Air France/KLM Flying Blue has always had a bizarre, non-intuitive expiration policy. Miles expire after 24 months, and only certain types of activity can extend that, such as crediting a flight to the program or spending on the Flying Blue credit card.
Earning miles through partners would also reset the expiration clock, but only for the miles that you earned through those activities, not those that were earned from flights. Moving points from a transferable currency like Chase Ultimate Rewards or Citi ThankYou Points would leave the expiration date unchanged.
This is a bizarre, confusing system that can cause some miles in your account to have a different expiration date from other miles.
However, Flying Blue will soon be changing this for the better. Starting 5/4/26, all miles earned, regardless of the source, will extend the 24-month rolling clock.
Quick Thoughts
For once, a straightforward and customer-friendly change to a rewards program! Flying Blue’s previous expiration policy was confusing for many folks, as miles earned from various sources had different impacts on the 24-month rolling clock. Now, all earned miles are treated the same, including those transferred from bank currencies. That will make it much easier to track where you’re at and keep miles from expiring.
Keep in mind that this change won’t happen until May 4th. At that point, all Flying Blue Miles, regardless of when or how they were earned, will be under the same policy and expiration date. The old system will be in place before then, so be sure you don’t have any orphans that will disappear before then.
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This is already happening as of January. I had miles strictly acquired by points transfer. In mid-January my flight was delayed and I misconnected, had to stay in AMS overnight. KLM had to redo the Basic Economy ticket (which would otherwise earn no miles) and one segment (although it was a Delta ticket) I miraculously earned miles with AF/KLM instead of Delta like my family did who got for all 3 flights miles earnings going to Delta accounts as expected. One of 3 flights for me went earning AF/KLM miles without my consent, without me telling AF/KLM my FB number – my first miles earned by flying with AF/KLM in my life, which is funny considering I am flying frequently for 27 years mainly with Delta/AF/KLM across the pond. Anyway point is that my 235k AF/KLM miles were supposed to expire in June this year after that January flight now show expiring in 2028. Earning like 100 miles for one short flight did the trick.
I actually transferred 1000 miles from AMex today, which reset the clock on all of my Flying Blue miles.
I recently received an e-mail from flying blue notifying me about May 1st 2026. In the email it mentioned: “Want to extend the validity of your Miles, while enjoying them with your loved ones? Create a Flying Blue Family to pool and share Miles.
When you transfer Miles to a Family member, their validity will be extended. So you can create more memories together!”
Are there any data points Using this method to extend miles?
Damn, wish I knew before. My 44k miles expired two weeks ago because I didn’t realize it’s been 24 months. Any DPs on whether Flying Blue would reinstate the miles if I asked nicely?
This should read: I recently received an e-mail from flying blue notifying me about my miles that are due to expire May 1, 2026. In the email it mentioned: “Want to extend the validity of your Miles, while enjoying them with your loved ones? Create a Flying Blue Family to pool and share Miles.
When you transfer Miles to a Family member, their validity will be extended. So you can create more memories together!”
Are there any data points for using this method to extend miles?