Credit cards are very commonly used in countries like the USA. To lure new customers in most credit card companies have very good welcome bonuses, typically consisting of points for major hotel chains or airlines. Many people in the USA FI community are into travel hacking and are constantly on the lookout for the best credit card deals. Credit card use is much less common in the Netherlands. Most people have one credit card through their bank. Without competition the welcome deals are usually non-existing and there is no travel hacking. There is one amazing exception, keep on reading!
KLM Flying blue
If you travel regularly with KLM I would advise
you to obtain a free flying blue card to collect miles and XP points. Buy flights and earn
miles for free flights and XP points to get silver/gold/platinum status with all
sorts of benefits at the airport (queue jumping, free check-in luggage, free seat
selection etc.). This year we earned around 10,000 miles and 44 XP points. Bit of a
bummer is that you lose your XP points if you don’t collect enough before the
end of the year to get a status upgrade. Keep on reading, there is a happy ending!
KLM Flying Blue AmEx card
You can connect an American express card to your KLM flying blue card. This is very helpful as you can now
earn miles from other purchases than airplane tickets. For instance Jumbo, Tango and bol.com except this card. There is different
level credit cards (silver/gold/platinum) that earn you different levels of miles per
euro spend.
And there are great welcome bonuses! We just received our platinum cards. Say what, platinum cards in the FI community!? Yup, the welcome offer includes half price for the card the first year, still a whopping €25 per month. That is a not-so-frugal €300 euro for the first year. But what does it give us? We get 20,000 welcome miles which covers a free flight within Europe (€150). We'll get another free flight from using the card for groceries, fuel etc. We get a 60XP welcome bonus. For an upgrade to silver flying blue status you need 100XP so we made it!
No more waiting in line, no payment for check-in luggage and free reserved seats to keep the family together in-flight (we spend around €100/year on extras). On top we get free rental car insurance. Last year we rented twice and spend €80. No more surprises at the car rental counter! You get the point by now, we are making money while getting better treatment at airports.
Don't use your credit card for credit!
Obviously you should pay your full bill at the end of each month to avoid the insanely high interest rates to be incurred on your debt. With the KLM AmEx cards this is the only option you have, no worries!
What's in it for you?
And there are great welcome bonuses! We just received our platinum cards. Say what, platinum cards in the FI community!? Yup, the welcome offer includes half price for the card the first year, still a whopping €25 per month. That is a not-so-frugal €300 euro for the first year. But what does it give us? We get 20,000 welcome miles which covers a free flight within Europe (€150). We'll get another free flight from using the card for groceries, fuel etc. We get a 60XP welcome bonus. For an upgrade to silver flying blue status you need 100XP so we made it!
No more waiting in line, no payment for check-in luggage and free reserved seats to keep the family together in-flight (we spend around €100/year on extras). On top we get free rental car insurance. Last year we rented twice and spend €80. No more surprises at the car rental counter! You get the point by now, we are making money while getting better treatment at airports.
Don't use your credit card for credit!
Obviously you should pay your full bill at the end of each month to avoid the insanely high interest rates to be incurred on your debt. With the KLM AmEx cards this is the only option you have, no worries!
What's in it for you?
If you have our traveling habits you could obviously repeat what we did. However, a silver and gold card are worth considering as well, do your homework at the KLM website. A silver card is for free the first year and gives you 5000 miles. A gold card costs €85 with 20,000 welcome miles and 30 bonus XP.
We can help each other out to make the deal even better! AmEx provided me with a link. If you use my link you get a gold card for free and 22000 miles! It helps me as well as I also receive 22000 miles! There is better deals for silver and platinum cards through the link as well (more miles than the standard offer).
Once you have a credit card AmEx should provide you with a link as well so you can do the same and invite your friends to grow your miles. Let's travel hack together? Get your card through this link.
We can help each other out to make the deal even better! AmEx provided me with a link. If you use my link you get a gold card for free and 22000 miles! It helps me as well as I also receive 22000 miles! There is better deals for silver and platinum cards through the link as well (more miles than the standard offer).
Once you have a credit card AmEx should provide you with a link as well so you can do the same and invite your friends to grow your miles. Let's travel hack together? Get your card through this link.
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