itaexpat

Hi, is there any canonical thread listing all options FB offers to earn XPs in addition to flying?

Here's what I have, and I'd love if people could chime in and remind me of anything I'm missing:

• Flying (obviously)
• Purchasing SAF environment options -- only available with an existing reservation
• Co-branded credit cards -- depends on country of residence; for sure these are available in France, Netherlands, the US (that I can remember off the top of my head)
• Cartes d'abonnement -- available in France for travel in France (métropolitaine et DOM), can be purchased from outside France too

Am I missing anything?

Ouray

Donating miles to charity (like RedCross) gains 1 XP per 2000miles? Almost tried this myself facing an end of December deadline to keep platinum status, but then got 15 XP credited for a recently opened Dutch AMEX FB silver card.

itaexpat

Oh right! There’s that too — which feels like a true last resort having exhausted all other options, if you need some extra XPs (it’s not that great of a value, though it’s not bad either).

thanks for the reminder!

Xandrios

You can get 10XP through the Accor partnership. One time only though.

avalyn2

I suppose you need a residence in the Netherlands to open a Dutch Flying Blue AMEX card correct? I am based in the EU but not in The Netherlands. Thanks.

itaexpat

I can only assume so after I tried the process for the French card — a French address was required. I have citizenship and residence in the EU (not France nor Netherlands) while living in the US, and I was hoping to get the French card besides the US one because I needed the extra XPs… but nope. It makes sense, of course.

miles_collector

There's a way around it: You get a BUNQ account (which will have a Dutch IBAN) and buy a mail redirect service so you can receive your card in your "dutch adress" and redirect it to your intended adress. You'll also need a proof of adress (dutch, and should match the mail redirect service adress) which is a bit more troublesome.

theflyinggrayson

There's also a Canadian co-branded card now, with BRIM.

Ditto

I'm not sure it's that simple, while Bunq allows EU residents to open a bank account you can't just use a "mail redirect service" to claim you reside in the Netherlands as you're unlikely to have a proof of address, not to mention even if you find a way around it this will likely violate their T&Cs.

miles_collector

It is possible and I've done it a few years ago when I had an amex

NickB

They did not require a French address from me. They did require a direct debit to be set up from a bank though. I have an account at a French bank so it was not a problem for me. It might conceivably be feasible with a bank account elsewhere in the Eurozone but I have no direct experience of that so cannot comment knowledgeably on it.

itaexpat

Really? Interesting. When did you do your application, recently? When I was asked for my address, the drop-down menu only included France and its départements d’outre mer. There was no option to select or insert another country.

otherwise yes, I do have a EU bank account in euros (another requirement of the application), but I got blocked at the address.

mfkne

I would have thought that under SEPA there must not be discrimination based on IBAN, so my hunch they're not allowed to deny you based on not having a French bank account. Then again they don't _have_ to accept you as a customer I suppose.

NickB

It was in late 2019/early 2020. It was a paper-based pdf application. I had called them to check by phone that they were OK to accept applications from non-French residents. It is possible that they might have changed their policies since then. It is also possible that the US connection might be a complication. It often is for bank accounts and investment products.

itaexpat

The French address was required when asked for my address of residence — before I could give my IBAN. In fact, the application page states first and foremost that the applicant “must have a bank account in euros,” no reference to country of residence. Elsewhere in the terms and conditions (finer print) it says something along the lines of France only, if I recall correctly.

I never got to a point in the application where I had to disclose a US connection; however yes, it looks like the policies might have changed in the last 2-3 years.

I was very attracted by the possibility of earning 90XP upon approval for the Platinum card. So I might call them in the future like you did. But the cost of maintaining the card year over year is quite steep (upwards of 500€) when I also have a Chase Sapphire Reserve — versus the Bank of America card, which only costs $89 a year with 20XP every anniversary year (plus I credit a few occasional AF/KLM purchases for the 3 miles per dollar).