For award travel at often reasonable prices and decent availability, it’s hard to beat Flying Blue. Flying Blue is the loyalty program of Air France-KLM, one of the largest airline conglomerates in the world. Between the two airline networks and their membership in the SkyTeam alliance, Air France-KLM has some of the most expansive global coverage.
As a transfer partner of most major credit card programs, it’s easy to accumulate enough Flying Blue miles to book an award redemption. Flying Blue also frequently makes multiple award seats available which is a plus for families and groups.
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History
Established in 1919, KLM is the world’s oldest airline that continues to operate under its original name. KLM’s first flight took place in May 1920. The flight left London and landed in Amsterdam carrying several journalists, a stack of newspapers and a letter from the mayor of London.
Formed in 1933, Air France was the result of a newly established joint airline agreement following the merger of several French aviation companies. The airline grew quickly, and by 1948, Air France owned and operated 130 aircraft, making it one of the largest airlines at the time.
In 2004, Air France and KLM merged to form the airline holding company, the Air France-KLM Group. Flying Blue, the loyalty program for the merged Air France and KLM airline group, was introduced in 2005.
KLM’s main hub is at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport (AMS), while Air France’s hubs are based in Paris and include both Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and Orly (ORY) airports.
Together, Air France-KLM flies to over 300 destinations with a fleet of over 500 aircraft. As members of the SkyTeam airline alliance, the worldwide reach of Air France-KLM is further expanded through its partner networks.
How To Earn Flying Blue Miles
The first step to earning Flying Blue miles is to sign up for a Flying Blue account. New members are automatically assigned Explorer status, Flying Blue’s lowest status tier.
Flying With Air France-KLM
The number of Flying Blue miles earned on a flight is determined by the price of the ticket plus your elite status level.
Flying Blue has five levels of status. Each earns miles at the following rate:
- Explorer: 4 miles per euro
- Silver: 6 miles per euro
- Gold: 7 miles per euro
- Platinum: 8 miles per euro
- Ultimate: 9 miles per euro
To calculate the number of miles earned when you fly, add the price of the ticket to the carrier surcharges—you don’t earn mileage on other taxes and fees. Multiply the sum by the earning rate based on your status.
In the below example, the total fare is 1,000 euros. Government taxes are 300 euros. To calculate the redeemable miles earned, add the ticket fare of 500 euros to the surcharges of 200 euros for a total of 700 euros. For an Explorer, the rate is 4 Flying Blue miles per euro—so, you would multiply the sum by four to get the total miles earned, in this case, 2,800 Flying Blue miles.
Flights on Partners
Flying Blue members can also earn and redeem their miles with SkyTeam alliance partners such as Delta Air Lines, Korean Air, Virgin Atlantic, Aeromexico, China Airlines and ITA Airways.
In addition, Air France-KLM partners with even more airlines outside of SkyTeam, including Japan Airlines, Qantas, Malaysia Airlines, Copa Airlines and the newest partner, Etihad. Flying Blue miles can be earned and redeemed with these partners as well (with some limitations).
Some non-SkyTeam partnerships may include reciprocal elite benefits. For example, Air France-KLM’s new relationship with Etihad includes benefits for each airline’s elite members. Members from both programs can earn and redeem miles on Air France, KLM and Etihad.
The number of Flying Blue miles earned by flying with SkyTeam and non-alliance partners is determined by fare class, status and distance, unlike when flying with Air France and KLM. And to complicate it even more, the calculations are different for each partner.
As of April 1, 2024, elite bonus miles credited due to Flying Blue status, will not be credited on non-SkyTeam alliance partner flights unless they are codeshare flights marketed by Air France or KLM.
Credit Card Spending
For U.S. residents, the only co-branded credit card to earn Flying Blue miles directly is the Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard®*.
- Welcome bonus: Earn 70,000 bonus miles and 40 Experience Points after spending $3,000 in purchases within the first 90 days of opening the account. Plus, earn 60 Experience Points upon approval
- Rewards: Earn 3 miles per dollar spent on Air France, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and SkyTeam member airlines purchases and 1.5 miles per dollar spent on all other purchases
- Annual fee: $89
One of the highlights of this card is the ability to earn Experience Points (XP) toward Flying Blue status. Cardmembers automatically earn 60 XP upon approval, which is over half of the 100 XP required for Silver status. Cardholders can also spend $15,000 within a year to receive an additional 40 XP. Finally, another complimentary 20 XP is issued on your account anniversary.
This equates to a potential total of 120 XP within the first year. By earning an additional 60 XP through flying, members can reach Gold status. If you’re a regular Air France or KLM flyer and want to earn status, this card can give you a significant boost.
Transfer Partners
One of the major advantages of the Flying Blue program is that it is a partner of every major transferable points program. This means there are many credit cards earning points that can be converted to Flying Blue miles. You can quickly amass Flying Blue miles by transferring in from multiple credit card programs.
The transfer programs and their respective transfer ratios are:
- Chase Ultimate Rewards®: 1 to 1
- American Express Membership Rewards: 1 to 1
- Bilt Rewards: 1 to 1
- Citi ThankYou Points: 1 to 1
- Capital One miles: 1 to 1
- Marriott Bonvoy: 3 to 1, plus 5,000 bonus miles when transferring in increments of 60,000
Accor Hotels has also teamed up with Flying Blue and introduced a reciprocal earning program called Miles+Points. Members enrolled in Accor’s loyalty program, ALL (Accor Live Limitless), can earn ALL points in addition to Flying Blue miles on stays. Inversely, members can earn ALL points and Flying Blue miles on Flying Blue flights.
Shopping Portal
Flying Blue has its own shopping portal where members can earn Flying Blue miles. It’s a simple way to earn additional miles on purchases you were already planning to make. Be sure you’re logged in to your account and cookies are enabled to ensure proper tracking.
Read more: How to Stack Credit Card and Portal Offers to Save on Online Purchases
Buying Miles
Flying Blue miles are available for purchase through Points.com. Buying miles through Points.com will not result in earning any bonus points through airline credit cards or others that offer travel as a bonus category because purchases at Points.com don’t code as travel.
Explorer status members can purchase, gift or receive up to 100,000 Flying Blue miles per year. Silver, Gold, Platinum and Ultimate elites can purchase, gift or receive up to 300,000 Flying Blue miles per transaction with an unlimited number of Flying Blue miles purchased per year.
Purchasing miles is expensive—Flying Blue charges 3.17 cents per mile. At this price, buying miles doesn’t make economic sense.
Generally speaking, we do not recommend purchasing miles unless you only need a small number to top off your points balance in order to complete an award redemption.
Transferring and Gifting Miles
Although you can transfer or gift miles to a friend or family member, it comes with a significant cost. Transferring Flying Blue miles works out to a hefty 11 euros for 1,000 miles. You’re better off booking the flight for the person rather than paying to transfer the miles into their account.
Earning Status
Flying Blue determines elite status using Experience Points or XP. Every time you fly Air France, KLM, SkyTeam alliance partners, Transavia (only Plus and Max fares), Aircalin and Air Corsica (flights between Paris-Orly and Corsica), you earn XP. In order to earn Flying Blue Ultimate status, you must earn Ultimate Experience Points, or UXP, which are earned on flights marketed by Air France and KLM only.
The number of XP earned is based on cabin class and flight distance.
For a flight within France in economy class, for example, you would earn 2 XP.
You can also earn XP through Air France KLM co-branded credit cards, by donating Flying Blue Miles to charity or by purchasing CO2 reduction credits.
Flying Blue status is determined by the number of XP earned within a rolling 12-month period. You’ll have to requalify each year.
The XP requirements for each level of status are as follows:
- Explorer: 0 XP (automatically assigned with enrollment)
- Silver: 100 XP
- Gold: 180 XP
- Platinum: 300 XP
- Ultimate: 900 UXP
As your Flying Blue status level increases, so do the perks and privileges:
Explorer
- Earn 4 Flying Blue miles per euro spent
- Get a 10% discount on first paid checked bag
Silver
- Earn 6 Flying Blue miles per euro spent
- Receive priority check in, baggage drop-off and boarding
- Some free seat options 24 hours before departure
- Free selection of standard seats
- One free extra checked bag on SkyTeam flights
Gold
- Earn 7 Flying Blue miles per euro spent
- Free access for you and a guest to SkyTeam lounges around the world
- SkyPriority access throughout the airport
- Free seat options 72 hours before departure
- Free selection of standard seats
- One free extra checked bag on flights operated by SkyTeam members
Platinum
- Earn 8 Flying Blue miles per euro spent
- Free access for you and a guest to SkyTeam lounges around the world
- SkyPriority access throughout the airport
- Free access to seat options
- One free extra checked bag on SkyTeam flights
- Dedicated help with the Platinum service line
- Redeem miles for Air France La Premiere first class award flights
- Maintain Platinum for ten years in a row and receive lifetime Platinum status
Ultimate
- Earn 9 Flying Blue miles per euro spent
- Dedicated Ultimate Assistant available 24/7 for travel assistance
- Free access to Air France and KLM lounges for you and up to eight guests
- Extra check-in baggage allowance on Air France, KLM and SkyTeam flights
- Ultimate and/or SkyPriority airport services for you and up to eight travel companions
- Four one-cabin upgrade vouchers per membership year
- One partner Flying Blue Platinum card
Note that as of April 1, 2024, XP will not be earned on non-SkyTeam partner flights unless they are codeshare flights marketed by Air France or KLM.
Featured Partner Offers
How To Redeem Flying Blue Miles
With KLM or Air France
Flying Blue uses dynamic pricing and, therefore, doesn’t publish award charts. Dynamic pricing is different from statically priced award charts in that the mileage required changes based on demand. Prices can even change from day to day.
Taxes and fees are imposed on Flying Blue award tickets, and they can seem somewhat high compared to other airline programs, often reaching hundreds of dollars. This is somewhat offset by the fact that the number of points Flying Blue requires for an award can be significantly less than other programs, especially during Flying Blue promotions.
Flying Blue has standardized its minimum award rates for flights from North America to Europe. Here are the starting rates for each cabin class one way:
- Economy: 20,000 miles
- Premium economy: 35,000 miles
- Business: 50,000 miles
To quickly get an idea of the minimum number of miles you’ll need for an award redemption by cabin class, play around with Flying Blue’s handy interactive mileage tool. Enter your departure airport and one-way pricing for various destinations is quickly displayed on a world map. Note that the tool only reflects pricing for award flights on Air France and KLM.
Keep in mind that award flights can be found for less than the minimums listed above for routes featured on Flying Blue’s monthly list of Promo Rewards (which are covered later in this guide).
Here’s an example of an award flight from Newark (EWR) to Paris (CDG) on Air France:
This business class award flight prices out at a reasonable 50,000 Flying Blue miles plus an additional $205 for taxes.
As Flying Blue’s pricing is dynamic, there’s no way to really know what the upper-limit award ticket price might be. It’s always best to compare award flights with other loyalty programs before pulling the trigger on a Flying Blue redemption.
Air France La Premiere First
Air France’s La Premiere First Class is reputed to be one of the most luxurious experiences in the sky. It’s also one of the most difficult to book as an award flight because it’s only available to Flying Blue Platinum elites. Upgrading to La Premiere in advance from business class is also only available to Platinum Flying Blue elites.
On Flights With Partners
Air France-KLM’s broad partner network, which includes SkyTeam alliance members and more than 15 other airlines, means that it’s possible to use Flying Blue miles to fly to nearly anywhere you’d want to go.
Award flight searches on the Flying Blue website will automatically include awards on partner airlines, if available. To ensure you get good value, you’ll want to also search for the same award flight in the partner’s own loyalty program and other programs within the SkyTeam alliance and compare the cost if you have access to other airlines for booking.
Cash & Miles
Cash & Miles allows you to use cash to pay for up to 25% of your award ticket.
To make a Cash & Miles booking:
- Visit airfrance.com or klm.com.
- Log in using your Flying Blue details.
- Search for your desired flight as if you are going to pay cash.
- During checkout, you will be offered the choice to partially pay for your ticket with miles.
Sweet Spots
North America to Europe and North Africa
Flying Blue’s standardized saver pricing from North America to Europe is competitive. That same pricing extends into North Africa, including Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. This sample flight award from New York (JFK) to Tunis (TUN) costs just 50,000 miles plus $253.40 for a business class seat.
Promo Rewards
Promo Rewards is a Flying Blue program that offers discounted flights on select routes. Discounts of up to 25% off award tickets are available on both one-way and round-trip flights. Even better, these discounts can include all cabins, although there tends to be fewer business class flights on promotion.
New Promo Rewards are announced at the beginning of each month and are categorized by short-haul, medium-haul and long-haul flights. There’s generally a six-month window for flying when booking a Promo Reward.
To book Promo Rewards, visit the Flying Blue rewards webpage. You’ll see a listing of all promotional awards, categorized by short, medium and long haul.
Select the one you’re interested in and follow the prompts to book. The discount will automatically be applied. Make sure to pay attention to the validity dates before booking.
Here’s an example of a recent long-haul Promo Reward offering Boston and Chicago departures at 25% off.
This Promo Reward economy flight from Chicago (ORD) to Paris (CDG) prices out at a mere 11,250 Flying Blue miles plus $65.40.
Unlimited Stopovers
Another way to get more value from your Flying Blue award redemption is to make use of stopovers. Very few frequent flyer programs allow stopovers on award itineraries, so this is a significant advantage of the Flying Blue program.
Flying Blue offers unlimited stopovers with no maximum connection time, even on one-way flights. Stopovers are permitted up to 365 days in advance of the last flight segment. That means you could stop for a full year before resuming your trip.
Itineraries can include not only Air France and KLM, but partners as well.
Pricing for itineraries that consist only of Air France or KLM flights is determined by the origin and the final destination. For example, a flight from Los Angeles (LAX) to Dubai (DXB) with a stopover in Paris (CDG) would be priced as LAX to DXB, meaning the stopover is essentially free.
Itineraries with partner segments are more complex in how they are priced since each separate partner segment is priced individually.
In order to book a stopover, you’ll have to call Flying Blue directly to make your award reservation and to get accurate pricing.
Carrier-Imposed Fees
Fortunately, Flying Blue doesn’t pass along additional carrier-imposed fees for partner award tickets when booking on an airline that also does not tack on these charges. Delta and Aeromexico are both examples of carriers that do not add these fees.
Award Change and Cancellation Fees
Flying Blue allows flight and date changes on award tickets prior to departure for 70 euros. Any difference in mileage and/or additional taxes for the revised flight would be charged or refunded as appropriate.
Award tickets may also be canceled prior to departure for 70 euros.
Infant and Child Fares
For paid travel with Air France and KLM, child and infant fares are as follows:
- For children two years and over, fares are discounted by 20% on short-haul flights and up to 33% on all other flights.
- Children under two flying as a lap infant will receive a 90% discount off the ticket price.
For award tickets:
- Children two to 11 years old traveling with an adult can receive a 25% discount on an award ticket.
- Lap infants two and under will be charged 10% of the adult’s revenue ticket price in addition to taxes and fees.
For lap infants traveling with an adult on an award ticket, 10% of the adult revenue fare could be a sizable sum, for example, if you’re flying on a business class award. There are other frequent flyer programs that charge considerably less for a lap infant—Air Canada’s Aeroplan charges a maximum of 25 Canadian dollars or 2,500 points for a lap infant on an award ticket in any class of service. If you are looking to save some cash on your booking, it may be worthwhile looking at an alternate program with more reasonable infant fees.
To book a lap infant on an award, you will have to call Flying Blue.
Family Pooling
With the Flying Blue Family benefit, members can share their miles and enjoy rewards faster. Eight people can be added to a Flying Blue Family account—up to two adults and six children—and pool their miles together.
To set up a family account, the Flying Blue Family leader (this is the person who creates the account) must invite other members to join the Family account. Once you receive and accept an invite, the leader can then combine miles, either partially or in full. Only the Flying Blue Family leader can transfer miles between accounts. Miles transferred via Flying Blue Family are valid for two years.
You can only be a member of one Flying Blue Family, and you must remain a member for at least six months.
Other Ways To Use Flying Blue Miles
Online Shopping Mall
Not to be confused with the Flying Blue shopping portal, Flying Blue has an online shop where you can spend your Flying Blue miles on merchandise. Using your miles to purchase merchandise is almost always a terrible deal. We recommend using your Flying Blue miles to book award flights for the best value.
Upgrades
Flying Blue miles can be used toward cabin upgrades. These can be done in advance, last minute or even once onboard. Upgrades are only available on eligible airlines, and each of those airlines only allow upgrades to specific cabins.
Miles Expiration
Flying Blue miles expire after two years of non-activity.
However, Flying Blue differentiates miles-extending activities.
Flying Air France, KLM and their partners or by using an Air France-KLM co-branded credit card extends all your Flying Blue miles by two years from the date of activity.
However, earning miles from other partners, such as hotel or car rental partners or transferring in miles from credit card programs will extend the life of miles earned only from other partners for two years. These “partial extending activities” do not prevent miles earned from flying or earned from the co-branded credit cards from expiring.
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Bottom Line
Flying Blue is a strong loyalty program that’s recently been improved with standardized pricing on some awards and the addition of free stopovers. The program’s dynamic pricing can make finding the best value challenging, but thanks to Promo Rewards, it’s possible to find incredible deals on award flights.
Add in the ability to transfer from flexible points cards to Flying Blue miles from all of the major transferable currencies (sometimes with a bonus) with the extensive network of partners you can redeem those miles with, and the opportunities for Flying Blue miles are nearly endless.
