The Air France-KLM Flying Blue program is improving its mileage expiration policy, in a way that most members will certainly appreciate.
In this post:
Flying Blue updates 24-month mileage expiration policy
Up until now, the mileage expiration policy for Air France-KLM Flying Blue has been as follows:
- Miles expire after 24 months of inactivity (though this doesn’t apply to Flying Blue elite members, for as long as they maintain their status)
- Only select activity can rest the expiration of miles, including crediting a flight to the program, or earning miles with a co-branded card
- Other mileage earning activity, like moving over points from a transferable points currency, wouldn’t reset the expiration of miles
This policy will finally be changing. As of May 4, 2026 (this applies to miles earned before or after that date), Flying Blue will use the same 24-month mileage expiration policy for all miles earned. In other words, all your miles will have one expiration date, and any activity that involves earning miles will reset that expiration.
For what it’s worth, this is the first time that Flying Blue has meaningfully updated its mileage expiration policy since 2017. At that time, we saw the period of inactivity before miles expire increase from 20 months to 24 months.
This is a sensible policy change from Flying Blue
I’m very happy to see Flying Blue update its policy, since it means that you can now extend the expiration of your miles simply by moving over a small number of points from a transferable currency. This new policy isn’t only more generous, but it’s also just more straightforward, as I know the old policy confused a lot of people.
It’s nice to see positive changes from a program, without a catch. For that matter, I’ll add that I think a two-year mileage expiration policy is perfectly fair. Personally, I don’t care much if programs have miles that don’t expire, since ultimately I’d rather they invest more in other areas, for engaged members (keeping in mind that every perk comes with a tradeoff and opportunity cost).
Bottom line
The Air France-KLM Flying Blue program is improving its mileage expiration policy. As of May 2026, all Flying Blue miles won’t expire as long as there’s at least some earning activity every 24 months.
Under the old policy, only select earning activity (including crediting flights and spending on a Flying Blue credit card) can extend the expiration of miles, while miles earned through other means can’t be used to extend miles.
What do you make of this Flying Blue mileage expiration policy change?
How about NO expiration, please?...
In practice I've always been able to extend the mileage (a mix of flown and credit card mileage) by redeeming a few points from Chase. So to me it's always seemed to worked like this unofficially; is this just a change in official policy?
just transferred 1K points from AMEX to AF and confirmed all prior points now expire 2/26/28.
This is fantastically welcome news!
Especially from the perspective of a member outside the regions where the FlyingBlue credit card is available one way or another.
Also the other 'eligible activity' ~ flights with AF/KLM or SkyTeam partners is geographically restricted for me.
So, since I have some miles accrued for past hotel bookings which today do nothing to reset my overall miles haul, expiring on June 27 2027, will reset my...
This is fantastically welcome news!
Especially from the perspective of a member outside the regions where the FlyingBlue credit card is available one way or another.
Also the other 'eligible activity' ~ flights with AF/KLM or SkyTeam partners is geographically restricted for me.
So, since I have some miles accrued for past hotel bookings which today do nothing to reset my overall miles haul, expiring on June 27 2027, will reset my whole expiry date to then.
For me, a big big win!
This is great news because any Accor stay allows for double dipping and earning FB miles. Just link your memberships and make sure you stay in an airport Ibis Styles or something every so often.
Great, now if only Singapore Airlines could learn from this example, because Krisflyer has the most disgusting and pathetic mileage expiration scheme of any major carrier!
Hear hear!
That would be massive if KF changes it's policy to something similar.
This is a great update. 2026 has been a rough year so far (especially in points/miles), so it's nice to see something that's actually an improvement for us. I still think FB is a great program.
I let 200k flying blue expire accidentally and flying blue reinstated them a few months later after a Qantas redemption which was fantastic.
Great! Pity Lifemiles are not as accomodating.
How are Flying Blue members getting elite status with no activity for 24 months?
Platinum for Life maybe?
Exactly - PfL essentially has lifelong mile validity.
This policy is nonsense. Expiring miles is bs and should be banned.
Would love to see some common-sense consumer protections actually regulated eventually....
Your article is not clear. Up until now, Flying Blue miles are two types: miles earned through flying, and miles earned any other way (e.g. credit card transfers from Chase, AMEX, etc). Miles earned through flying can only have their expiration extended by flying miles and use of the AF credit card. If you have miles earned through flying and miles earned from credit card transfers, they all get the same expiration date as miles...
Your article is not clear. Up until now, Flying Blue miles are two types: miles earned through flying, and miles earned any other way (e.g. credit card transfers from Chase, AMEX, etc). Miles earned through flying can only have their expiration extended by flying miles and use of the AF credit card. If you have miles earned through flying and miles earned from credit card transfers, they all get the same expiration date as miles earned through flying and can only be extended through flying miles. If you only have miles from credit card transfers (not flying miles), these can be extended by credit card transfers. I know, quite complicated; I'm glad it's changing to all miles expiration extended by any activity (flying or credit card transfers).
Yeah, the post needs to be updated -- his bulleted list of the prior policy does not explain the distinction of how there were two categories of miles with different reset policies.
I totally agree. FB has been the most confusing program ever, with their pathetic two tier system. So, will transferring miles from, let's say Wells Fargo, reset the expiration of 'miles earned through flying'? Or will they again end up in the other 'drawer', and at some point be available in whatever mysterious way for award booking?
Your article is really not clear about what is changing? Doers a transfer reset the clock or not? I dont understand what you wrote. thanks please clarify
No expiration would be better!
Is it confirmed that transfers from credit cards would count as "earning"?
I have avoided ever crediting flights to this program because of the convoluted expiration policy. Always seemed weird to me to discourage engagement with the program this way.
All you had to do was to credit one flight every two years to keep all the miles forever. Hardly a convoluted expiration policy.
This is a great improvement because transferring in new points will reset the expiration date for all of your points in the account. I'll engage the program more because I have less "range anxiety" LOL
Does this mean transferring in new points will reset the expiration date for all of your points in the account?