Air France-KLM Flying Blue is the joint loyalty program of Air France, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and several other airlines.
As two of Europe’s largest airlines, Air France and KLM operate extensive route networks primarily from their main hubs: Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) for Air France and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) for KLM.
Air France and KLM both fly to various cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico — and in some cases, you can find business-class award flights between North America and Europe from just 50,000 miles (or less with one of the program’s monthly Promo Rewards).
Combined with the free stopovers and frequent transfer bonuses from American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi ThankYou, Flying Blue has some of the best deals for transatlantic travel.
Today, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about Air France-KLM Flying Blue.
Launched in 2005, Flying Blue is one of Europe’s largest airline loyalty programs with over 20 million members. It’s free to join and allows members to earn miles on Air France, KLM and their SkyTeam alliance partners, as well as various non-flight partners such as hotels and car rental companies. You can also earn Flying Blue miles by transferring credit card points to the program and with the Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard®.
Members can redeem miles for various rewards, including flights, cabin upgrades, hotel stays and merchandise. The program offers a tiered elite status system (Silver, Gold, Platinum and Ultimate) based on Experience Points (XP), which enhances the travel experience for frequent flyers with benefits like priority services, lounge access and extra baggage allowances.
Flying Blue utilizes a dynamic pricing model for award flights, which means the number of miles required for a redemption can vary based on factors like demand and seasonality. However, the program often offers competitive redemption rates, especially through its monthly Promo Rewards.
As someone who has redeemed over 1 million Flying Blue miles over the years, I’ve traveled extensively on Air France and KLM and have learned the ins and outs of the program to make the most of it using lesser-known features such as free stopovers and special sales for purchasing Air France-KLM miles.
Air France and KLM are both part of SkyTeam. In addition to the SkyTeam airlines, Flying Blue has an impressive collection of non-airline partners. To earn miles on a partner, you must travel in an eligible fare class, and to redeem miles, award space must be available.
Here’s a look at Flying Blue’s 38 airline partners:
Flying Blue uses Experience Points (XP) as the metric for earning elite status. The program offers three main elite status tiers, plus an additional top-tier status:
Here are a few key features of the Flying Blue elite status program:
Here’s a closer look at what you can expect at each tier:
Silver:
Gold (additional benefits):
Platinum (additional benefits):
Ultimate (unpublished tier, but reports include these benefits):
The Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard offers 20 XP every year on your account anniversary, plus you can earn more by meeting a spend bonus. Check out our full review of the credit card for more information.
You’ll earn Platinum status for life after maintaining Platinum status for 10 consecutive years.
Flying Blue offers numerous ways to earn miles both through flying and non-flying activities. Here are the primary methods to earn:
The most straightforward way to earn miles is by flying with Air France, KLM or partner airlines.
On Air France and KLM flights, you’ll generally earn miles based on the price of your ticket (excluding taxes and fees) and your Flying Blue status level:
On SkyTeam and other partner airline flights, you’ll generally earn miles based on the distance you fly, fare class and your Flying Blue status. You can refer to the Flying Blue website for specific earning rates with each partner.
Flying Blue partners with major transferable credit card points programs, including:
This means that you can transfer rewards from cards like The Platinum Card® from American Express, Capital One Venture X and Chase Sapphire Reserve to Flying Blue at a 1:1 ratio. Here’s a look at some of our favorite transferable reward credit cards with their sign-up bonuses that you can transfer to Flying Blue:
Additionally, Flying Blue routinely offers transfer bonuses, so you can occasionally get more than 1 Flying Blue mile per credit card point.
Although purchasing Flying Blue miles is typically not the most cost-effective option, the loyalty program frequently runs promotions that offer bonuses or discounts for buying miles.
For example, during a 100% bonus promotion, the price per mile drops to 1.53 cents. That can be a great way to earn miles for high-value redemptions.
You can earn miles by booking hotels with Flying Blue’s hotel partners or renting cars from affiliated companies. Award rates vary by partner.
Additionally, the Flying Blue shopping portal lets you earn miles on online purchases from a range of retailers.
Flying Blue offers various redemption options with award flights typically providing the best value. Here are the main ways to use your Flying Blue miles:
In almost all cases, the most valuable way to redeem Flying Blue miles is for award flights on Air France, KLM and partner airlines.
You can book one-way and round-trip award tickets online through the Flying Blue website or mobile app. Dynamic pricing means award costs can vary, but standard one-way pricing between the US and Europe starts at:
You’ll need to pay the taxes and fees for your ticket. On transatlantic flights to/from the EU, expect the following, per person, one-way:
Pro tip: When searching for award space, use the online award calendar by leaving your dates blank to see all flight options and find the best deals.
Flying Blue has plenty of sweet spots on its partner awards, too. When available, Flying Blue charges 18,500 miles one-way in economy class to fly between the continental US and Hawaii on Delta. Ironically, Flying Blue’s award rates are sometimes less expensive than what Delta SkyMiles charges on its own loyalty program.
Other sweet spots include Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL) to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) for 11,500 miles in economy or 22,500 miles in business class on China Airlines.And here’s San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Vancouver International Airport (YVR) for 9,000 miles on WestJet.Lastly, for 5,000 miles in economy or 15,000 miles in business class, you can fly from Muscat International Airport (MCT) to Dubai International Airport (DXB) on Oman Air.
Flying Blue offers monthly Promo Rewards with discounts of up to 50% off normal award rates on select routes. These can provide exceptional value but are generally more restrictive on modifications and must be booked within the month they’re released.
Flying Blue allows stopovers on all award tickets, including partner awards, but you need to call Flying Blue to book a redemption with a stopover. A stopover is a stop between two tickets between 24 hours and one year.
This policy increases the value of Flying Blue miles by allowing members to visit additional destinations at no extra cost. For example, if you book an award ticket from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD) via Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG), in theory, the stopover program would allow you to spend a few days in Paris before continuing to Madrid for no extra miles.
Call Flying Blue at 1 (800) 375-8723 to book a Flying Blue stopover.
Flying Blue has a family pooling option that allows members to combine miles. That can make it easier to redeem your miles for an award ticket, especially for infrequent flyers or children who may not accumulate enough miles individually for redemptions. Here are the key features of the Flying Blue Family Account:
The family leader can transfer miles, either partially or in full, from other members’ accounts, with transferred miles remaining valid for two years from the transfer date. If needed, there’s a 24-hour grace period to reverse any mile contribution. It’s worth noting that transferred miles may follow different expiration rules than the original miles in the family leader’s account.
Additionally, when booking award travel, it may be unclear which “bucket” of miles will be used first. The Flying Blue Family Account provides a flexible way for families to pool miles and access award travel opportunities that may not be possible for individual members alone, though understanding the transfer and expiration details is essential for getting the most out of this feature.
You can use miles to upgrade your seat to a higher cabin class on eligible tickets. You can also use miles on hotel stays and car rentals through Flying Blue’s travel partners, although these options may not offer as high a value as flight redemptions. Flying Blue also has an online store that offers merchandise and experiences, though these options typically deliver lower value per mile.
Flying Blue miles expire after 24 months of inactivity. Miles expire at different times depending on how they were earned. For example:
Your miles do not expire if you have Flying Blue elite status.
Air France-KLM Flying Blue is one of my favorite loyalty programs for travelers heading to Europe or connecting through Air France and KLM’s extensive global networks. With features like dynamic pricing, Promo Rewards, a wide range of airline partners and flexible stopover policies, the program offers valuable redemption options, especially for transatlantic flights.
Family pooling and frequent transfer bonuses from credit card programs make it easier for members to earn miles. However, staying flexible to maximize Flying Blue’s dynamic award pricing and clearly understanding expiration rules is key to maximizing its benefits.
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