Air France-KLM Flying Blue Elite Status: Best Strategy To Earn Platinum Or Gold

Nowadays I don’t seek out airline elite status the same way that I used to in the past. While I still think there’s huge value to earning airline miles, the value of status simply isn’t there like it used to be years ago, at least not consistently — upgrades are tougher to come by, premium cabins are often priced more reasonably in cash, and all the while airlines have (mostly) made status harder to earn.

That being said, for a few years now I’ve been pursuing Air France-KLM Flying Blue elite status, as I think it’s a super fun program. I’ve now qualified for Platinum status with Flying Blue for quite some time, and would like to go over the basics of elite status in the program, and then share my strategy, especially in light of how the program has evolved over time. In particular, the Air France KLM Visa Signature® credit card (learn more) has for me become an increasingly important aspect of earning status.

Flying Blue elite status qualification requirements

What does it take to earn elite status in the Flying Blue program? Flying Blue uses “XP” (which stands for “experience points”) as the metric for earning status. That’s the only metric by which you earn status, so there’s no minimum number of segments that you have to fly on Air France-KLM in order to earn status. I appreciate the simplicity of that.

The system of qualifying for Flying Blue elite status works a bit differently than with other programs, but in a positive way:

• 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

There are a few other things that I want to point out:

• If you earn Flying Blue Platinum status for 10 years in a row, then you receive Flying Blue Platinum status for life
• Flying Blue offers rollover XPs if you exceed the elite requirements for a particular tier, though you’re limited to 300 rollover XPs at a time, which is the equivalent of extending Platinum status for a year
• Flying Blue also has Ultimate status, which requires 900 UXPs in a year, rather than the 300 required for Platinum; the difference between XPs and UXPs (the “U” stands for Ultimate) is that the latter can only be earned from travel on Air France-KLM (including the purchase of sustainable aviation fuel), and not from travel on partner airlines, or from credit cards
• Flying Blue elite status membership doesn’t follow the calendar year, but rather is based on when you reach a particular threshold, and then you have 12 months to requalify (really it’s through the end of the 12th month)

How to earn Flying Blue XPs for elite status

Above I talked about how many XPs you need to earn elite status with Flying Blue. But how do you actually earn XPs in the program? The obvious way is to earn XPs through flying with Air France, KLM, and partner airlines. However, there are some other creative ways to earn XPs, including through the co-branded Flying Blue credit card, as well as through purchasing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), which is even possible on award tickets. Let’s go through the various methods for earning XPs.

Earning Flying Blue XPs for flights

The most obvious way to earn XPs with Flying Blue is by actually flying. Below is the chart showing how many XPs you earn per segment on Air France-KLM, or on SkyTeam partner airlines (non-SkyTeam partner airlines can earn you miles, but not XPs).

Let me emphasize that there’s no requirement to actually fly Air France-KLM, so you could earn status exclusively through travel on partner airlines, if you wanted to.

It’s definitely easiest to rack up XPs with short haul international flights. Just to give a few examples:

• A roundtrip nonstop Delta business class ticket from Tampa to New York would earn you 12 XPs
• A roundtrip Air France business class ticket from Frankfurt to London via Paris would earn you 60 XPs
• A roundtrip Aeromexico business class ticket from Miami to Lima via Mexico City would earn you 78 XPs
• A roundtrip Aeromexico business class ticket from New York to Sao Paulo via Mexico City would earn you 108 XPs

While flying is of course the primary way to earn XPs, it’s not the only way, and there are some other creative options.

Earning Flying Blue XPs with credit cards

The Air France KLM Visa Signature® credit card (learn more) is issued in the United States, and is a great way to earn XPs:

• The Flying Blue credit card often has a welcome bonus that includes 100 XPs upon completing minimum spending, so that’s enough to earn you Silver status, or if you have a higher tier, it could earn you even more
• The Flying Blue credit card offers 20 XPs on the account anniversary every year, with no spending requirement
• The Flying Blue credit card offers up to 140 XPs for annual spending — earn 80 XPs for spending $15,000 annually, and earn another 60 XPs for spending a total of $25,000 annually

In other words, for signing up for the card you can earn up to 100 XPs, and then on an ongoing basis, you can earn up to 160 XPs annually on the card. If you’re an existing Platinum member, that alone gets you over half way to requalifying for Flying Blue Platinum status.

Earning Flying Blue XPs for sustainable aviation fuel

Flying Blue awards members with XPs for buying carbon offsets, purchasing sustainable aviation fuel, and donating to charity, and you can generate XPs that way.

Sustainable aviation fuel can typically be purchased in conjunction with a flight ticket, even if you’re booking an award. For example, looking at a New York (JFK) to Paris (CDG) business class award, you could purchase sustainable aviation fuel for $899.90, and earn 84 XPs. Generally you can expect XPs will cost around €10 each using this method.

You can make donations to charity completely separate from travel, and you’ll earn one XP for every 2,000 miles donated, and there are lots of charities to choose from.

Personally I’d rather earn one XP for €10 rather than for 2,000 miles, but the benefit of the latter is that it can be done without taking a flight. If you have enough travel, this basically means you can purchase 300 XPs for €3,000, all while contributing to a good cause.

Earning Flying Blue status with status match or Bilt

Separate from earning Flying Blue XPs to qualify for elite status, there are two other practical ways to earn Flying Blue elite status.

First, Flying Blue often has a paid status match promotion. The eligible programs, countries, and tiers do change over time, so you’ll want to check the status match application to see the current situation. This is of course a great way to easily earn status.

Second, Bilt Rewards and Flying Blue have a partnership, and with this, Bilt Platinum members can receive Flying Blue Gold status. The status is valid for 12 months, and you just need to transfer 10,000 points from Bilt Rewards in order to activate this. Many people use the Bilt Palladium Card (learn more) (Rates & Fees) for everyday spending, and therefore rack up Platinum status pretty easily.

What’s great about getting a status match (whether a paid option or through Bilt) is that it also makes it easier to qualify for a higher elite tier. For example, if you’re starting from scratch and want to earn Flying Blue Platinum status, you’d need 580 XPs (though you potentially have well over a year to earn it). Meanwhile if you already have Flying Blue Gold status, you only need 300 XPs.

Flying Blue elite status perks & benefits

With discussion of Flying Blue elite status out of the way, what are the perks of Flying Blue elite status? Let’s go over the incremental perks offered at each tier.

Flying Blue Silver status offers:

• The ability to earn 6x miles per € spent on airfare
• Priority check-in, baggage drop off, and boarding, on Air France and KLM
• Free selection of standard seats at time of booking
• Some free premium seat options 24 hours before departure
• One free extra checked bag on SkyTeam flights

Flying Blue Gold status incrementally 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)
• Access to additional award availability, which can come in handy, including for long haul business class
• Free seat selection at the time of booking, including on “Light” fares, and in many cases access to premium seats
• Two additional checked bags, beyond the standard limit for the fare you’re traveling on
• Waived change & cancelation fees on Flying Blue awards
• Access to a dedicated Platinum phone service line
• With the recent Flying Blue devaluation, one of the great things is that Platinum members can still book “Light” fares while being able to cancel awards for free, while still selecting seats, getting lounge access, etc., so that’s a hugely beneficial perk

Three Flying Blue Platinum perks that I value most

As mentioned above, I have Flying Blue Platinum status. Aside from the super obvious priority services and benefits, let me share the three perks that really make the status valuable to me, at least based on my own situation.

Flying Blue Platinum extra award availability

I’d argue that the single most valuable perk of Flying Blue Platinum status is the access to extra business class award availability. I’ve gotten huge value from this, and have been able to book my whole family in business class across the Atlantic on Air France when there otherwise wasn’t award availability. Given how hard award space can be to come by, I consider that to be pretty awesome.

Seriously, award availability has generally become so bad across the industry that being able to snag nonstop business class award seats directly from Miami (MIA) in advance is something I value immensely, and for me, it makes Platinum status worth it.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Flying Blue is transfer partners with all major transferable points currencies, and we frequently see transfer bonuses of 25%, which means it’s possible to rack up Flying Blue miles at a favorable rate, if you’re strategic. I also love how Flying Blue offers a 25% award discount for children 11 and under, which is particularly useful for family travel.

Flying Blue Platinum more award ticket flexibility

Flying Blue recently devalued miles, whereby award tickets on Air France and KLM metal now come in three tiers. The cheapest fares are now “Light,” and that means they don’t allow changes, refunds, etc. Personally, I value flexibility immensely, so I value booking a fare that allows changes.

For example, looking at a one-way transatlantic business class award, you’ll pay 60,000 miles for a “Light” fare, and 75,000 miles for a “Standard” fare. What’s great is that Flying Blue Platinum members still maintain flexibility on these tickets, unlike other members. So that saves me 15,000 miles per ticket, and that’s also super valuable. The combination of more award availability and better pricing for the same product is tough to beat!

Flying Blue Platinum Air France first class awards

Lastly, in theory being able to redeem miles for Air France first class is a great benefit. I rank Air France as having the best first class inflight product in the world, as well as the best first class ground experience, though you can only redeem miles for it if you have Flying Blue Platinum status or above.

The catch is that these awards are insanely expensive. We’ve seen huge inflation to these costs in recent years, and at this point, you’re going to pay 350,000 miles one-way for transatlantic first class, if there’s availability. Furthermore, technically these awards are limited to one seat per flight. That’s a far cry from a couple of years ago, when these awards started at 160,000 miles one-way. Then again, Air France has introduced a new first class, and you can even redeem for that.

So while redeeming for Air France first class is a great deal compared to the revenue costs, this is still a massive amount to spend, so I wouldn’t view this as a core perk.

What’s the best Flying Blue elite status strategy?

I’ve now had Flying Blue elite status for around three years, so let me share my own journey, and also how I’m approaching things on an ongoing basis.

I initially earned Flying Blue Gold status through the Bilt Rewards status match, which was a great shortcut to get me into the ecosystem, since I then only needed 300 XPs to earn Platinum status.

I then picked up the Air France KLM Visa Signature® credit card (learn more), which earned me another 100 XPs as part of the welcome bonus, getting me one third of the way to the 300 XPs needed to upgrade my elite status.

How have I otherwise earned Flying Blue XPs toward elite status? Well, through a combination of all other means. For one, I credit all my SkyTeam flights to Flying Blue, including any flights on Air France, KLM, Delta, etc. In some years, that’s enough for me to qualify.

However, if I’m short, I’ll then buy sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) on any tickets I have on Air France and KLM, including award tickets, and that typically costs me around €10 per XP.

With the recent refresh to the Air France KLM credit card, my strategy is to spend $25,000 per year on the card in order to earn a total of 160 XPs toward status, meaning that I only otherwise need to earn 140 XPs to earn Platinum status. That’s pretty achievable!

Flying Blue elite status FAQs

Bottom line

I tend to think that Air France-KLM Flying Blue is the most valuable SkyTeam frequent flyer program. It’s one that I use all the time for redemptions, and I also appreciate having Platinum status in the program.

While access to first class awards might sound like the most exciting feature, with the cost inflation we’ve seen, it’s not as exciting as it used to be. Instead, I’m really getting value out of the access to extra business class award availability, the additional flexibility on “Light” award tickets, and the general SkyTeam Elite Plus perks.

Thankfully the Air France KLM Visa Signature® credit card (learn more) now makes it much easier to earn Flying Blue elite status, as you can earn up to 160 XPs per year on the card.

What do you make of Flying Blue elite status?