I recently wrote about how I’m thinking of going for elite status with Air France-KLM Flying Blue. I’m not sure my logic is 100% sound, as the incremental perks to me would be fairly limited. Really what I’m trying to get access to is Air France first class awards, which are reserved for Flying Blue…
Continue reading: The Intriguing World Of Flying Blue Mileage Runs
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
While we all know how intra-Europe business class looks like, it would be interesting if you could review special meals.
For example, KSML always is a gamble: sometimes they serve fantastic meals even on the shortest flights - but sometimes you get a box of food with a shelf life of a couple years. (Actually I like the box because if you’re not hungry you can eat it later).
Besides, there are hardly any (English) reviews out there about religious meals. So that might be beneficial.
You can also earn an extra 12 XP per European sector for EUR113 each sector. Your 6 sectors would earn you 162XP (90XP + 72XP) "Sustainable Aviation Fuel: pay €113 – you will gain 12 XP" And you can get an extra 46 XP on a transatlantic sector for EUR 469. "Sustainable Aviation Fuel: pay €469 – you will gain 47 XP"
According to Flying Blue: https://www.flyingblue.com/en/programme/xp
"You can also contribute with cash to reforestation projects or the purchase of SAF and be rewarded with XP. Participation in reforestation and the purchase of SAF are available as an option in ‘My Reservation’/My Trip section of airfrance.com and klm.com and during check-in for commercial and reward tickets."
Paying the extra money allegedly helps the environment in two ways, one in offsetting the flights you are on and you don't have to take the second mileage run to get almost the same amount of XP. Plus you earn points on the cost of the cash purchase.
I only have silver now and am thinking about doing this. Funny, I used my Silver status a few years ago, when you could still get an F class award as Silver, and was all booked in F on AF. AF cancelled the flight and put me on Swiss in F and while I missed getting my F flight on AF, I qualified for Senator status with that Swiss flight. Still waiting to experience AF First Class.
DUS - KRK J rt -> 15*4 = 60 . I dont see the 90 xp.... platinum would be reached on the 10th trip...
I don’t see much additional benefit for being Platinum over Gold? Is it worth earning another 300XP for?
The itinerary Ben cited was KRK-AMS-CDG-DUS return, so three sectors each way. That's 15x6 R/T.
Yes. And to Position to KRK i recommend a combination of Wizz and Ryanair and Easyjet 🙂
Look for flights from Budapest are very cheap (currently Nairobi for about €1300 rtn) and will bring you lots of miles. BUD is seemingly the fight zone for AF/KLM and LH trying to outdo each other.
@ Nikojas -- Probably not for my purposes. Maybe I'm just thinking I might as well go all the way if I try to begin with, to see if I do notice any incremental perks. But Gold would be more than sufficient.
No mention of the AF credit card from BofA that earns XP for sign-up and annual XP's. These aren't a ton but will give you a head start for nearly no cost. I find short-haul Delta flights make it pretty easy to earn and maintain FlyingBlue status.
ATH-JED-XYZ (eg. MNL, SIN, BKK) on SV can sometimes be booked for ~€750 in C RT. Should give you plenty of FlyingBlue XP.
Dear Ben,
quite interesting thoughts about earning the status.
But what would be the outcome from the award-perspective? How many miles would you earn by flying, and, what other possibilities are there for gathering miles? Or is it just the point to buy them then if promos are offered and then having Gold status to use them for F-awards?
best wishes Michael
Reminder that the SAF purchase can only be done via KLM now, but that includes tix purchased on/via AF.
If your are going for it go all the way and get ultimate status so you can tell us what it's like....
Westjet often has dirt cheap j seats between yyc and cdg. Just flew that route for $1200CAD one way
When one is younger spending time on fancy planes is fun. When one is older, spending time with family is much more important. Where are you in your life?
To me, an two connection Intra Europe flight sounds horrible. Easy for something to go sideways and take all day. But if it’s your job that’s one thing , we all need more priority lounge reviews I guess. If it’s for fun I don’t see it.
It’s not like the different AF short hood are all that different.
If you're not planning on flying AF/KL regularly, Gold is good enough for the perks. The main platinum perk is the platinum service line, which helps enormously when things don't go according to plan. Other bits are in economy: You get a free seat up front. AF tends to give plats a shadow, that is, an empty middle seat, the rare op up when things are busy (once a year kind of thing), KL FAs will occasionally offer you something, and AF FAs occasionally offer a glass of wine from business on the long hair. In business, you might get a postcard or a thank you from the purser.
Finally, when they allow golds to pick a free seat only 72 hours in advance, plats will be the only ones with free seats at purchase.
@ Bertrand -- It's a business class fare, not an economy class fare. Three segments in each direction, and 15 XPs per segment.
Sounds fun! But how long before FB goes to revenue qualification, like M&M, BA and IB?
@Ben: When does the first year start? Is it January 1, or the anniversary of when I joined Flying Blue, or something else? If something other than the calendar year, how do I find out when it begins (ie: I don't know when I first joined FB)
Thanks!
Also from Budapest with Lufthansa + Vietnam Airlines for Euro 2.400 in J long-haul to Melbourne or Sydney
After being booted from the Bradley TBIT OW lounge on a domestic segment (they finally figured out that not all Emerald statuses are equal), I briefly looked into crediting my flights to Quantas. I fly domestic paid first a lot, and so getting their Emerald status using their tier point structure (somewhat similar to this) would have been fairly simple.
Except that one requirement that you have to be on their metal 4x year. I just can't justify that many trips to Australia. :\ Lame!
To frame the task, your objective is to be able to redeem Air France first class and nothing more. Gold is all that is necessary to do that; Platinum is not necessary. Step 1: To get you on your way, you get the Flying Blue credit card and obtain the XPs via it. Step 2: XP run.
The question now becomes whether your desire to redeem Air France is a bucket-list one-and-done sort of thing or an ongoing capability. If it is one-and-done, you only need the 180 XPs and that's it.
If you want an ongoing capability, you shoot for the 180 XPs (to reach Gold) and then 290 XPs (but not 300 XPs to reach Platinum). The 290 XPs will roll into the next year. 180 XPs will be deducted for re-qualification the next year and 110 XPs will roll into the following year. In that following year, you would only need 70 XPs to re-qualify. Alternatively, if after earning the 290 XPs, you have the following year's reset and you earn (say) 120 XPs per year going forward, you could extend your Gold status to about seven years total.
So, ask yourself whether you intend to redeem Air France first class on an ongoing basis. Is the juice worth the squeeze? There's one point currency that you will be burning to get this capability and you can't earn or buy any more of that point currency: hours of your life.
BA & IB do not link elite status qualification with revenue (yet). Both will soon base Avios earnings on the fare paid but for now, the way elite status is earned remains unchanged.
You can find out your renewal date on your Flying Blue profile page. It used to be year to year but changed to match when you achieve a new status (end of that month, plus 1 year will be your new renewal 'deadline') but this changed when they moved over to the XP system.
@ben in case you hadn't noticed, Flying Blue has updated the tiers and benefits! Exciting to see overdraft miles rolled out for Ultimate members - I'm excited to use that benefit!
https://www.flyingblue.com/fr/programme/more-info/tier-benefits
Does FB gold via Bilt status match provide a platform for earning FB platinum?
If someone has millions of amex points, FB plat would be extremely beneficial for booking first class flights. FB network is ginormous!