Amex Canada 25% Transfer Bonus to Flying Blue (March–April 2026)

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If you’re sitting on a stash of American Express Membership Rewards points in Canada, this is your signal to pay attention.

As of March 2026, American Express Canada is running a 25% transfer bonus to Air France-KLM Flying Blue — meaning every Membership Rewards point you transfer during the promotion period becomes 1.25 Flying Blue miles instead of the standard 1:1 ratio.

The promotion is live now and expires April 17, 2026. Here’s everything you need to know to make the most of it.

Table of Contents

• What Is the Promotion?
• The Math: How Much Better Is 1.25x?
• Best Uses for Flying Blue Miles Right Now
• Stack With Flying Blue Promo Rewards
• Which Canadian Amex Cards Earn Membership Rewards?
• How to Transfer Amex MR to Flying Blue
• Should You Transfer Now or Wait?
• Our Take as Canadian Travel Hackers

What Is the Promotion? 

American Express Canada is offering a 25% bonus on Membership Rewards point transfers to Air France-KLM Flying Blue for a limited time.

Here are the key details:

This is one of the best transfer bonuses we’ve seen from Amex Canada in a while. Flying Blue is already one of our favourite programs for booking Air France and KLM flights — and 25% more miles for the same points outlay changes the calculation significantly.

Note for US cardholders: There is currently no equivalent Amex US transfer bonus to Flying Blue active in March 2026. This promotion is specific to Canadian Membership Rewards accounts.

The Math: How Much Better Is 1.25x?

Let’s put the numbers into plain terms.

At the standard 1:1 ratio, if you transfer 40,000 Amex MR points, you get 40,000 Flying Blue miles.

During this promotion, those same 40,000 MR points become 50,000 Flying Blue miles — 10,000 extra miles for free, just for timing your transfer right.

Here’s how it plays out at different transfer amounts:

That’s a meaningful difference — especially when you’re targeting business class redemptions where every mile counts.

Best Uses for Flying Blue Miles Right Now

Flying Blue has some genuinely excellent sweet spots for Canadians, particularly for transatlantic travel. Here’s where your boosted miles can take you:

Economy Transatlantic — The Budget Play

Economy class routes on Air France and KLM between North America and Europe typically start at 25,000 Flying Blue miles one way.

With the 25% bonus, you can book that same seat for just 20,000 Amex MR points — a 20% discount before you’ve even looked at Flying Blue’s own Promo Rewards.

For anyone planning a Europe trip in 2026 (we’re heading to the Camino de Santiago this year and using Flying Blue points for our flights), this makes transatlantic economy very accessible even on a modest Amex MR balance.

Business Class Transatlantic — The Aspirational Play

Business class on Air France or KLM between Canada and Europe typically runs around 60,000 Flying Blue miles one way.

With the 25% transfer bonus, you can book that same seat for 48,000 Amex MR points. That’s lie-flat seats across the Atlantic for under 50,000 points — a genuinely exceptional use of Membership Rewards.

If you’ve been dreaming about a business class transatlantic flight without paying cash prices (which can run $4,000–8,000+ CAD return), this promotion combined with a well-timed booking is how you get there.

The Cobalt Card Multiplier

The American Express Cobalt Card earns 5x Membership Rewards points on dining and groceries in Canada. During this promotion, those 5x MR points effectively become 6.25 Flying Blue miles per dollar spent at restaurants and grocery stores.

That’s one of the highest effective earning rates for airline miles on any Canadian credit card, for spending categories most Canadians use every single week.

Stack With Flying Blue Promo Rewards 

Here’s where it gets really interesting for the points-savvy traveller.

Flying Blue runs monthly Promo Rewards — discounts of 25% to 50% on selected routes for that month. These discounts apply to the miles required for a redemption, not the cash price.

When you combine a Flying Blue Promo Reward discount with the 25% Amex transfer bonus, the savings stack:

Example: Paris route with 25% Promo Reward discount

• Standard economy redemption: 25,000 miles
• With 25% Promo Reward: 18,750 miles needed
• MR points required at 1.25x transfer: 15,000 MR points

You just booked a transatlantic economy seat for 15,000 Amex MR points. That is exceptional value by any standard.

How to find Promo Rewards: Check flyingblue.com at the start of each month. Promo Rewards are released monthly and are available for a limited time. Book your flight first, then transfer exactly the points you need.

Important: Always identify the Promo Reward and confirm the flight is available before transferring points. Points transfers are typically one-way and cannot be reversed.

Which Canadian Amex Cards Earn Membership Rewards?

To take advantage of this promotion you need Amex MR points. Here are the top Canadian cards for earning them:

American Express Cobalt Card

Best for: Dining and groceries

• 5x MR points on dining and groceries (= 6.25 Flying Blue miles per dollar during this promo)
• 3x MR points on streaming services
• 2x MR points on travel and transit
• 1x MR points on everything else
• Annual fee: $156 CAD ($13/month)

The Cobalt is the gold standard for MR earning in Canada and the card we’d recommend first to any Canadian travel hacker. If you’re not holding this card, you’re leaving points on the table every time you eat out or buy groceries.

American Express Green Card

Best for: No annual fee MR earning

• 1x MR points on all purchases
• Annual fee: $0
• Good as a supplementary card to keep MR points from expiring

American Express Gold Rewards Card

Best for: Travel purchases

• 2x MR points on travel, dining, and gas
• Annual fee: $250 CAD
• Comes with travel credits that offset the annual fee

American Express Platinum Card

Best for: High spenders and lounge access

• 3x MR points on dining
• 2x MR points on travel
• Annual fee: $799 CAD
• Significant travel credits, lounge access, and status benefits offset the fee for frequent travellers

How to Transfer Amex MR to Flying Blue

The process is straightforward:

Step 1: Make sure you have a Flying Blue account. If you don’t, sign up for free at flyingblue.com — it takes two minutes.

Step 2: Note your Flying Blue membership number.

Step 3: Log into your American Express Canada online account at americanexpress.com/ca.

Step 4: Navigate to your Membership Rewards points summary and select “Transfer Points.”

Step 5: Select Air France-KLM Flying Blue as your transfer partner.

Step 6: Enter your Flying Blue membership number and the number of MR points you want to transfer (minimum 1,000, in increments of 100).

Step 7: Confirm the transfer. The promotional 1.25x ratio should be reflected before you confirm.

Step 8: Wait up to 3 business days for points to appear in your Flying Blue account, though transfers are often processed faster.

Pro tip: Only transfer what you need for a specific booking. Sitting on Flying Blue miles long-term is riskier than holding Amex MR points — MR points are more flexible and can be transferred to multiple partners, while Flying Blue miles are locked to one program.

Should You Transfer Now or Wait? 

This is the most important question, and the honest answer is: only transfer if you have a specific redemption in mind.

Here’s why:

Reasons to transfer now:

• You have a flight already identified and the redemption math works out
• You’re combining with a Flying Blue Promo Reward that’s available this month
• You’re close to having enough miles for a target redemption and the bonus gets you there
• The promotion expires April 17 and you don’t want to miss the window

Reasons to wait:

• You don’t have a specific flight booked or in mind
• You’re hoping to “save up” miles for a vague future trip — this is risky as programs can devalue
• You still have time to accumulate more MR points before you need to book

Amex MR points are among the most valuable and flexible points currencies in Canada — they can be transferred to multiple airline and hotel partners, not just Flying Blue. Don’t transfer points speculatively. Transfer with purpose.

Our Take as Canadian Travel Hackers

We use Flying Blue regularly for our travel and it’s one of the programs we recommend most consistently to Canadians who want to fly to Europe without paying cash prices.

The standard 1:1 Amex MR to Flying Blue ratio is already solid. At 1.25x, it’s genuinely excellent — particularly for transatlantic business class, where the value per point is hard to match through any other Canadian redemption.

For our 2026 Camino de Santiago trip, Flying Blue points are covering our transatlantic flights. If you’re planning any Europe travel this year, this promotion is worth acting on before April 17.

Our suggested approach:

1. Check flying blue’s current Promo Rewards for routes you’re interested in
2. Price out your target redemption in Flying Blue miles
3. Divide by 1.25 to find how many Amex MR points you need
4. If the math works — transfer exactly what you need and book immediately

The window is short. Don’t overthink it. ✈️

Planning Europe travel on points? Check out our guide to Flying Blue for Canadian travellers and our full Camino de Santiago trip planning guide for how we’re using points to fund our 2026 Europe adventure.

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