Hi

I think for the upcoming Beobank M&M card - which will allow each of us to earn miles which can be redeemed with the Star Alliance Lufthansa partner airlines - we can in the first instance take a look at the existing programs of Swiss Airlines Miles and More and the German counterpart (DKB - Deutsche Kredit Bank), which will expire June 2025 and be continued by Deutsche Bank around June 2025).

++ The Swiss Program++
""""With the SWISS Miles & More American Express® Classic, you receive 1.5 award miles for every CHF 2 spent. With the SWISS Miles & More Visa Classic, you receive 0.6 award miles for every CHF 2 spent. With the SWISS Miles & More World Mastercard® Standard, you receive 0.6 award miles for every CHF 2 spent.""""

++ The German Program++
"""... sammeln Sie bei jedem Kartenumsatz pro 2 EUR 1 Meile."""

So the most likely scenario is that the new Beobank M&M card will give you 0.5 Miles for every Euro spent, and that's my baseline projection. Possibly they might even offer a paltry 0.3Miles for every euro spent ("Swiss style"), and this card might be free or almost free. And it's very possible we're going to see variations with (1) a free card with 0.3Miles, (2) a standard card with 0.5Miles and a moderate annual fee and (3) perhaps a more luxurious card for frequent travellers with 1 - 1.25Miles 1.5Miles earned for every Euro spent with a higher annual fee, something in the order of a EUR200-EUR250 annual fee.

However, I don't make the comparision with "Beobank" credit cards - I"ve had some of these Beobanks credit cards in the past - and I'm not going to go thru the hassle of credit openings and the other procedures with credit lines again with Beobank - . If you want to Fly AF/KLM, my better bet - and exsiting program is - REVOLUT ULTRA. Under this plan you can also earn REVPOINTS, but let's put that aside for a while. The real advantage with Revolut seems to be "Revolut Plus". And then the cashback is 1.2pct for every Euro spent. Admitted - it's a kind of corporate charge card, and it's unlimited earning potential - and it is on par with the corporate/business card offered by DKB whereby business/corporate spenders can earn 2Miles for every Euro spent. It seems that business/corporate charge cards apparently are not subjected to the "maximum cap" ruling which was imposed by the authorities a few years ago. And while the German "corporate" Miles and More card might (and likely will) be impossible to obtain for NON german residents (and businesses) like most of us (I assume), - having watched "Kai Smart Money youtube videos" - it seems that the Revolut+ card seems quite easy to obtain - you do not even need to have a commercial registration, - a mere declaration that you intend to start a part time business seems to suffice to get the card. The other strength of the card seems to be insurance where apparently there is "cancel any reason insurance" which will come into play if the existing insurance providers fail to entertain your request for compensation due to various exception clauses. In this case, you can still claim 70pct of your spent TRAVEL funds which is better than "nothing", so the insurance package with Revolut appears to be "superior' to all existing offerings from all other providers, even Amex.

Unfortunately, Revolut stopped the 0.1pc cash back, they stopped the exchange of new Rev.points with Miles and More and other star alliance airlines - which I don't like. In the past the Revolut EUR100 annual fee for Revolut Premium program included travel insurance, now you already have to upgrade to Metal Plan (approx EUR160 a year) to get travel insurance, flight delays of four hours allowed you to obtain free lounge passes - that is also gone - so a lot of "devaluations" with Revolut (just like Amex NL/Amex DE/former Brussels airlines), - in many cases the German bank N26 offers a better deal with all the insurance goodies and only approx EUR100 a year - and hard to understand that you cannot exchange the REV points for Miles and More any longer -- it's the equivalent of Revolut only offering EUR, GBP and no USD accounts any longer - "unimaginable" - they have 40Millions worldwide customers with 10Million+ in UK so obviously they cater to One World where their biggest customer base is. The other downside is the Dragon Pass which I consider "inferior' to Priority Pass, though it depends on the routes that you fly regularly and the airports that you will pass on your way to your final destination. Still Revolut is a better option for spending overseas as you avoid the Amex FOREX surcharge (2pct correct??) . I guess that most people already use it as a back up/spare option, - unfortunately the 1pct cashback for non-EU spending also "disappeared" here so REVOLUT is becoming far less attractive to me, - and Revolut has a history of repeatedly lowering/devaluing their offerings unfortunately, like many other players.

For AF/KLM travellers, the airport lounges in the "Dragon pass" program are non existent for Paris and only one lounge offered in AMS, - and I didn't like this lounge in AMS - so it's all "relative". And I can't even see the benefits of this program for AF/KLM flyers. Strange as it seems, with Dragon Pass you can enter the Diamond lounge in Brussels, and with a regular Priority Pass can cannot enter the Brussels Diamond Lounge - apparantly Amex Belgium has an agreement with this lounge so that Amex BE cardholders can enter it since this lounge is not mentioned in the Priority Pass website (Amex Non-BE cardholders - I guess - cannot even enter this lounge) . The Dragon pass is cheaper than the Priority Pass, and while a little inferior, I think it can be beneficial to some of you depending on the routes you fly and airports you pass by & the mileage program that you're a member of (But it's good thing that we finally have (more) competition here).

When the final details of the Beobank M&M card will become available, each of us will have to make their own decision as to the "desirability" of this card, taking into account, - the expected yearly volume of payments, the routes expected to be flown and lounges that one can expect to visit, the current status with air lines FF program, amongst other factors, (such as the acceptance rates of various cards: MC/Amex) and personal factors (location of the various shops where you can buy thing/services) but - as I said in my previous post - don't expect a "miracle" offering by Beobank that would somehow "match" the current Amex Brussels Airlines Premium/Preferred card with 1.5Miles earned for every EUR1 spent with zero annual fees and lots of insurance packages "free" as well. The chance of this happening is "one in a trillion" as the economics do not support it. The "good old days" are therefore extremely unlikely to return ever again, and with "paltry" 0.15pct - (Swiss style) - 0.25pct cash equivalent cashbacks, one can start to question the entire "rationale" behind the acquisition of these cards & memberships to these various programs. When all is said and done, you will quickly reach the conclusion that - while not "perfect" - the Amex replacement offer is a decent offer - but it's only good if you have/can maintain an adequate level of yearly spending (like EUR/15000 minimum), otherswise, I agree, all the other options that are known now and that will become available in the future are/seem to be good alternatives as well, including the regular Amex without booster, and you can wait until the very last moment.