 when used for flights.

Finally, spend enough on this card annually to earn the anniversary mile bonus. That should be easy to do as you only need to spend $50 to earn the $5,000 anniversary bonus.

Average Case

Let’s assume that you only use this card for flight and hotel purchases for intermittent travel. We’ll say you take two return trips per year to Paris from the U.S. on Air France and spend $560 per round-trip flight. Further, let’s say you spend two nights in a hotel on each trip, at $150 per night.

Overall, you'd earn 4,260 miles on this card. At a value of 1.54 cents each when used for flights, those miles have an estimated value of about $66. (However, keep in mind that these purchases would also qualify you for the 5,000 miles bonus, worth $77, when you spend at least $50 a year on the card. You would also of course earn the normal Flying Blue miles for taking your flights that all program members earn.

Aspirational Case

Frequent travelers will naturally earn bigger benefits with this card, as will those who use the card regularly for other spending. Let's assume that you double the travel schedule above, using the card to purchase four round-trip flights per year and staying in a hotel for two nights per trip. As in the scenario above, we'll estimate that each round-trip flight costs an average of $560, while each hotel stay costs an average of $150 per night. Doubling the earnings detailed above, those purchases would earn you 8,520 miles, worth an estimated $131.

Let's further assume that you also charge $16,000 to the card per year for various daily living expenses—such as food, gas, clothing, entertainment, and personal care. Those miscellaneous purchases, which earn 1.5 miles per $1 spent, would yield a further 24,000 miles, which, at 1.54 cents apiece, would be worth about $370 when used for flights.

Overall, you'd earn 32,520 miles on this card worth $501. (However, once again, keep in mind that these purchases would also qualify you for the 5,000 miles bonus, worth $77 when you spend at least $50 a year on the card. You would also of course earn the normal Flying Blue miles for taking your flights that all program members earn.

Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard Outstanding Benefits

  • Overdraft protection if you also have a Bank of America bank account

Standard Benefits

  • $0 liability guarantee
  • Online and mobile banking
  • Paperless statements
  • Chip-enabled card
  • Free monthly FICO score
  • Digital wallet technology

Cardholder Experience

Bank of America, which issues the Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard ranked third out 11 card issuers in J.D. Power’s 2022 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study. The bank's score was a few points above average.

Bank of America offers mobile apps for iOS and Android. These apps allow for account access in general, including the ability to keep track of credit card transactions. Scored out of a possible 5 by users, Bank of America’s mobile app has a score of 4.8 stars in the Apple App Store and 4.6 stars on Google Play as of May 2023.

Security Features

Bank of America offers a host of standard security features on its cards, including fraud monitoring, account alerts, and zero liability for fraudulent purchases.

This card comes with chip technology, digital wallet technology, overdraft protection, and online and mobile banking.

Final Verdict

The Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard offers unusual versatility in the travel providers—especially the airlines—from whom you can earn and spend the miles you earn using the card. In addition, the card’s ongoing annual mileage reward for very minimal spending brings instant value in exchange for the card’s annual fee, which may make this a good option, even for those that typically prefer an annual fee-free card.

However, the card isn't an entirely well-rounded travel card that offers benefits to help make flying more comfortable and convenient. For that reason, you’ll probably want to pair the Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard with at least one other general travel card that fills in the features it lacks.

Compare This Card
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CURRENT CARD
Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard®
overall rating
3.6
Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard®
Recommended Credit
Score Our recommended ranges are based off of the FICO® Score 8 credit-scoring model. Credit score is one of the many factors lenders review in considering your application.
350 579
580 669
670 739
740 799
800 850
Good - Excellent
Regular APR (%) 16.24% - 24.24% variable
Annual Fee $89
Rewards Earning Rate 3 Miles per $1 spent directly on Air France, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and SkyTeam member airlines purchases and 1.5 Miles per $1 spent on all other purchases.
Investopedia Credit Card Rating Methodology
Investopedia is committed to delivering the best credit card recommendations in the industry. We’ll tell you when a card is good, we’ll tell you when a card is bad, and we’ll only call a card the best if we would recommend it to our friends or family members.
Overall Star Rating Explained
To rate credit cards we objectively assess, score and weight nearly 100 individual card features which roll up into five major feature sets: fees, interest, rewards, benefits and security/customer service. Here’s how we weighted those feature sets for the overall star rating of a card:
We have applied our proprietary rating methodology to every generally-accepted credit card in the U.S. domestic market to allow consumers to make fully informed choices. It’s important to note that for our overall score that we make a number of assumptions about how you would be using your credit card:
  1. While we make no assumption as to whether balances are carried on a given card we do assign varying weights to all credit cards’ introductory APR (if present) in addition to the regular, long term purchase and balance transfer interest rates.
  2. We utilize BLS (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) income and average category spending data to calculate annual earnings rates for rewards cards that offer cash back, points or miles rewards at a set rate on all spending or in consideration of bonus rewards for certain spending categories, like gasoline, groceries, restaurants or travel.
  3. We determine the maximum points value of rewards cards by dividing the points, cash back or miles required to exchange for the retail price of the most valuable redemption option (for example, in the case of a card that offers a domestic roundtrip airline ticket as a redemption option vs. another redemption option of lesser value that requires the same amount of points or miles to acquire, we would base the rewards value on the airline ticket).
  • Cards that are selected best overall in their respective categories generally feature most if not all of the following attributes:
  • Low or Reasonable Fees Credit card fees come in many forms but the primary ones involve those for annual card membership and balance transfer. There are a myriad of reward and non-reward card options that charge no annual fee but for the many that do assess an annual fee the cost is often justified by their lucrative ongoing rewards and initial signup bonuses. Balance transfer fees are occasionally waived during introductory periods with certain cards, a factor which is heavily and positively weighted in our scoring model for cards offering this benefit. When charged, balance transfer fees range between 3% - 5%, which we grade accordingly. Other standard fees can generally be avoided, such as those for paying late or taking cash advances but we rate those relative to other cards in the market for reference, though with less weight assigned
  • Competitive Interest Many cards offer 0% introductory APR on purchases and balance transfers for varying lengths and then revert to a permanent or regular APR (based on a variable rate tied to the prime rate) that applies to any balances not paid in full. We rate both introductory APR percentage and length (in months) along with the midpoint of the variable regular APR interest rate range.
  • Valuable Rewards Credit card reward programs can be based on cash back, points or travel rewards (which can be generic or travel partner-specific, as with airline and hotel co-brand card programs). For cards that offer rewards we determine the value per dollar spent along with average redemption values and assign more favorable ratings to cards that offer superior consumer value. We also assign value to sign-up bonus offers and their initial spending requirements, when present.
  • Excellent Benefits Credit card benefits cover a range of offerings like concierge service, TSA Pre-check, auto rental coverage, travel accident insurance, lost luggage assistance and free credit scores. We rate cards on the number and level of over a dozen standard and upscale benefits and provide extra weighting emphasis for those travel-related perks that apply to premium travel cards when present.
  • Solid Security/Customer Service Security and customer service features like lost or stolen card replacement, being able to lock one’s card from an issuer app and 24 hour customer support are becoming more standard across the card market and we provide a significant amount of weighting to features in this area.
  • You can also read the full version of our methodology for a more in-depth look at how we assess cards and award them the best in various categories.