Air France-KLM Flying Blue is one of the most useful loyalty programs for redeeming points for long haul, premium cabin travel. Up until now, there have been all kinds of ways to acquire Flying Blue miles, ranging from buying them outright, to moving them over from a transferable points currency.
The program has just rolled out yet another way to earn miles, and it could represent a good deal.
In this post:
Flying Blue’s new monthly mileage subscription
Subscribe to Miles is the name of Flying Blue’s new monthly subscription. The idea is that if you subscribe, you can buy a certain number of miles monthly at a fixed cost.
For example, my account shows four tiers:
- The Starter package offers 2,000 miles per month for $34.20, a cost of 1.71 cents per mile
- The Smart package offers 5,000 miles per month for $79, a cost of 1.58 cents per mile
- The Advanced package offers 10,000 miles per month for $146, a cost of 1.46 cents per mile
- The Complete package offers 17,000 miles per month for $227.80, a cost of 1.34 cents per mile
For what it’s worth, you can cancel your subscription at any time, and this can be done by logging into your account and selecting the “cancel subscription” prompt. You even have the right to withdraw a purchase within 14 business days, without any penalty.
Flying Blue also markets how if you have a subscription, your miles won’t expire while it remains active. Flying Blue miles expire after 24 months of inactivity, so since you have monthly activity this way, that would indeed qualify. Then again, any activity that generates points within that timeframe would reset your expiration.
Is Flying Blue’s Subscribe to Miles program worth it?
I think there are plenty of situations where it can make sense to buy miles at an attractive cost, especially if you can redeem for first and business class flights. Now, personally I prefer not to buy miles speculatively, which is to say that I’d rather buy them shortly before I’m ready to redeem, since the value of miles can change at a moment’s notice.
With that in mind, I’m usually not a fan of these kinds of monthly subscription services, even if the cost per mile is pretty good. That being said, what I like about this program is that you can cancel at any time.
For example, if you’re short 15,000 miles on a redemption, it could make sense to sign-up for this program for one month, so you can collect 17,000 miles at the cost of $227.80.
When Flying Blue sells miles directly, you’ll almost never see the cost get below 1.5 cents per mile. Meanwhile with this program, you’re looking at paying just 1.34 cents per mile, so that’s a bit better.
I wouldn’t approach this by thinking “if I spend $2,733.60 over the next 12 months, then I’ll have 204,000 miles.” Instead, I’d think of it more in terms of the short term opportunities.
Bottom line
Flying Blue has launched a Subscribe to Miles program, whereby members can pay to purchase a fixed number of miles monthly. As you’d expect, the cost per mile is potentially pretty attractive, with the catch being that you’ll slowly acquire miles over time. The good thing is that you can cancel at any time, which means you could even use this to acquire a small number of miles across one or two months.
There are definitely some niche situations where this could represent a good value, so it’s worth being aware of.
What do you make of Flying Blue’s Subscribe to Miles program?
Last time I flew KLM on an award I redeemed VS points.
Buyed over 80'000 miles at 900 strong european currency in 48 hrs. .
Enough for o/w in j fom far-east.
Thx
Excellent. Will subscribe later today. Flying blue is a pretty solid program all things considered.
Just tried it and got the miles within a minute. Used them immediately to book an award flight. Seems to work as expected.
The offer would be a lot more attractive if XPs were somehow bundled in.
You can already buy XPs for cash by buying SAF on AFKL flights.
"You can already buy XPs for cash by buying SAF on AFKL flights."
Yup, I'm aware of that. One can also get XPs by donating to certain charities.
That said, my point still stands: The offer outlined here would be a lot more attractive if XPs were somehow bundled in.
I could be wrong but I don’t think there is a commercial interest to do this. Using miles is explicitly forgoing status points on most airlines.
There could be a risk of passengers paying for miles, using those miles for outsized value, and then receiving status benefits on top. It would be essentially saying to passengers that you should be checking mile prices and comparing with cash prices always, and you’ll get XP regardless....
I could be wrong but I don’t think there is a commercial interest to do this. Using miles is explicitly forgoing status points on most airlines.
There could be a risk of passengers paying for miles, using those miles for outsized value, and then receiving status benefits on top. It would be essentially saying to passengers that you should be checking mile prices and comparing with cash prices always, and you’ll get XP regardless. It just gives incentives to use miles more than to buy revenue tickets.
Yeah I'm not understanding why you would expect XP from this -- that would be a cherry tree on the cake. Lifemiles doesn't offer XP with points sub.
"...I'm not understanding why you would expect XP from this..."
Never said I expected anything, at all, anywhere.
Anyway, back on topic, the offer outlined here would be a lot more attractive if XPs were somehow bundled in.
Yes, there is a commercial interest, and we all understand that taking award flights usually entails forgoing elite points. As you noted, not always. AS award some elite points, and on their own metal UA and QF [if you qualify for their points club 'tier'] also do. Allowing status earn from award flights, or the lack of it, is already factored into the price airlines, in this case FB, charge to buy miles.
That doesn't...
Yes, there is a commercial interest, and we all understand that taking award flights usually entails forgoing elite points. As you noted, not always. AS award some elite points, and on their own metal UA and QF [if you qualify for their points club 'tier'] also do. Allowing status earn from award flights, or the lack of it, is already factored into the price airlines, in this case FB, charge to buy miles.
That doesn't detract from @TravelinWilly's point that an XP sweetener would be nice. It would, but you'd end up paying for it one way or another.
How soon do the first miles post? If you have to wait more than a few days, that award ticket you need 15,000 miles for may very well be gone.
I got the miles right away.
W