Nowadays I don’t seek out airline elite status the same way that I used to in the past. While I still think there’s huge value to earning airline miles, the value of status simply isn’t there in the way that it used to be, at least not consistently — upgrades are tougher to come by,…
Continue reading: Air France-KLM Flying Blue Elite Status: Best Strategy To Earn Platinum Or Gold
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
The chart related to the XP is not the latest version. FB introduced a small change: you would earn only 2XP (and not 5) in the Medium threshold if you buy an Economy Basic Fare ticket. On the other hand you would get 2XP more on Eco Flex fare.
Be aware that in Europe AF/KLM introduced Basic tickets in Y a while back which only yield 2 XP for medium flights. In addition to this when buying the most expensive flex fare, a bonus of 2 XP will be granted (7 XP).
Worth noting the xp table has recently been updated with penalties for basic economy (2xp instead of 5 for medium economy)
Open the card first. Then status match to Gold. Then the extra XP on card anniversary count towards Plat.
Any data points whether you can match from Bilt more than once (i.e., every year)?
Anyone have any insight as to how much better award availability is for silver members? I’m close to it but I’m not sure if it’s worth it.
It's not. You'll need Plat for better availability. The difference between Plat and non-Plat is substantial. With Plat, I don't have any trouble finding 60K long haul awards, but for my wife with Silver, it's few and far between. They can still be found, but it takes effort.
It feels extremely unsafe that you let the team member '1990' police and flood every comment section.
Can we get a 2 week break from that? Also, very interesting that account uses 'Zing!' and "Woah!' so much.
“Woah!” I wasn’t even on this thread yet. Bah! (That’s another phase I use a lot.) You do you, but, like any thoughts on FlyingBlue at least?
Also, why not start by actually registering with the site? You can earn Whose-Line-Is-It-Anyway?-style OMAAT points and status. (Trying some 90s references, just for you, girl.) Oh, and, less ads that way!
I basically feel that Air France provides good experiences (both soft product and hard product), and that this is worth something as an intangible. I usually try to fly with them when there are options. They aren't perfect, but they're more often good than North American airlines.
They're definitely the best of the big three in Europe, though I have generally had pretty good experiences when flying with AC (admittedly not a huge amount of flights so I may have been lucky) and AM so to my mind the three of them are roughly at the same level, at least as long as we're not talking about first class which the others don't offer (and nor have I experienced on AF).
@Ben - I appreciate the extra focus on the reality of heafty La Premier redemptions here. People should be clear eyed on that. Thank you for that.
Summary of the response to the question 'what's the best Flying Blue elite status strategy?':
Base yourself on an entirely different continent to the one where the airline is based and take advantage of schemes that aren't available to most people who need and/or want to fly with it often.
You're welcome!
Ben - would you recommend waiting since we’re getting towards the end of the year?
Excellent post, Lucky. Been considering FB and this explains everything perfectly. Thanks.