Flying Blue (SkyTeam) status match – your last chance!
Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.
If you have top-tier status with British Airways or indeed any other oneworld, Star Alliance or non-alliance airline, you have three weeks left to take advantage of the current SkyTeam status match. This would give you status with all 19 SkyTeam airlines.
If you live in or near Kent, you will know that the former RAF base at Manston has been operating as a (very unpopular) civilian airport since 2004. With Flybe having dropped its services last year, KLM has picked up the baton. It is offering two flights per day to Amsterdam.
Until July 31st, anyone who credits a KLM flight from Manston to their Flying Blue account will qualify to have their Flying Blue account made up to Gold status – as long as you already have a Gold card from another airline.
The promotion is only valid to Flying Blue members with a UK home and business address.
If you are wondering how to get to Manston, you take (from London) a Javellin high-speed train from St Pancras or Stratford International and get off at Ramsgate. It is then an 8-10 minute taxi ride to the airport. A trip report on Flyertalk can be found here.
Fares are very cheap out of Manston at the moment. At the time of writing, a one-way from Manston to Amsterdam can be as low as £42 (although you need to book a return to get that price, no cheap one ways bizarrely) and that is all you need to trigger the status match.
(PS. I had feedback from one reader who is struggling to get Flying Blue to process his Gold status match, despite following all the instructions in the leaflet. I don’t know if this is an isolated incident or not, but if you follow the rules you should be OK in the end.)
How to earn Flying Blue miles from UK credit cards (November 2020)
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 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.
Ben E 
VS 
Rob
Susan 
Daftboy 
Comments (10)