Strategically buying miles & points for luxury travel can be a great deal. We’ve just seen the Air France-KLM Flying Blue program launch a new promotion on purchased miles, with an offer to buy miles with up to an 80% bonus, at a cost of 1.69 cents each. While not quite in line with the…
Continue reading: Buy Air France-KLM Flying Blue Miles With 80% Bonus, 1.69 Cents Each: Worth It?
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
For me it's showing a 45% discount for purchasing more then 24000 miles. So 100k miles comes out to $1677,50, or 1,67cents per mile
Fuel surcharges on routes I fly have definitely increased recently, more in the USD 350-400 range. May be worth checking/editing.
Lets analyze the value proposition. For $3000 worth of miles you can at best get yourself a round trip in J class to Europe.
That may not be that bad. But now factor in about $1000 to $1200 worth of fuel surcharges, and you are looking at a cost of $4000 to $4200 on "award" travel.
Now even during the thick of summer you can find great availability just buying the good old fashioned way, with money. For example, last year saw a ORD-MUC RT in J on LH available for $2800plus RT in J for August travel dates.
Add to that even at this cost, you have to be flexible as that availability is few and far between for most routes.
So regular cost, low availability that expects you to have maximum flexibility. I would pass.
I would rather look for J class bargains.
I am also getting 45% Max! Is this a SCAM to get people to buy them at 25-45%? And I have Gold status also!
Which image? All the ones I can see are AF/KLM. The one at the top of the page has a Skyteam logo, and 'AIRFRANCE' below the port cockpit window.
I think the part about $200 in fees may be outdated.
Looking at USA-CDG-Asia, I am consistently seeing taxes and fees of $715. Even when I booked Vietnam Air using Flying Blue (SFO-SGN-BKK), I got hit with over $430 in taxes and fees.
Those big fees substantially cut into your "great value" proposition.
107k OW on Vietnam Airlines (SFO-SGN-BKK); 115k OW on the Air France flight (LAX-CDG-BKK)
For me it's showing a 45% discount for purchasing more then 24000 miles. So 100k miles comes out to $1677,50, or 1,67cents per mile
Will change name from "AF-KLM airline" to a new name : "KLM-AF lineair" .
Fuel surcharges on routes I fly have definitely increased recently, more in the USD 350-400 range. May be worth checking/editing.
Lets analyze the value proposition. For $3000 worth of miles you can at best get yourself a round trip in J class to Europe.
That may not be that bad. But now factor in about $1000 to $1200 worth of fuel surcharges, and you are looking at a cost of $4000 to $4200 on "award" travel.
Now even during the thick of summer you can find great availability just buying the good old fashioned way, with money. For example, last year saw a ORD-MUC RT in J on LH available for $2800plus RT in J for August travel dates.
Add to that even at this cost, you have to be flexible as that availability is few and far between for most routes.
So regular cost, low availability that expects you to have maximum flexibility. I would pass.
I would rather look for J class bargains.
Meh. 45% is the max I get.
I am also getting 45% Max! Is this a SCAM to get people to buy them at 25-45%? And I have Gold status also!
Looks like a Cathay plane? Is there a potential bid if they lose out on TP
Which image? All the ones I can see are AF/KLM. The one at the top of the page has a Skyteam logo, and 'AIRFRANCE' below the port cockpit window.
I think the part about $200 in fees may be outdated.
Looking at USA-CDG-Asia, I am consistently seeing taxes and fees of $715. Even when I booked Vietnam Air using Flying Blue (SFO-SGN-BKK), I got hit with over $430 in taxes and fees.
Those big fees substantially cut into your "great value" proposition.
107k OW on Vietnam Airlines (SFO-SGN-BKK); 115k OW on the Air France flight (LAX-CDG-BKK)
SCAM! 45% Only.
Data point: I just looked, and my offer is for up to 300,000 miles purchased, with an 80% bonus of 240,000 miles, for a total of 540,000 miles for US $9,150.
Which might be considered a good deal if one is booking, say, the USA to CDG to Asia in La Première (which can easily cost US $29,500++ if paying cash in November MIA-HND) for 700,000 miles, but one would still need to cough up an extra 160,000 miles + taxes and fees for that ticket.
Most of us do not get the 80% bonus. And than you have to add the taxes and fees which on the US-Europe RT can now touch $1000 plus dollars.
And now you have to factor in the latest devaluation, the business lite at saver rates with no lounge access and limited baggage allowance. Plus you will be the first to get kicked out in case of equipment change and such similar scenarios.
And suddenly the value proposition is out of the window. We are getting to a point where I would just fly the cheapest J fare available.
If you do buy, I've had good success with CIBP coding 3x. Also, Atmos Summit codes as 3x when you have them charged in euros.
Very informative. Thank you.
Absolutely not. Flying blue is cooked.
Not interesting. Very little possibilities for redemption nowadays and lots of inflation in points value.
It's extremely rare these days to see any points or miles for purchase that actually make a good deal.
I am surprised very few people have subscribed to "Subscribe to Miles" for 187 euros per month, which gives me 17000 miles.
Being Platinum for Life, it is the sweet spot to travel using my miles as my tickets are fully refundable.
Latest redemption; a roundtrip in business class for my wife, my 4 year old son and I just cost me 275 K miles in total with Air Europa from MAD - SDQ (Santo Domingo in Dominican Republic)