Air France and KLM shaped the Air France-KLM Group and shortly after launched a joint loyalty program known as Flying Blue.
Although award availability may be unpredictable attributable to dynamic pricing, Flying Blue remains to be well-liked with vacationers due to its checklist of bank card switch companions, profitable Promo Rewards and saver-level award seats. When you’re trying to redeem your bank card factors and miles with Flying Blue, this is the whole lot it’s essential to find out about this system.
Associated: Find out how to discover the most cost effective redemption charges utilizing Flying Blue miles
Flying Blue program overview
Flying Blue is the joint loyalty program of Air France, KLM and Transavia. When you’re a Flying Blue member touring on certainly one of these airways, you possibly can add your Flying Blue member quantity to earn miles and expertise factors for elite standing qualification. When you attain elite standing, you should use your advantages on these airways and reciprocal advantages on different accomplice airways.
However simply because these airways use Flying Blue as their default program does not imply you are restricted to incomes on these flights. Most accomplice airways that will let you earn Flying Blue miles, comparable to Delta Air Traces and Virgin Atlantic, are a part of the SkyTeam alliance. Nevertheless, Flying Blue has many nonalliance companions, together with:
- Air Corsica
- Air Mauritius
- AirBaltic
- Aircalin
- Bangkok Airways
- Chalair Aviation
- China Southern Airways
- Copa Airways
- El Al
- Etihad Airways
- Gol Airways
- ITA Airways
- Japan Airways
- Malaysia Airways
- Oman Air
- Qantas
- Transavia
- Twin Jet
- WestJet
- Winair
Word that there could also be restrictions relating to the flights you possibly can earn or redeem miles inside these partnerships. Assessment the airline’s accomplice web page on the Flying Blue web site earlier than you propose your travels so what to anticipate.
Flying Blue elite standing tiers
Flying Blue gives 4 elite standing tiers: Silver, Gold, Platinum and Final. You’ll be able to qualify by incomes expertise factors.
Flying Blue Silver
Silver is the bottom tier of Flying Blue elite standing and requires 100 expertise factors. It comes with some primary advantages, together with:
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- The flexibility to earn 6 Flying Blue miles per euro spent
- Free customary seat choice
- Precedence check-in, baggage drop-off and boarding
- SkyTeam Elite advantages (probably the most notable SkyTeam Elite profit is a free checked bag on all Flying Blue and SkyTeam accomplice flights)
- Most popular waitlist standing on flights operated by Air France, KLM or SkyTeam companions
- One extra checked bag on Air France and KLM flights
- Most popular standby standing
- Further legroom availability 24 hours earlier than departure (on Air France and KLM flights)
Flying Blue Gold
Gold requires a further 180 expertise factors. You’ve got entry to the Flying Blue Silver advantages and:
- The flexibility to earn 7 Flying Blue miles per euro spent
- Entry to SkyTeam lounges on worldwide flights operated by a Flying Blue or SkyTeam airline (legitimate for you and a visitor)
- SkyTeam Elite Plus (advantages embrace SkyPriority boarding and fast-track immigration)
- Precedence baggage dealing with
- Further legroom availability 72 hours earlier than departure (on Air France and KLM flights)
Flying Blue Platinum
Flying Blue’s Platinum standing requires a further 300 expertise factors and consists of all Gold advantages. Nevertheless, it sweetens the deal by upgrading some advantages and including others, comparable to:
- The flexibility to earn 8 Flying Blue miles per euro spent
- Entry to a Platinum Service Line for devoted assist
- Waived charges when altering or requesting a refund on reward bookings
- The flexibility to e book La Premiere, Air France’s first-class product, with miles
- Two extra checked baggage on Air France and KLM flights
- Miles overdraft on award tickets (as much as 50,000 miles)
- Further legroom availability on the time of reserving (on Air France and KLM flights)
When you maintain Flying Blue Platinum for 10 consecutive years, you could have the standing for all times.
Flying Blue Final
As of 2024, Flying Blue additionally has a top-tier standing stage known as Final. It requires a whopping 900 expertise factors in a 12 months and gives all of the Platinum advantages, in addition to:
- The flexibility to earn 9 Flying Blue miles per euro spent
- Entry Air France and KLM lounges with as much as eight journey companions
- 24-hour assist from this system’s “Final Assistant”
- 4 cabin improve vouchers per membership 12 months
- The flexibility to reward Flying Blue Platinum standing to 1 journey companion
- Hertz Platinum standing
- Complimentary on-board Wi-Fi
Take a look at the total checklist of Flying Blue advantages on the loyalty program’s web site.
Find out how to qualify for Flying Blue elite standing
You’ll be able to qualify for Flying Blue elite standing by incomes expertise factors. Every tier requires a particular variety of these factors, and you may earn them by flying and thru bank card spending.
Additionally, for each 2,000 miles contributed to carbon dioxide discount and absorption (for instance, by way of the acquisition of sustainable aviation gasoline), you’re rewarded with 1 expertise level.
Earn expertise factors by flying
The variety of expertise factors you earn relies on the space you fly and cabin class.
| Home | Medium (0 to 2,000 miles, worldwide) |
Lengthy 1 (2,001 to three,500 miles, worldwide) |
Lengthy 2 (3,501 to five,000 miles, worldwide) |
Lengthy 3 (5,000-plus miles, worldwide) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Financial system | 2 expertise factors | 5 expertise factors | 8 expertise factors | 10 expertise factors | 12 expertise factors |
| Premium financial system | 4 expertise factors | 10 expertise factors | 16 expertise factors | 20 expertise factors | 24 expertise factors |
| Enterprise class | 6 expertise factors | 15 expertise factors | 24 expertise factors | 30 expertise factors | 36 expertise factors |
| Top quality | 10 expertise factors | 25 expertise factors | 40 expertise factors | 50 expertise factors | 60 expertise factors |
Earn expertise factors by way of Flying Blue’s US bank card
Flying Blue has a cobranded U.S. bank card with Financial institution of America. One of many standout advantages of the Air France-KLM World Elite Mastercard is incomes expertise factors through bank card spending.
You obtain 60 expertise factors while you open your account for the primary 12 months. In subsequent years, you earn 20 expertise factors in your account anniversary. Plus, you possibly can earn a further 40 expertise factors in your account anniversary after you spend $15,000 or extra on purchases inside the anniversary 12 months.
The data for the Air France-KLM World Elite Mastercard has been collected independently by The Factors Man. The cardboard particulars on this web page haven’t been reviewed or offered by the cardboard issuer.
Incomes miles with Flying Blue
Flying Blue miles are one of many best currencies to earn.
Earn miles by flying
You’ll be able to earn Flying Blue miles by flying. The way you earn these miles varies by airline, although. While you e book a flight on Air France or KLM, you may earn miles primarily based on how a lot you spend on the ticket (earlier than taxes and charges).
The variety of miles you may earn per greenback additionally depends upon your Flying Blue standing tier. Flying Blue Explorer members (these with out standing) earn 4 miles per euro spent, whereas Silver, Gold, Platinum and Final members earn 6, 7, 8 and 9 miles per euro spent, respectively. This incomes does not embrace taxes and sure charges charged on the ticket.
Incomes with SkyTeam and nonalliance Flying Blue companions on tickets not bought by way of Flying Blue is a special story. For tickets which can be marketed by one other airline and credited to Flying Blue, you may earn miles on the next standards:
- Distance flown
- Fare class
- Working airline
- Your elite standing tier
Every airline accomplice awards a special variety of miles for every fare class — you will discover out what number of miles your accomplice flight will earn on the Flying Blue companions web page.
Spend on the Flying Blue bank card
One other solution to earn Flying Blue miles is with the beforehand mentioned Air France-KLM World Elite Mastercard. This card earns 3 Flying Blue miles per greenback spent on SkyTeam airfare purchases purchased straight with a SkyTeam airline and 1.5 Flying Blue miles per greenback spent on the whole lot else.
Switch factors to Flying Blue
This system is a switch accomplice of:
The next playing cards all presently supply robust welcome bonuses that you would simply convert to Flying Blue miles at a 1:1 ratio:
Earn miles with motels, automotive leases, procuring and experiences
Flying Blue has a variety of nonairline incomes companions, which lets you earn Flying Blue miles for actions and spending.
This consists of (however is just not restricted to):
- Earn 2 miles for each euro spent and get at the very least 15% off of choose properties with Reserving.com.
- Earn 500 miles every time you keep at a Hyatt resort worldwide.
- Earn 12 miles for each euro spent on electrical automobiles with Hertz.
- Earn miles with a whole lot of outlets by way of the Store for Miles on-line retailer.
Take a look at Flying Blue’s extra companions to study how one can earn miles.
Find out how to redeem Flying Blue miles
Whereas there are numerous methods to redeem Flying Blue miles, we advocate sticking to award flights. It will nearly at all times provide the most worth in your miles.
Flying Blue makes use of dynamic pricing, which implies there is no set award chart, and a few tickets may be extraordinarily costly (assume: 100,000 miles for an economy-class flight from New York Metropolis’s John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport (JFK) to Europe).
Even with dynamic pricing, Flying Blue typically has the very best pricing for a lot of SkyTeam awards, beating out Delta, Korean Air and different main airways.
You must also know that Air France and KLM cost average gasoline surcharges on some tickets. You’ll be able to count on to pay $200 to $350 on a one-way business-class award ticket throughout the Atlantic.
Ebook Air France or KLM to Amsterdam, Paris and past
Whereas Flying Blue costs its awards dynamically, this system has now standardized the bottom saver-level pricing for all one-way flights between the U.S. and Europe as follows, no matter origin or vacation spot, which means you possibly can join at no further price:
- 25,000 miles in financial system
- 40,000 miles in premium financial system
- 60,000 miles in enterprise class
Keep in mind that these charges are just for the bottom saver-level seats, that are restricted. We’ve discovered loads of availability on flights from the West Coast (together with these with European connections) on the new decrease charges in financial system and premium financial system cabins.
Nevertheless, business-class seats at saver ranges may be arduous to search out, so you might need to use an exterior device like Seats.aero to search out award seats in seconds.
Moreover, bear in mind you would spend a number of days in Paris or Amsterdam utilizing the free Flying Blue stopover program. It is a nice solution to go to one other metropolis with out forking over extra miles or money. To e book Flying Blue stopovers, you may have to name Flying Blue at 800-375-8723.
Ebook Air France’s La Premiere top notch with miles
Whereas KLM doesn’t function a first-class cabin, Air France does. La Premiere is a spectacular luxurious aviation expertise out there on choose Boeing 777-300ER plane to high-yield locations like New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo and Singapore.
Sadly, it is one of the vital troublesome and costly award seats to e book. You’ll be able to solely e book this product with Flying Blue miles and provided that you maintain Flying Blue Platinum or Final standing. Charges are additionally very excessive, with a one-way first-class award from Miami to Paris costing 232,500 Flying Blue miles per individual.
Associated: Video from the primary flight within the new Air France La Premiere top notch
Maintain a watch out for Promo Rewards
Each month, Flying Blue releases discounted award tickets for choose dates and routes. Sometimes, you possibly can snag financial system award seats from choose U.S. cities to Europe beginning at 18,750 miles, premium financial system awards beginning at 30,000 miles and business-class awards beginning at 45,000 miles.
You’ll be able to view an up-to-date checklist of Promo Rewards on the Flying Blue web site.
Backside line
Flying Blue is an underrated frequent flyer program. With month-to-month Promo Rewards, you possibly can probably fly from the U.S. to Europe for beneath 20,000 miles one-way. Plus, this system enables you to add a free stopover in Paris or Amsterdam at no extra mileage price.
Although Flying Blue does add excessive surcharges for award redemptions, it’s a transferable rewards program accomplice of all main bank cards.
