It’s now possible to redeem Air France-KLM Flying Blue miles for travel in international first class on some partner airlines, which is a pretty cool development! This was first quietly rolled out a few weeks ago, but has now been officially announced by Flying Blue.
Continue reading: Flying Blue’s Intriguing First Class Partner Awards
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I can see that flying Garuda first class would be aspirational but I’d rather fly 2x return on klm or Air France between the USA and Europe in biz.
This still exciting news in my book! I feel like this falls for updated reviews of Garuda and China Eastern F!
Ben...with all due respect...from what I can tell the last time you reviewed Garuda was 7 years ago. I was surprised to see that it still made your top ten first class list since so much can/has changed with airlines over that time period (morale, cutbacks, etc). Have you gotten feedback from other reliable flyers that the quality is still exceptional? My apologies if you have flown them since that review I am referencing and I just missed it!
In terms of lounge access AF/KLM is in fact much more generous than DL. Skyteam Elite Plus gets you AF/KLM lounge access on any itinerary including domestic within Europe.I’m DL Diamond but live in France and regularly benefit from this. Whereas this status isn’t enough on its own for DL Sky Club access as you point out.
Let's see if this benefit will extend to the other Skyteam airlines. I think Korean Air Skypass still lets you redeem on Saudia F so let's see if Flying Blue can negotiate for this availability as well. I won't expect to be able to access F award availability on airlines like JAL or Qantas despite Flying Blue having a partnership.
I flew them from Dehli to Mumbai earlier this year and it was pretty good but wouldn't describe it as exceptional. Boarding process was chaotic but the service once on board was great, food was decent. Business class hard product (seats/amenities) was on a par with most average airlines (looking at you, American Airlines) but a far cry from the exceptional ones like Qatar.
I remember reading that Garuda first class was going to be discontinued. Glad to see its still alive.
I have no experience on both mentioned airlines, but just talking a look of the pictures was showed, their 1st Class are mostly the bizz class on other companies. You can see the huge difference to the AF 1st Class (1st picture)
Hey Ben, not sure if you are talking about Witchita, KS or not, but it is not spelled with a "t." The correct spelling is Wichita.
As others have mentioned, GA is quite different now. Their first class product is still good, but not as great as when I tried F back in 2019.
After friends flying it recently it’s just not the same as it once was. GA went downhill in F and C over the last couple years.
I only fly them domestically, but international I’m not happy with them this year flying C.
(Side note, GA gotten so bad for their maintenance program that it’s comparable to Lion. Word of mouth from FA and pilot friends in Indonesia.)
Flying Blue's director (Ben Lipsey) has posted that AF doesn't extend lounge access to DL elites flying purely domestic itineraries in France (with DOM/TOM not being domestic for this purpose). So LYS-CDG shouldn't have lounge access for a DL Diamond, but LYS-CDG-FRA would.
Oops, replied to the wrong post there...
I have heard scuttlebutt that EY F will become bookable through FB as that partnership evolves. I am fairly sure that I've seen JL F availability as well.
With Garuda unsafe for decades and China Eastern offering a First Class service worthy of Premium Economy elsewhere, this is not earth-shattering, except for those 2 airlines which found a way of monetizing seats that otherwise are mostly empty or given out as upgrades. You will not see me on any of those...
Unless by "domestic" you mean BSL/GVA or DOM-TOM flights, this shouldn't be the case. Access should be only to those with an international flight the same day
Garuda pf today is not the same airline (company) of decades past. Only thing the same is the name they operate as.
Might seem weird, but AF only operates a very few domestic flights. KLM does operate any. Despite common misunderstanding, flights between two EU countries still are international flights.
In the past with Skypass miles I have seen ICN-CDG Korean air F awards “operated by Air France”. It was in the Korean air section, not in the Skyteam partner section, therefore did not have to book RT
Certainly hope they do start Saudia awards, I’d love to have that option! I might eventually have enough Skypass miles for Europe Riyadh/Jeddah but would much rather do a USA route ofc
I was going to comment on this, then realized that I have already posted my thoughts about this on October 12. Revenge may be a dish best eaten cold, but not airline news....
I wonder if they will also allow those redemptions on their non SkyTeam partners like Qantas or JAL.
The Garuda first class doesn’t look much better than China eastern on those photos. Maybe the food is better? But for that many more miles? I’ve flown China eastern biz before a couple of times. Seats are good but the food was awful.
Flying Garuda on Denpasar to Sydney next week for 40k Virgin Atlantic miles (was 55k flying blue miles for the same redemption). Think that’s much better value than GA first.
Just in response to Garuda’s quality, unfortunately I never had the chance to fly First with them but last week I did DPS-SYD in Business and it was a dream after the KLM flight AMS-SIN-DPS! I loved the upgraded Business seat but seriously, KLM can’t come close when it comes to service and food!
The Garuda experience was fabulous regarding service and when it comes to food well … they have like a chef on board so even if he can’t make miracles in a plane, already the presentation itself is awesome. On KLM I only got overcooked/overheated stuff and they manage to ruin the Michelin 3* menu! Based in NL and I keep on flying with them … and I like to little blue houses!
So I think Garuda’s First must still be awesome … even if it’s only on one route.
As mentioned above … you’ll have an amazing experience … and a great deal for your miles! Enjoy
Curious why you didn’t mention or speculate about Korean Airlines F. Do you think that may eventually be included? Why or why not?
Lovely! I just read your comments and it made me really excited! How did you enjoy the lounge at the airport?