Transfer bonuses do not occur on a weekly basis and even when they do, they are not necessarily worth setting up your points strategy around. This is not like the other. Chase Ultimate Rewards is also running a 20% bonus with transferring points to Air France-KLM Flying Blue and when combined with the current award structure of Flying Blue you have some really interesting possibilities available to people who have Europe in their travel plans.

The Bonus in Action

The arithmetic is easy. Each 1,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points transferred to Flying Blue during the promotion will be differentiated into 1,200 Flying Blue miles in your account rather than the normal 1,000. The 20% boost would be on all transfers you make by May 27 and no limit on the amount transferred.

Chase to Flying Blue transfers generally occur almost immediately one of the quicker partner transfers within the Chase system. In case your miles are not reflected immediately after transfer is made, you can always log out of your Flying Blue account and in again which will resolve the delay within minutes.

A note to remember before making any transfer: once the points are transferred to airline programs, they are usually irreversible. Flying Blue miles are not transferred to Chase. Make sure that you have a particular redemption in mind and that award space is available on your planned dates and routes before you make any plans. 

The Business Class Math That Makes This Interesting

Flying Blue is already among the more robust transatlantic business class redemptions and the 20% bonus makes that value even sharper.A one-way business seat between the U.S and Europe on Air France or KLM in the airline long-haul La Premiere, Business or similar cabin costs approximately 60,000 Flying Blue miles in the normal award pricing. When the 20% transfer bonus is included, to earn those 60,000 miles, you only need to transfer 50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

That is quite a difference. Based on the standard transfer rates, 60,000 Flying Blue miles would cost 60,000 Chase points. The bonus is essentially a 10,000-point discount on a business transatlantic redemption in any redemption or a 20-percent extension of your current Chase balance of any size to a 20-percent higher distance.

To give context of what such redemption brings: The business class on the long-haul widebody planes of Air France is, in fact, a high-quality product, with fully flat beds, multiple course meals, and onboard experience that warrants premium cabin pricing. The fact that it is taking 50,000 Chase points one-way to get into that cabin is a good result by any relative scale.

Combinations of the Bonus With Flying Blue Promo Awards

This is where the value story becomes interesting. Flying Blue operates monthly rotating Promo Awards 25-50 percent discounts off regular award rates on specified routes within designated travel periods. Such promotions are monthly and encompass a diverse selection of destinations, although they often involve transatlantic flights and domestic flights in Europe.

The transfer bonus 20% and Promo Award discounts are independent and as such can be stacked. When you buy the points in the bonus window and redeem the miles in a month where your target route is on Promo, the discounted price of the Chase points that you actually purchased can be huge.

A route that would otherwise cost 60,000 Flying Blue miles, with a 25% (or 45,000 miles) discount, purchased using Chase points at a 20% bonus would cost a business class transatlantic flight approximately 37,500 Chase points, with the Promo Award. That is a great score on any points program comparison.

The exact combination will demand a certain degree of planning and flexibility since the particular Promo Awards will be different each month. However, when you can change your travel dates within two or three months, then you should check the routes covered in the current-month promotion before you make a definite decision on when to transfer and book.

The Route Network of Flying Blue is Expansive than many people would anticipate

The program is occasionally neglected in preference of programs that have a higher name in the U.S. points community, but the coverage is truly comprehensive with a combination of Air France and KLM networks and SkyTeam alliance partners.

A couple of special features to be aware of:

• North Africa is priced as Europe in the award chart countries such as Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco are considered as being in the European zone and therefore a flight to Tunis or Algiers can be equal to a flight to Paris or Amsterdam.
• The Air France Tahiti service provides access to South Pacific routing, and thus redemptions in French Polynesia can be made without the complexity of the partner program.
• As a SkyTeam partner, Delta also allows short-haul U.S. domestic routes to be booked with Flying Blue miles at relatively low fares, and the program is also handy on domestic travel with international award booking.
• Flying Blue is competitive in that transatlantic economy is offered at affordable rates and passengers who focus more on affordability than premium cabins can use Flying Blue as an alternative to premium on the same routes.

The breadth is one of the reasons why Flying Blue is always among the programs that have a balance to maintain in it being flexible enough to accommodate various types of trips instead of being idle until a given opportunity of premium cabin actually emerges.

Which Chase Cards Transfer to Flying Blue?

The key to capitalizing on this offer is to have a Chase credit card earning transferable Ultimate Rewards points as opposed to fixed value cash back rewards. Qualifying cards are the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, the Ink Business Preferred and the Ink Business Cash and Ink Business Unlimited when paired with a Sapphire card.

The actual transfer is activated via the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal. After choosing Flying Blue as your destination partner, you will proceed to enter your Flying Blue membership number and verify the amount. Depending on the miles, you tend to see them in your Flying Blue account within minutes.

The Bottom Line

Chase Ultimate Rewards is transferring a 20% bonus to Air France-KLM Flying Blue until May 27, 2026 transforming each 1,000 Chase points into 1,200 Flying Blue miles. To the business traveler who flies transatlantic at about 60,000 miles, the bonus will cut the equivalent Chase points needed to only 50,000. Combined with the monthly Promo Award discounts of Stacked with Flying Blue, the value can be extraordinary. In 2026, when you are in Europe and have Chase points to use, a transfer prior to the month of May might be worth consideration.