The Flying Blue mileage program represents one of the largest airline partnerships in the world between Air France and KLM (Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij) airlines. Flying Blue is also part of the SkyTeam Airlines Alliance (e.g., Delta) and has codeshare agreements with Virgin Atlantic and Air Europa. Flying Blue is a transfer partner for all major transferable points programs (e.g., MR, UR, and Capital One points). Flying Blue is one of the rare international programs that uses dynamic pricing without any published award charts. Flying Blue also charges award ticket taxes (low to moderate) on its own airlines and some partner airlines like Virgin Atlantic. Some of the partner airlines (Delta, Aeromexico, and Air Europa) can be booked with very low taxes and some of the sweet spots are described in this post.
Flying Blue Awards
Flying Blue consistently releases saver award space almost a year in advance on Air France and KLM flights. Flying Blue also has periodic Promo Rewards program specials, which can offer up to 50% off award tickets. For advanced purchases with flexible travel dates, you can find similarly discounted saver awards (e.g., 55,000 miles for one-way business) without the need for promotions. It is not uncommon to see dynamic awards priced out for a million points, especially when looking for travel dates close to the time of departure.
Flying Blue Mileage Expiration & Cancellation Policy
Flying Blue miles expire after inactivity for 24 months (for non-elites) and the program has a confusing policy to extend the validity by “Overall extending activities” and “Partial extending activities” (https://www.flyingblue.us/en/faq/categories/all-about-miles).
If your Flying Blue miles are solely obtained from flying the KLM/Air France group of airlines (e.g., European frequent flyers), these miles can be extended by the “Overall extending activities” including taking a flight with Flying Blue Alliance (Air France, KLM or one of the airline partners) or making a purchase with an eligible co-branded credit card, which will extend the validity of all FB Miles to 2 years from the date of the activity.
If your Flying Blue miles are solely obtained from transferring credit card points (e.g., most U.S.-based travelers), these miles can be extended for another 24 months by either transferring more miles or by “Partial extending activities” (e.g., car rental partners and hotel partners). It is important to emphasize that “Partial extending activities” DO NOT extend the validity of Miles earned from “Overall extending activities” from the above paragraph.
See the picture below from my Flying Blue account showing the miles extended simply from transferring the Amex MR points.
Flying Blue only charges €50 per person to make any changes/cancellations of award booking and to redeposit miles to your account.
Searching for the Flying Blue Award Space
Both KLM and Air France websites can be used to find the Flying Blue awards (https://www.klm.com) and click on the “book with miles” tab above the search bar.
Flying Blue Virgin Atlantic Redemptions
Taxes/fees charged by Flying Blue are a lot less in comparison to booking a flight directly from Virgin Atlantic (similar to Asia Miles charging fewer taxes on British airways).
For example, Virgin Atlantic charges 47,500 points for a JFK-LHR business class flight (taxes $876).
The same flight on Flying Blue costs ~20,000 miles more but only $186 in fees. This method is useful if you are short on cash but have excess credit card points. Virgin Atlantic also offers expanded saver space for its own program redemptions. You can see from the screenshot below, Flying Blue is showing a lack of availability from Jan 22-24.
It is important NOT to screen for the required points by looking at the scrollable horizontal calendar bar above the search results. This bar shows accurate results only for KLM/Air France flights but NOT for partner flights (Virgin and Air Europa).
Flying Blue has dynamic point requirements for partner flights based on location and the number of available saver awards. You will get the lowest point redemptions from major hubs (e.g., JFK) and the point requirement can be higher from smaller travel hubs (see the example below from Orlando).
Flying Blue Delta Redemptions
Flying Blue miles are best used for Delta flights to South America since Virgin Atlantic charges more miles for the same booking. Since Delta rarely releases business class award space, it requires a lot of patience to first look for partner awards in the Virgin Atlantic calendar search and then book them with Flying Blue miles. See below for some booking examples (some are for two passengers).
Flying Blue Air Europa Redemptions
Air Europa randomly releases saver award seats, and the flights are difficult to find in the Flying Blue search engine. You must browse one day at a time to NOT miss them and you MUST NOT look at the top horizontal scroll bar mileage information. I tried to first find the Air Europa Saver awards in Expert Flyer and then went to Flying Blue to locate them, but I could not find any matching award space. If you are lucky to find Air Europa flights on Flying Blue, you will get away with paying the least amount of taxes for the outbound flights to Europe and the inbound flight taxes are also low (see screenshots below).
Summary
The Flying Blue program offers some of the best award redemptions on its own flights and partner flights to and from the US to French Polynesia, Europe, Israel, and Morocco. I recommend readers try and find some Air Europa business class awards (with the least taxes) to get the most out of Flying Blue miles. Due to the dynamic award structure of the program, earlier planning and a flexible travel schedule are the best way to maximize savings. Flying Blue has recently announced free one-way stopovers, which will come in very handy to plan a stopover in Spain.