Air France-KLM Flying Blue is one of the all-around most useful frequent flyer programs, and in particular is the best option for snagging Air France and KLM awards across the Atlantic. Well, the program has just become even more lucrative, as award pricing in most markets has just been decreased. Talk about something that counters the trend!
In this post:
Flying Blue standardizes & reduces award pricing
Flying Blue has dynamic award pricing, so there’s a huge variance to how many miles you’ll pay for an award ticket. When the airline does have saver level award availability, pricing has historically been quite attractive, though has varied based on the origin and destination, even for travel between the same regions.
Ben Lipsey, the Director of Flying Blue, has confirmed that the program is introducing a new pricing model for award flights, which will overwhelmingly see the cost of saver level award tickets reduced. Specifically:
- In business class, 71% of markets will require fewer miles
- In premium economy, 68% or markets will require fewer miles
- In economy class, 66% of markets will require fewer miles
He explains that the new pricing is still in the process of being rolled out, particularly for fifth freedom flights, so we’ll have to stay tuned for that. Looking at the United States, Flying Blue has standardized saver level award costs across the Atlantic (to Europe), as follows:
- One-way economy awards cost 20,000 miles
- One-way premium economy awards cost 35,000 miles
- One-way business awards cost 50,000 miles
In certain markets, economy and premium economy awards previously cost less, while across the board, business class awards across the Atlantic previously cost more. Business class awards used to cost 55,000-80,000 miles, and now cost 50,000 miles. Yes, this applies even from markets like Los Angeles and Miami, which were previously typically at the higher end of that pricing.
It can sometimes be tough to find business class saver level award availability with Air France or KLM, so this is where the secret award calendar comes in handy. While Flying Blue does have some carrier imposed surcharges, they’re mild in the scheme of things — expect to pay around $200 in fees for a one-way business class award.
Flying Blue is transfer partners with American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou, so these miles are easy to come by. We often even see transfer bonuses.
What an awesome & rare change!
We’ve seen so many frequent flyer program devaluations in recent years, so it’s refreshing to see a program making a genuinely positive change. Flying Blue has made some other improvements recently, including the introduction of free stopovers, as well as new partner first class awards. I’m impressed by what Flying Blue leadership is doing here.
50,000 miles for business class across the Atlantic is an unbelievably good deal, especially when you consider that you can have a stopover. It’s also even better when you factor in how frequently we see transfer bonuses to Flying Blue from transferable points currencies.
Logically, some people are probably wondering what the catch is. Why would a frequent flyer program actually make a positive change like this? As the saying goes, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” A few thoughts:
- A vast majority of dates only have award availability at the non-saver level, so this isn’t going to be some massive cost center for the program, since these saver seats are almost always going to be seats that would otherwise be empty
- Having industry-leading award pricing creates a lot of engagement in the program and gets people to sign up for Flying Blue, and it’s easier to monetize those kinds of customers
- I think there’s merit to having standardized saver level award pricing, since it eliminates some confusion that people may have about the program, and puts Flying Blue more front-of-mind for consumers
- There’s also something to be said for having attractive premium cabin award pricing, because just about any airline executive will tell you that once a customer flies in a premium cabin at least once, they’re more likely to purchase it in the future
My only concern is that Delta owns a small stake in Air France-KLM, and I’m worried they might have some serious issues with one of “their” airlines actually making positive loyalty program changes.
Bottom line
Air France-KLM Flying Blue is adjusting its award pricing. The program is standardizing award pricing in certain regions, and in a vast majority of cases, this is resulting in lower saver level award costs. You can now expect to pay just 50,000 Flying Blue miles for a one-way business class award between the United States and Europe.
It’s awesome to see the Flying Blue program lower award costs in most markets, since that’s something you almost never see nowadays.
What do you make of Flying Blue adjusting award pricing?
50K US to Europe???
Not really, please ALWAYS add the cash cost to it
It is really a 70+K flight for me
the Caldendar is blank. It doesn't show the amount of miles it cost to fly that day. Is this happenign to anyone else?
Came across this article while trying to figure out why award miles went *up* - so yes, while the standardization meant some markets now get lower award pricing, at least in DC (and I believe NYC too) the pricing went up. The award pricing used to be 17,000 miles (12,750 during promo). Now it’s 20,000 (15,000 with promo). So I guess that’s the catch/where they made up the difference.
Is Ben still sleeping on this? They announced a reduction, let it run for one day, and then immediately jacked up the price for much more. Why hasn't it been covered here?
Delta dropped their awards too. Frequently book LHR to Asia which has been 90k each way for years. Booked yesterday - 80k each way.
Sadly, the lowest award cost for a Business CDG-SIN ticket has increased more than 25% !
So much for "lower prices"!
Yep lower the price is a good thing.
Funny no mention of the supply ,aka, availability.
At best, nothing has changed. It's just an economic trick.
At worst, it's a new secret devaluation trick airlines are experimenting on.
Since Delta owns a small stake, maybe those bastards are cooking something up for SkyMiles 2026.
"My only concern is that Delta owns a small stake in Air France-KLM"
Ownership may be less important than profit sharing agreements.
A senior Delta rep recently told me that Delta gets a 50% cut on all DL/AF codeshare flights (regardless of ticket stock).
A reduction on saver award points is good PR. But it's not going to make more premium saver award seats available for the north american market. Sadly, the...
"My only concern is that Delta owns a small stake in Air France-KLM"
Ownership may be less important than profit sharing agreements.
A senior Delta rep recently told me that Delta gets a 50% cut on all DL/AF codeshare flights (regardless of ticket stock).
A reduction on saver award points is good PR. But it's not going to make more premium saver award seats available for the north american market. Sadly, the 'average' credit card customer or butt-in-seat earner is not going to find this out until they try to redeem the Flying Blue currency they paid for (which is now almost as worthless as Delta Sky Pesos).
Figured I’d take a look since I need to travel from SFO to LHR in March. Cheapest I found was 1.5 million points on the day I have to travel. Same flight costs 15,000 Virgin Atlantic points. So stupid.
I've been searching for 50k flights Us to Europe and there aren't any.All business flights are 100K.
Historically, one of the Air France routes I search regularly (CDG-SIN and reverse) has the lowest Business award of 70,000 miles which can be picked up at unusual times. Some peak days can reach 771,000 however!
I'm pretty sure you could buy a cash fare on any day you like for less than 771K plus highish fees 'n taxes.
I wonder if this ridiculousness has been addressed.
I grabbed it, YEG to ZRH and CDG to YUL next summer for three of us for 152,000 ultimate rewards points and 110.000 flying Blue that were going to expire at the end of December and I wasn't going to be able to use. $30,000 in tickets for 262,000 miles and about $1600.
I don't think this is positive across the board. Where previously I often saw JFK-AMS availability at 15k at the lowest level for economy, I can now find nothing below 20k. Same for premium economy, those have gone up from 30k to 35k across the board.
Please update the post to reflect this, Ben. I am happy with the lower business class pricing, but Flying Blue appears to have DEVALUAED other awards.
As for the comment about whether Delta likes these changes, presumably there is a formula in the joint venture for how mileage awards from each of the programs are converted into revenue which is then divided. I doubt if any of the pricing-related moves is any surprise to anybody that is part of the joint venture.
I believe I have heard that Delta manages all AF/DL/KL inventory out of the US and the reverse...
As for the comment about whether Delta likes these changes, presumably there is a formula in the joint venture for how mileage awards from each of the programs are converted into revenue which is then divided. I doubt if any of the pricing-related moves is any surprise to anybody that is part of the joint venture.
I believe I have heard that Delta manages all AF/DL/KL inventory out of the US and the reverse is true in the opposite direction - or vice versa. If so, the "side" that revenue manages the inventory ultimately determines the availability for all flights.
And the same principle applies to reservations and airport services.
"I beleive I have heard" and "some say that.." are the most weasel phrases in the English language.
I scored two biz class tix SIN-CDG-ORD for 50K miles each yesterday...and with the Chase bonus to FlyingBlue, they were only 40K points apiece. Not sure they intended Asia to N. America to cost 50K in biz, but I'll take it.
Surcharges were a bit steep at $480 per ticket, but I think it's a pretty good deal overall. Especially as I found availability on the exact day I wanted.
FlyingBlue and Aeroplan bringing the goods with savvy managers who get the value seeking premium market
Not so fast with Aeroplan. They opened the floodgates to credit card transferable points in emerging markets causing a huge influx members with large Aeroplan balances. Availability in J on numerous partner airlines is now non-existent (e.g. Etihad, Oman Air, Thai, Eva). Aeroplan also has a massive problem with mileage brokers and members who abuse the family account benefits.
Agree 100% !
Aeroplan has to do some severe houskeeping on their program to rein in the real problems Jules mentions above!
Is it worth cancelling and rebooking an award ticket for 2 one-ways at 70k?
@ Victor -- Flying Blue charges €50 to redeposit or change an award, so assuming there's still availability, I'd absolutely spend €50 to save 20,000 miles.
Plus, if you get a nice rep, they might waive the fee for you! I was able to do that not too long ago.
I could never understand why so many people find Flying Blue to be such an attractive program. True, the surcharges are not as ridiculous as British Airway, but they are by no means inconsequential. A round trip business class trip to Europe for my wife and me will cost over $800 in surcharges. We could do a lot better elsewhere.
Absolutely! These surcharges are more expensive than if you buy tickets separately. You are basically throwing away 10K points and buying the biz class ticket. Flying blue points are a joke!
For me its because of easy of use. Paying the surcharge of $800 r/t in your example and some points that are easy to come by and easy to transfer for business class a solid deal. Could I do better transferring to a different partner or flying into or out of different airports sure, but to most casual points people the $800 is a good deal for them. I love when I can find something...
For me its because of easy of use. Paying the surcharge of $800 r/t in your example and some points that are easy to come by and easy to transfer for business class a solid deal. Could I do better transferring to a different partner or flying into or out of different airports sure, but to most casual points people the $800 is a good deal for them. I love when I can find something on Iberia, Virgin or Air Canada but explaining that you are going to book on one airline to fly another to anyone outside of our points community is confusing for them and too much hassle.
@ John -- Well there are only so many useful programs across the Atlantic with saver level award availability. Air France and KLM have above average transatlantic business class products, and also have decent pricing. Paying $200 per direction in fees isn't nothing, but ultimately I don't find that to be an unreasonable amount to spend when Flying Blue has the best award pricing, availability, or schedule.
@Ben - Flying from Europe to US, the surcharge is over $300. For a family of 4, a roundtrip will cost ~$3k in surcharges.
Yes but what other program makes 4 seats available? Plus you get a discount for kids under 11.
Yeah no doubt. Gotta take the good with the bad. But the surcharges are not insignificant and often times, you can find cheaper business class tickets just booking with cash if you value FB miles at ~1.5c.
Agreed. I do find decent availability from IAD but we are a family of four and those tickets would cost us almost $2k out of pocket in addition to the points. I find good availability with LifeMiles as well, and though the typical 63k LM for business class across the Atlantic is higher than Flying Blue the fees are usually less than $100.
I had 408,000 FB miles that I needed to use before they expired. Fortunately, I was able to book open jaw R/T business class for my wife and me to Spain (JFK to MAD NS, AGP to JFK 1 Stop) on Air Europa for 231,000 FB miles, total tax/surcharge $150. I'm not sure how much better the Air France metal experience would be if we instead paid an additional $700 in surcharges (and probably more...
I had 408,000 FB miles that I needed to use before they expired. Fortunately, I was able to book open jaw R/T business class for my wife and me to Spain (JFK to MAD NS, AGP to JFK 1 Stop) on Air Europa for 231,000 FB miles, total tax/surcharge $150. I'm not sure how much better the Air France metal experience would be if we instead paid an additional $700 in surcharges (and probably more miles) for a European destination. Now I have to figure out how to use the remaining 180,000 miles I now have.
You're paying $800 rt on flying blue whereas British airways is charging $780 ONE WAY and with 57.5k points I've way. I was just comparing this last night.
Looks like they’re charging surcharges ala British Airways. That should be added to consideration.
.... most airlines charge surcharges. AF/KL's are high but not unreasonable given the good mileage redemptions. they are not BA level.
I had booked a J award ticket CDG-AMS-JFK for 50k using Flying Blue.
Then I checked the seat for KL flight AMS-JFK, it was 2-2-2 seats, old 787 configuration.
Changed to an earlier itinerary for 58k but the TATL leg will be on a new 787, seat map shows 1-21.
So beware that those 50k awars may not be the best option, I am glad for 8k more I had a better seat.
It has nothing to do with the aircraft or seats. It just happened that those flights were priced like that, it's all dynamic. I've gotten flights on the brand new AF suites at the lowest rates recently.
This kind of post is real value added.
Thank You!
Just hope nothing goes wrong. They are terrible to deal with. Two years in a row my flight has been canceled. This year going to Milan the nonstop SEA-CDG has been canceled in late Nov and they put me on Delta. That's fine. It created a 9 hour layover in CDG and there are 5 earlier flights. They won't change it because "that flight wasn't impacted" My friend I'm traveling with his connection now arrives...
Just hope nothing goes wrong. They are terrible to deal with. Two years in a row my flight has been canceled. This year going to Milan the nonstop SEA-CDG has been canceled in late Nov and they put me on Delta. That's fine. It created a 9 hour layover in CDG and there are 5 earlier flights. They won't change it because "that flight wasn't impacted" My friend I'm traveling with his connection now arrives after the SEA-CDG departure and they won't change it for the same reason. Huh
Yeah that's pretty smooth brain thinking on their part...I'd try to get it escalated because it's their operational problem that is causing this but I digress.
Yes. I tried to escalate. The answer was managers don't talk to customers.
CUN-CDG-NAP 16.5k in the back. That’s pretty loco. Some biz available too. Pretty easy positioning for those in Miami.
I looked about a week ago and in a four day range there was nothing less than 250,000 oneway plus a few hundred euro.
Try looking via the calendar view, it may prove helpful for your search:
https://onemileatatime.com/insights/flying-blue-award-calendar/
I continue to find only 550K+ one way awards to europe on most routes in may. either doing something wrong of the fares all gone
May starts the tourist season, so they probably only made 1 or 2 seats available when the schedule was loaded. AF/KLM are pretty good at releasing saver space in C/Y when cabins really are looking empty. The best deals are always much closer to the flight.
It's often like that if you look too long in advance. It will go down in within a few months.
About 3 weeks ago I was seeing 70k ow on a lot of euro routes in May. All offered 1 tix at that price. They're no longer available when I checked last night. I typically have 25 routes in Europe that I check. But you are doing something wrong because I can still find routes in the 100-140k ow range. Most of the 50k is in jan and feb. They probably haven't released may/June in any significant number.
Coincidentally, I have also noticed that Business Class awards between Europe and Asia (or vice versa) are sometimes available from just 50,000 miles instead of the 70,000 miles shown in the Flying Blue award calculator. Maybe there are price adjustments in even more regions?
I spotted this yesterday, some CDG PPT were priced at 20k for one way economy and 35k one way premium economy.
At the moment all are gone almost.
Asia Europe flights are also now priced very low compared to before, 15k economy, 50k business class which is very low for 11/13 hours flights !
They are clearly changing their prices for awards as almost all prices have changed