Become a points millionaire …. by taking 15 SkyTeam flights

SAS, which has just joined SkyTeam, has launched a fun promotion. The bottom line is that you can become an SAS EuroBonus points millionaire by taking 15 SkyTeam flights – with 15 different airlines.

Says Aron Backström, Vice President Product & Loyalty at SAS:

“This fall, we invite our EuroBonus members to explore the world with SkyTeam. It’s an incredible chance to enjoy the diversity of destinations and services available through our alliance partners. We aim to reward loyal customers while encouraging them to make informed decisions about their travel—because when you do fly, choosing a SkyTeam partner is a smart choice.”

EDIT: Important – the qualifying criteria have been changed since this article was written. Click here to read our follow-up article.

SAS was a founding member of the competing Star Alliance until it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection during covid. As part of the restructuring, which completed a few weeks ago, Air France KLM took a stake in the airline and announced it would be leaving Star Alliance for their own alliance, SkyTeam.

SAS joined SkyTeam on 1st September. For now it maintains its own frequent flyer program, EuroBonus, but there is speculation that it will eventually adopt Flying Blue with Air France and KLM.

To mark the occasion, EuroBonus has launched a challenge with a lucrative reward: you could earn up to 1 million EuroBonus points ‘just’ by flying multiple SkyTeam airlines. There are three different tiers, depending on how committed you are:

• Fly five different SkyTeam airlines, earn 10,000 SAS EuroBonus bonus points
• Fly 10 different SkyTeam airlines, earn 100,000 SAS EuroBonus bonus points
• Fly 15 different SkyTeam airlines, earn 1,000,000 SAS EuroBonus bonus points

The bonus points are awarded on top of any points you would usually earn from your flights.

Clearly 1,000,000 points is the most lucrative option, netting you the equivalent of 66,666 points per flight.

This compares with just 2,000 points per flight if you fly just five different SkyTeam airlines. It is not worth going out of your way to earn 10,000 points from five airlines. But for 1,000,000 points you might be tempted ….

After all, 66,666 points would be worth £666 if you managed to get 1p per point when redeeming. You’d be spending far less than £666 on virtually all of the flights you needed as long as you travelled in Economy.

This is not a competition. Everyone who flies 15 different SkyTeam airlines will earn 1 million points.

Here’s how it works:

• You must register in advance – click here for the instructions
• Travel must be taken between 8th October and 31st December 2024 (previously booked travel counts)
• Cash OR reward flights count – cash flights must be credited to your EuroBonus account and reward flights must have been booked with EuroBonus points

The airline counted for a particular flight is based on the operating carrier, not the marketing carrier, so be careful with codeshares.

The terms and conditions are clear that only SkyTeam airlines listed on the SAS website are valid. For some reason, this excludes ITA Airways (annoying) and Middle East Airlines (based in Beirut, so not really an option). Czech Airlines, which is about to shut down, is also not featured.

To earn the top reward you’d need to fly on 15 of the following 17 airlines:

• Aerolíneas Argentinas
• AeroMexico
• Air Europa
• Air France
• China Airlines
• China Eastern
• Delta Air Lines
• Garuda Indonesia
• Kenya Airways
• KLM
• Korean Air
• SAS
• SAUDIA
• TAROM
• Vietnam Airlines (Business Class review here)
• Virgin Atlantic
• Xiamen Air

If you’ve got six weeks or so to go travelling before Christmas, you could pull this off for substantially less than the £10,000 value that we’d place on 1 million SAS EuroBonus points.

Five have short-haul European operations: Air France, Air Europa (Spain), KLM (Netherlands), SAS (Scandinavia) and Tarom (Romania) so you could get off to a good start quite quickly.

Once you leave Europe the next highest concentration of SkyTeam airlines is in Asia, with China Airlines (Taiwan), China Eastern (China), Garuda Indonesia, Korean Air, Vietnam Airlines and Xiamen Air (China). This would net you another six airlines ticked off, leaving you with just four remaining ….

Potentially you could do the five European ones in one trip – it may even be possible over a long weekend. In a separate trip you head to Asia via Saudi Arabia (SAUDIA plus an Asian carrier from Riyadh) before ticking off three airlines locally and taking the final one back to Europe. You could then head to the US separately on a short trip (Virgin out, Delta back) with a quick detour into Mexico with AeroMexico.

You’d get all 15 qualifying carriers this way, leaving out Aerolíneas Argentinas and Kenya Airways. The European and Americas legs could be done over long weekends, although the Asian leg would need at least five days. Of course, it makes more sense to take your time ….

Good luck to anyone who accepts this challenge. Don’t forget you need to register here.

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How to maximise your miles when paying for flights (June 2025)

Some UK credit cards offer special bonuses when used for buying flights. If you spend a lot on airline tickets, using one of these cards could sharply increase the credit card points you earn.

Booking flights on any airline?

The American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card earns double points (2 Membership Rewards points per £1) when used to buy flights directly from an airline website.

The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points. These would convert to 20,000 Avios or various other airline or hotel programmes. The standard earning rate is 1 point per £1.

You can apply here.

Buying flights on British Airways?

The British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card earns double Avios (3 Avios per £1) when used at ba.com.

The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 30,000 Avios. The standard earning rate is 1.5 Avios per £1.

You do not earn bonus Avios if you pay for BA flights on the free British Airways American Express Credit Card or either of the Barclaycard Avios Mastercards.

You can apply here.

Buying flights on Virgin Atlantic?

Both the free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard and the annual fee Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard earn double Virgin Points when used at fly.virgin.com.

This means 1.5 Virgin Points per £1 on the free card and 3 Virgin Points per £1 on the paid card.

There is a sign-up bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points on the free card and 18,000 Virgin Points on the paid card.

You can apply for either of the cards here.