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Brim Financial has announced that they have partnered with Air France/KLM Flying Blue to issue the loyalty program’s co-branded credit card in Canada.
While details are light, it’s always exciting when a new airline co-branded credit card takes shape in the Canadian market. Let’s take a look at what we know so far and think about what we might expect from the future Air France/KLM Flying Blue credit card.
Brim Will the New Air France/KLM Credit Card
Air France/KLM Flying Blue has been looking to build a stronger presence in Canada in recent years, having launched new routes to Canadian cities and linked up with American Express to allow points transfers as of last year.
Partnering with Brim to issue a co-branded credit card is the next step along that process, and their choice of a new-generation fintech as their financial partner represents a bold move compared to going with a traditional financial institution like the Big 5 banks or American Express.
For Brim, Air France/KLM is the first airline loyalty program that has signed up to its end-to-end financial platform services, and represents a major expansion of their credit card portfolio beyond their rather pedestrian in-house Mastercard offerings.
What Can We Expect from the New Air France/KLM Credit Card?
While few details are available at the moment about the upcoming product and the launch date, we can dabble in some light speculation about what we might expect from the new Air France/KLM Flying Blue credit card issued by Brim.
Brim credit cards are all issued on the Mastercard network, so it’s fairly certain that the Air France/KLM credit card will be a Mastercard product too, ensuring widespread acceptance at virtually all retailers in Canada and abroad.
Brim’s products largely offer no foreign transaction fees, and I’d expect this benefit to be sustained on the new airline co-branded offering, particularly as it’s an easy competitive differentiator against most credit cards in Canada.
Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess what this somewhat unexpected partnership will bring to the market.
I’m sure we’d all love to see a healthy welcome bonus in Flying Blue miles, so we’d be hoping that Brim bucks the trend of not offering measly $10 welcome bonuses on its existing World Elite, World, and no-fee Mastercards.
I think it’s reasonable to expect an elevated earning rate on Air France/KLM purchases along with a base earning rate on everything else.
Select additional perks that reward Air France/KLM frequent flyers and cardholders, such as Flying Blue elite status boosts or Air France lounge access in Toronto and Montreal, would also be very welcome – though these would depend on the price point and market segment that the new product falls into.
As part of its integrated financial “platform-as-a-service” product, Brim also places a great emphasis on dynamically targeted offers for cardholders, and I do believe that they’d be better equipped to deliver on that promise than some of Canada’s more established, but less nimble, fellow banks.
Ultimately, there’s one thing that I think we can expect from the new Brim–Air France/KLM credit card: the unexpected.
We’ve never seen an airline loyalty program linking up with a digital banking platform before, and the new possibilities introduced here are all quite exciting to consider.
Here’s hoping that Brim and Air France/KLM Flying Blue intend to make a real splash with their new credit card, rather than simply putting out something to make up the numbers.
Conclusion
Are we about to see the Brim Air France/KLM Flying Blue World Elite Mastercard launching in Canada, perhaps with a juicy welcome bonus of 100,000 Flying Blue miles? Only time will tell, and we’ll be sure to keep you updated on the latest airline co-branded credit card coming to our shores.
It’s always exciting to see more competition among airline credit cards, especially since it’s a space in which Air Canada has been virtually unchallenged in recent years.
With Air France and KLM offering flights to no fewer than six Canadian metropolitan centres, and their Flying Blue loyalty program opening up a variety of travel options on SkyTeam airlines, the new co-branded credit card issued by Brim promises to make waves upon its arrival in the near future.
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