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Flying Blue Launches ‘Flying Blue+’ App to Earn Miles from Everyday Spending
Flying Blue, the loyalty programme of the Air France-KLM group, has just launched Flying Blue+, a new mobile app designed to let members earn Miles not just when they fly, but through day-to-day spending as well.
This launch is particularly timely for anyone who recently took advantage of the British Airways to Flying Blue status match offer.
Flying Blue+ is now available in the UK and US via the App Store and Google Play. The app allows members to:
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Link their credit or debit cards to automatically collect Miles,
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Earn Miles when booking hotels, car rentals, activities, or restaurants,
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Shop online or in-store at major partner retailers including John Lewis, Waitrose, and Hertz,
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Access personalised offers based on location and preferences,
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Track Miles and XP (Experience Points), and manage account details in one place.
Once a purchase is made through a partner, Miles are automatically credited to the member’s Flying Blue account. Each partner sets its own earning rate, and processing times can vary.
It also features a dedicated ‘Spend My Miles’ section, where users can redeem rewards such as:
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Flying Blue reward tickets (available from summer 2025),
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Cabin upgrades and ancillary services.
The app also includes quick access to your digital Flying Blue membership card, XP and Miles balance, and customer support.
While British Airways Club (Avios) does offer similar retail earning options via its shopping portal, Flying Blue+ differs in its card-linked functionality, removing the need to remember to click through a separate site. The approach is more streamlined and integrated into your daily life, much like American Express Offers or Virgin Red’s card-linking technology.
It’s worth noting that Flying Blue Miles can be especially valuable on Air France and KLM long-haul redemptions, particularly in business class, often requiring fewer Miles than comparable Avios bookings. Additionally, Flying Blue offers regular Promo Rewards, sometimes slashing redemption rates by up to 50%.
Earn 5,000 Bonus Volare Miles on Your Next ITA Flight
ITA Airways is offering 5,000 bonus Volare miles on your next flight, but only if you book between 20 May and 20 June 2025 and travel by 20 July 2025.
This promotion is a simple one. Book a flight operated and sold by ITA Airways within the offer window, and you’ll receive 5,000 non-qualifying bonus miles after your first flight is completed. There’s no requirement for minimum spend or distance flown.
You can view the full terms and book directly via the ITA Airways website.
This offer is a handy opportunity to top up your Volare account, especially if you’re considering an ITA Airways flight anyway, and with Volare set to be absorbed into Lufthansa Group’s Miles & More programme in 2026, any bonus miles could soon be useful across Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian, and more.
While these bonus points are non-qualifying (so won’t count towards elite status), they can still be redeemed for flights or upgrades.
You can read a review of our recent ITA short haul flight here.
UK Travellers May Soon Be Able to Use EU E-Gates
Or can they?
There’s talk that British passport holders may soon be able to use e-gates when entering EU and EEA countries, potentially speeding up border checks that have been painfully slow since Brexit for most of us.
The change would coincide with the rollout of the EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES), currently due to launch in October 2025.
The system will replace passport stamping with biometric checks for non-EU travellers, including UK nationals, and could open up automated border gates to British travellers.
This isn’t confirmed yet. The UK government seems optimistic and at the beginning of the week when it was announced it seemed a dead-cert, but the EU hasn’t officially finalised anything. It could simply be a case of jumping the gun. Even if EES does go live in October, full rollout across all EU member states could take several months, possibly into 2026.
In practice, some countries like Portugal and Spain already allow Brits to use e-gates, but they still carry out manual checks. The upcoming change would ideally make e-gate use more consistent and streamlined across the EU.
This would be a real benefit for UK travellers, especially after years of longer queues and manual checks since Brexit.
No more passport stamping though. Obviously, I would take shorter queues over a passport stamp, but I will still miss it! The days for manual passport stamps in the EU are numbered in any case.
5 comments
Considering the UK has allowed EU citizens to pass through as if nothing changed the whole “you might be able to” BS should never have been any part of any negotiation aside from to say that the UK would reciprocate unless the EU found it within themselves to make an allowance.
I’m fine with the EU saying a UK passport holder has lost the channel access. What I’ve never been okay with is the UK government deciding to ignore the same policy outcome and make EU citizens do likewise. IF they’d have done what the EU, rightly tbf, did then the whole thing would’ve been reversed within the 1st 6 months.
Passport queues are a fallacy, completely unnecessary.
I’d rather queue than give up my sovereignty tbh.
I’m sure you can continue to queue up with the manned booths if that makes you feel happier!
I’ve not seen any Spanish airports let UK citizens use egates
Thanks Katrina for the useful info about the Flying Blue app