Air France-KLM Flying Blue Paid Status Match Promotion

For quite some time, Air France-KLM Flying Blue has been offering a paid status match promotion. There’s now an interesting update, as we’ve seen a special offer rolled out for British Airways Executive Club members (in light of the major program changes).

Let’s go over the details of the offers, though let me emphasize that you’ll want to follow this link to apply for the general status match promotion, and this link to apply for the special British Airways status match promotion. In all cases, you’ll want to read the terms closely, as there are geographic restrictions.

Basics of Flying Blue’s status match promo

The website statusmatch.com is currently partnering with Air France-KLM Flying Blue to offer a status match promotion, with the option to earn Silver, Gold, or Platinum status. This offer is available to residents of several countries, at different price points, and with different restrictions. Specifically:

• For residents of Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Japan, Panama, Peru, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates, you’ll pay $99 for a Silver match, $299 for a Gold match, or $399 for a Platinum match
• For residents of Brazil and Hong Kong, you’ll pay $99 for a Silver match, or $299 for a Gold match (Platinum matches aren’t available to these members)
• For residents of the United Kingdom matching British Airways status, you’ll pay £99 regardless of whether you match to Silver, Gold, or Platinum

The status match request should take just a minute to complete, though it can take up to five business days for the request to be approved. Matched status is valid for a period of 12 months from when the match is approved. There’s no published end date for this promotion, though it can be pulled at any time.

Which airline status is Flying Blue matching?

According to the FAQs, Flying Blue is matching status from the following 25 programs:

• Aer Lingus AerClub
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Air India Flying Returns
• Alaska Mileage Plan
• All Nippon Airways Mileage Club
• American AAdvantage
• avianca lifemiles
• British Airways Executive Club
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
• EgyptAir Plus
• Emirates Skywards
• Etihad Guest
• Finnair Plus
• Iberia Plus
• Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• LATAM Pass
• Lufthansa Miles & More
• Malaysia Airlines Enrich
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club
• Singapore KrisFlyer
• TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go
• Turkish Miles&Smiles
• United MileagePlus
• WestJet Rewards

As you can see, this includes many non-SkyTeam airlines, with a presence across the globe. Status maps over roughly as you’d expect, with top tier status generally mapping to Flying Blue Platinum, entry level status generally mapping to Flying Blue Silver, etc. The exception, as mentioned above, is that residents of select regions aren’t eligible for a Flying Blue Platinum match.

How this status match opportunity could be useful

Flying Blue is generally a valuable program for award redemptions, and I redeem miles through Flying Blue all the time. Even beyond the redemption opportunities, there’s value to having status with Flying Blue. Status really gets valuable with Flying Blue Gold and Platinum.

Flying Blue Gold status offers:

• The ability to earn 7x miles per € spent on airfare
• SkyTeam Elite Plus status, which offers priority check-in, priority security, priority boarding, extra baggage, lounge access, and much more, whether flying with Air France, KLM, or a SkyTeam partner
• Some free premium seat options 72 hours before departure

Flying Blue Platinum status incrementally offers:

• The ability to earn 8x miles per € spent on airfare
• The ability to redeem Flying Blue miles for Air France first class (La Premiere)
• Free premium seat options at the time of booking; you can even pre-reserve the bulkhead seats in Air France’s new Airbus A350 and Boeing 777 business class, which I’d consider to be the world’s best business class seats
• Access to a dedicated Platinum phone service line
• Waived change & cancelation fees on Flying Blue awards

In general, this status match opportunity is an easy way to unlock SkyTeam Elite Plus perks, regardless of which airline you may fly. On top of that, for those eligible for a Flying Blue Platinum status match, that could be worth it for the ability to redeem miles for Air France first class.

Even if you’re not eligible for the Platinum match, I’d note that taking advantage of a Flying Blue Gold status match gets you closer to Platinum status. The system of qualifying for status with Flying Blue works a bit differently than with other programs:

• 100 XPs gets you Flying Blue Silver status
• You then need 180 additional XPs to earn Flying Blue Gold status
• You then need 300 additional XPs to earn Flying Blue Platinum status

However, there’s a bit more nuance to this, which also makes it easier to earn status. For example, you don’t need 580 XPs in a year to earn Platinum status:

• Once you earn 100 XPs in a membership year, you’ll earn Silver status
• Your status will then be reset, and you’ll need to earn 180 XPs over the next 12 months to earn Gold status
• Your status will then be reset, and you’ll need to earn 300 XPs over the next 12 months to earn Platinum status
• Maintaining status on an ongoing basis simply requires 100 XPs for Silver, 180 XPs for Gold, and 300 XPs for Platinum

In other words, if you started from scratch and wanted to earn Flying Blue Platinum status, you’d need to earn 580 XPs. Meanwhile if you already had Gold status through this match, you’d only need to earn 300 XPs in order to earn Platinum status.

Bottom line

The Air France-KLM Flying Blue program is currently offering a status match promotion, whereby you can pay for a 12-month status match all the way up to Flying Blue Platinum status. The major restriction is the residency requirements, as this is limited to those in select regions. There’s even a special status match promotion for British Airways flyers, which is the most lucrative.

If you value SkyTeam Elite Plus status, or if you want a shortcut to Flying Blue Platinum status, this offer could be well worth it, assuming you meet the eligibility requirements.

Do you plan on taking advantage of this Flying Blue status match opportunity?