Air France launches a £200 American Express cashback deal

Air France has launched a new cashback offer with American Express.

If you are targetted, you will see it in the ‘Offers’ section of the app or website on one or more of your cards. Remember to click ‘Save to Card’ to register

The deals offers £200 cashback when you spend £1,200 on the Air France website here by 28th October.

Unfortunately, the value is reduced due to three restrictions:

• you must depart from the UK
• you must book Air France flights
• you must book in Premium Economy or Business Class

This is frustrating, because:

• you can book Virgin Atlantic transatlantic flights via the Air France website, but it appears that these will not trigger the cashback

• Air France currently has some excellent deals out of Dublin (eg the £1,142 business class return to New York shown below) but it seems these won’t count either

Unlike most Amex offers, I don’t think you can ‘cheat’ this offer by booking a different airline or class. Airlines pass through detailed ticket information to American Express – you have probably seen it on your statements – so Amex can tell what you have bought.

(In general, you can ignore restrictions about what must be bought on an Amex cashback offer. For example, there was a recent £80 cashback deal for buying an iPhone 13. In reality this triggered on any Apple Store purchase above the £800 spend limit, as Rhys proved when he bought a new MacBook.)

That said, £200 isn’t to be sniffed at. The real value may be for those who live outside London – if you are getting the same price for booking Manchester – Paris – XXXXXX on Air France vs Manchester – London – XXXXXX on British Airways, I’d book the former and take the cashback.

Remember that you earn Virgin Points and Virgin Atlantic tier points on Air France if you credit them to a Virgin Flying Club account. This HfP article outlines what you earn in Virgin Flying Club when flying Air France and KLM.

You can search for fares on the Air France website here.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – September 2023 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

SPECIAL OFFER: The sign-up bonus on the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard is doubled to 30,000 Virgin Points if you apply by 2nd October. You receive 15,000 Virgin Points with your first purchase and a further 15,000 points if you spend £3,000 within 90 days. Apply here.

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.