Air France / KLM Flying Blue sweet spots for award travel

Flying Blue sweet spots have been more difficult to define than those in other programs ever since Air France and KLM ditched the Flying Blue award chart in favor of variable award pricing. However, given that they still offer reasonable prices on many routes, they are transfer partners will all of the major transferable currencies, and we frequently see transfer bonuses offered to Air France / KLM, Flying Blue sweet spots are still very much worthy of consideration. This post highlights those sweet spots that are likely to be of the most use for North America-based flyers.

Collecting Miles

Air France KLM Flying Blue is transfer partners with the following currencies and conversion rates:

As you can see above, it is incredibly easy to put together the miles for a Flying Blue redemption. Note that we also periodically see transfer bonuses to Flying Blue.

If you can time it out to take advantage of a good transfer bonus, the sweet spots below get even sweeter.  Current transfer bonuses to Flying Blue, if any, are displayed here:

Air France KLM Flying Blue Award Chart

Flying Blue got rid of its award chart a few years ago and pricing is now variable, particularly so on routes from the US. Travel is Free made an award chart a few years ago that is a good reference point if you’re looking to get an idea as to award costs (particularly between regions outside of North America).

Air France offers an “estimator” tool that is meant to give you an idea as to costs and you can find that tool here, but note that it isn’t always an entirely accurate reflection of prices you are likely to find on any given route. It theoretically gives you the low end starting point for tickets in each cabin, but there are exceptions that price above or below the rates shown via the tool.

A long-time “award chart sweet spot” for Flying Blue has been that they have considered Israel to be part of Europe. This has meant that Air France offered an excellent deal for business class flights to Tel Aviv and it has also meant that monthly “Promo Rewards” flights to/from Europe have included Israel. For a brief time, Flying Blue seemed to have ended that sweet spot, but then Israel was added back to Europe at some point.

Flying Blue Promo Rewards

Flying Blue offers monthly “Promo Rewards” that offer discounts on routes from select cities. New sales come out on the 1st of every month and are typically valid for booking during that calendar month and travel over the following 3 months, though we have seen booking windows expand further during the pandemic years. We sometimes see routes from North America to/from Europe available for 25-50% off. The nice thing is that the discounts are typically valid from the selected North American cities to any destination in Europe served by Air France or KLM, so if your North American city is included it can mean a sale to almost anywhere in Europe. Note that Promo Rewards can not be cancelled or refunded but can be changed free of charge until further notice in light of the pandemic.

Here is a link to current Flying Blue Promo Rewards.

Flying Blue award change and cancellation fees

Flying Blue has maintained a very flexible booking policy throughout the pandemic, allowing free changes and cancellations on most award flights provided you make your request to change or cancel before the departure of your first flight. Note that Promo Rewards can not be cancelled / redeposited but can be changed for free.

• Deadline: Latest check-in time
• Change fee: €45
• Cancellation fee: €45
• Notes: Promo Rewards ordinarily can not be cancelled or refunded. Changes have been temporarily allowed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Surcharges on Flying Blue award tickets

Flying Blue does levy “fuel surcharges” on award tickets on its own metal, though they are moderate (in the $150-$250 range each way on most flights). Note that surcharges on other airlines can vary. For instance, Flying Blue does add surcharges on Virgin Atlantic flights, but in most cases the surcharges are lower than those charged by Virgin Atlantic.

Child award tickets: save 25% for kids 11 and under

FlyingBlue offers discounted pricing for child award tickets. Not to be confused with an infant award ticket, a child award ticket is for a child between 2 and 11 years old.

AirFrance Flying Blue offers child award ticket discounts as high as 33% off adult pricing on short-haul flights or 25% off on long-haul flights. In other words, if an adult award ticket costs 60,000 miles for a long-haul flight, a child award ticket on the same flight likely costs 45,000 miles.

Note that this discounted child award pricing only applies to Air France or KLM-operated flights and only when booking your award ticket through Air France / KLM Flying Blue.

For instance, take this example flight with space in business class from Europe to the United States for 55K miles one-way:

The same flight would cost 110K for two adult passengers. But if you have one adult and one child between the ages of 2-11, the total comes to 96,750 miles for both passengers:

That’s a savings of exactly 25% on the child ticket (which costs 41,250 miles rather than 55,000 miles). While that may not feel huge, it beats the zero discount offered by most airlines on child award tickets (and at a savings of 27,500 miles on a round trip itinerary, it certainly doesn’t seem insignificant). Most airline programs charge the same adult fare for any passenger occupying a seat, so this is a pretty cool program feature. I hadn’t previously been aware of this, though I later noticed that Toni Perkins-Southam and Dia Adams had included information about this in their Flying Blue Ultimate Guide at Forbes.

For my family of four, this would work out to a savings of 55,000 miles round trip with two child tickets. That’s a nice savings.

Flying Blue Sweet Spots (Economy Class)

Africa

Europe

Fly Air France / KLM

Hawaii

North America

South America

Flying Blue Sweet Spots (Business Class)

Europe

Fly Air Europa

Fly Air France / KLM

Fly Virgin Atlantic

Hawaii

South America

Tahiti

Bottom line

On the surface, it seems difficult to put much stock in Flying Blue Sweet Spots since award pricing is variable and therefore difficult to predict. However, the nice thing is that since Air France and KLM partner with all of the major award currencies, you can hold off on transferring points until the stars align for a good redemption. In many cases, Flying Blue still offers competitive award pricing that gets significantly better on select routes and when you can stack with a transfer bonus or monthly Promo Reward sale. You’ll be on the hook for moderate surcharges, but in many situations you can still score a solid deal.

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