GUIDE: In Depth Look at the Air France-KLM Flying Blue Loyalty Programme

Flying Blue is one of the most popular loyalty programmes among our readers, and judging by the news of Flying Blue launching a BA status match, it’s set to become even more popular.

This is a limited time status match so if you haven’t already you should asap. (link here).

This article details the essential things you need to know about the Flying Blue loyalty programme. This is part of our series covering the most popular airline loyalty programmes and alliances.

The Flying Blue Loyalty Programme

Air France launched the Flying Blue loyalty programme after it formed the Air France-KLM Group in 2004.

In my opinion, Flying Blue is the best loyalty programme in the SkyTeam alliance. There are currently more than 20 million members, and that number is set to increase even more! The main hubs are Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam-Schiphol.

Once you sign up for the loyalty programme, you will receive a Flying Blue number, which you can use to earn Experience Points (the equivalent of BA Tier Points) and earn status and miles.

Earning Miles with Flying Blue

Flying Blue is a revenue-based rewards programme. The number of Flying Blue miles you earn depends on how much you spend (minus taxes and fees) and your status level. Flying Blue operates in Euros, so the exchange rate can fluctuate.

Flying Blue Tiers

The Flying Blue loyalty programme has five tiers: Blue (no status), Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Ultimate.

The only way to earn these tiers is by earning Experience Points (also known as XP). Each tier requires a specific number of Experience Points, ranging from 100 XP for Silver to 900 XP for Ultimate. The number of Experience Points you earn is based on the distance flown and the cabin type you fly in.

To qualify for each tier, you must earn the required Experience Points within 1 year of earning your first point. If you already hold Flying Blue status, you must requalify each year by earning enough Experience points to keep or upgrade your status.

If you don’t earn the required number of XP within 1 year and don’t have enough XP saved to maintain your status, you will receive a soft landing which means you only move down by 1 level (e.g. Platinum to Gold).

You can earn XP on all eligible flights with Air France, KLM, SkyTeam members, and some partner airlines as long as you provide your Flying Blue member number.

If you’re an Elite member (Silver and up), any surplus XP above the threshold gained will be yours to keep up to a maximum of 300 surplus XP (equivalent to one extra year of Platinum status).

Flying Blue Explorer (No Status)

All you need to do to get Flying Blue Explorer is sign up for the Flying Blue loyalty programme. You can sign up here.

Once you’ve signed up, you will earn 4 miles per €1 spent, get a 10% discount on seat selection and a €10 discount on your first additional paid piece of baggage.

Even if you’re not planning to aim for Flying Blue Silver, you can earn miles, transfer them to SkyTeam member airlines, and more.

Flying Blue Silver

Once you earn your first Experience Points or miles, you have 12 months to earn Silver status by earning 100 XP. If you don’t earn Silver status during this time, the XP counter starts back at 0.

Once you become Silver, you can enjoy your status for 12 months. You will receive the following benefits:

• Earn 6 miles for each €1 spent
• Priority access for check-in and baggage drop-off
• Free selection of standard seats
• Some free seat options 24 hours before departure
• One free extra checked baggage item on SkyTeam flights
• Preferred waitlist and standby status
• Priority boarding (zone 3)

In the following 12 months, you will either need to maintain your status to keep Silver (earn 100 XP) or earn 180 XP to reach Gold. If you earn less than 100 XP during this time, you will return to Flying Blue Explorer.

Flying Blue Gold

You will need to earn 180 XP to earn Gold. As a Gold member, you will receive the following benefits:

• 7 miles per €1 spent
• SkyPriority benefits at the airport
• Guaranteed seat in Economy on fully booked, long-haul flights if you purchased a full-fare ticket at least 24 hours before your flight’s departure.
• Free seat options 72 hours before departure
• Free selection of standard seats
• One free extra checked baggage item on SkyTeam flights
• Free access to SkyTeam lounges worldwide with a guest (conditions apply)

Lounge access is one of the best benefits of reaching Gold status. You can read more about the SkyTeam lounges in our guide to airline alliance lounge access. With Flying Blue Gold status, you’ll have access to over 750 lounges worldwide. You can bring a guest travelling on a flight operated by a SkyTeam member airline. 

After 1 year of being Gold, you will either need to earn 180 XP to maintain your level or 300 XP to earn Platinum.

If you don’t earn 180 XP in the 12 months, you will soft land down to Silver 12 months into your Gold status.

Flying Blue Platinum

Once you’ve earned Flying Blue Platinum, you will keep your status for 12 months. You will receive the following benefits:

• 8 miles per €1 spent
• Preferred seats are free of charge at the time of booking
• One free additional baggage item on SkyTeam flights.
• SkyPriority benefits at the airport.
• SkyTeam airport lounge access is available for you and a guest
• Access to Platinum Service Line 24/7
• The ability to redeem miles for La Première awards (Air France First Class)
• Platinum for life after 10 consecutive years Platinum
• Use of miles Overdraft to redeem a reward ticket even if it needs more miles than you currently have. You will repay the miles later and can use Miles Overdraft again once you have a positive benefit.

You have 12 months to earn 300 XP to keep your Platinum status. If you don’t earn 300XP, you will soft land to Gold.

Flying Blue Ultimate

If you manage to earn 900 Ultimate Experience Points in the 12 months, you will move to Flying Blue Ultimate. The difference between Flying Blue Ultimate Experience Points (UXP) is that they can only be earned on flights marketed by Air France and KLM.

Flying Blue Ultimate is the highest level of the Flying Blue loyalty programme. You will have 12 months to enjoy your status. As an Ultimate member, you will receive:

• 9 miles per €1 spent
• Access Air France and KLM lounges with up to 8 travel companions
• Expedited airport services for you and up to eight travel companions at qualifying airports
• Extra check-in baggage allowance on Air France, KLM, and SkyTeam flights
• 24/7 support from Ultimate Assistant
• Free rebooking on the day of departure
• Complimentary WIFI onboard
• 4 complimentary cabin upgrade vouchers per membership year
• One Flying Blue Platinum card for a travel companion
• Hertz Platinum Card with additional benefits

After 12 months, if you don’t earn 900 UXP, you will move to Platinum.

You have 12 months to collect enough UXP to advance to a higher level or maintain your current status. 

Earning XP

The amount of XP you earn depends on the distance travelled and the cabin you travel in. Gain 2 times more XP in Premium, three times more in Business and five times more in La Première:

For connecting flights, you’ll receive XP cumulatively for each leg you fly.

You can use the calculator on this page to work out how may Experience Points you will earn on your next flight.

Example – JFK-CDG

For example, a direct flight from New York JFK to Paris (CDG) would come under the Long 2 category. If this is the only route you take, you will earn Silver status after 10 one-way flights in Economy, 5 one-way flights in Premium Economy or 2 one-way flights in First. This means that just 1 return flight from CDG to NYC would earn you Silver status and, therefore, Elite status across the entire Skyteam alliance.

If you’re aiming for Platinum status on the same route, you will need to fly 30 one-way flights in Economy, 15 in Premium Economy, 10 in Business or 6 in First during the 12 months.

SkyTeam

Air France and KLM are part of the SkyTeam alliance. You can earn Flying Blue miles when flying on most airlines in the alliance. You can read more about SkyTeam in our recent comparison of Oneworld, Star Alliance and SkyTeam.

The SkyTeam alliance has two status levels: SkyTeam Elite and Elite Plus. Each airline’s status matches a SkyTeam status level. You will receive the benefits of this status level when flying with all airlines in the SkyTeam alliance.

Here’s how your Flying Blue Status matches up:

When you fly with SkyTeam or some partner airlines, the miles you earn are based on the distance flown and your fare class. The distance flown is multiplied by a percentage based on your fare class and elite status tier. This percentage varies depending on which partner airline you fly on.

Here’s how your status matches with other SkyTeam airlines:

SkyTeam Elite

When you reach SkyTeam Elite status, you will have the following benefits across all member airlines, although rules can vary by airline:

• Depending on the airline, an extra baggage allowance of 10kg or one additional bag is available
• Priority Check-In with SkyPriority
• Priority baggage drop-off
• Priority seating
• Priority boarding
• Priority airport standby
• Priority waitlist

SkyTeam Elite Plus

When you reach SkyTeam Elite Plus, you will have the following benefits:

• Lounge access
• Extra baggage allowance increased to 20kg or one additional bag
• Use the dedicated SkyPriority lanes at transfer desks
• Priority baggage handling
• Guaranteed full-fare economy class booking on long-haul international flights of 6 hours or more if sold out in economy class. Must be booked at least 24 hours before departure.
• Priority at immigration

Flying Blue Non-alliance partners

Flying Blue also has several partners outside the SkyTeam alliance. The benefits of these partners vary massively.

• Air Corsica 
• Air Mauritius
• Aircalin
• Bangkok Airways 
• Chalair Aviation 
• China Southern Airlines
• Copa Airlines 
• Etihad Airways
• Gol Airlines 
• Japan Airlines 
• Malaysia Airlines 
• Oman Air
• Qantas
• Twin Jet
• WestJet
• Winair
• airBaltic

There are lots of restrictions. I recommend looking at the airline’s partner page on the Flying Blue website. You can also find out which class you can spend your miles on and how to book with each airline using miles.

Flying Blue Family

If you travel with family and often use the BA Household Account feature, you’ll be pleased to know that Flying Blue also has a Family Pooling feature. Up to 8 family members can pool their Miles into one account (2 adults and 6 children). Create or join a Flying Blue Family via ‘My profile.’

It’s also worth noting that there’s a 25% discount on award tickets for children aged 2-11 on Air France and KLM flights when travelling with an adult.

Miles Expiry

Your Flying Blue Miles are valid for life as long as you earn miles at least once every 2 years. You can extend the validity of your miles for 2 years when you complete a flight with Air France, KLM or one of the airline partners. It’s good to note that transferring points to Flying Blue does not extend the validity of your miles.

Children’s miles do not expire until they turn 18.

Free Stopover

It’s good to know that Air France, KLM, and all airline partners offer free stopovers on award tickets. Stopovers are not available to book online; you must contact customer service. A stopover can only be booked for the entry price if the lowest booking class is available on all flights.

You can add unlimited stopovers to the booking without a maximum connection time. Stopovers can be booked up to 365 days before the last segment of the flight.

Redeeming Miles with Flying Blue

Flights

Reward flights are based on a dynamic pricing system, meaning no set award chart exists. Redemptions start at a certain number of miles and can increase based on when you fly and your route. This often means that the first few seats will be sold at the lowest redemption level, and the cost will increase based on demand.

Remember that you can also use your Flying Blue miles to book award seats with other SkyTeam airlines. Flying Blue often offers the best pricing.

It’s worth keeping an eye on Flying Blue Promo Rewards, which offers discounted rates for certain city pairs up to 50% off standard seats in Economy to Business Class. The page is updated on the first of each month. Flying Blue Promo Rewards tickets are more restrictive than standard Flying Blue award tickets. You can’t change them.

You must hold Platinum Flying Blue status to redeem your miles for Air France La Première (First Class).

Cabin Upgrades

Miles can be used to upgrade to a higher class (e.g. Economy to Premium Economy or Premium Economy to Business Class). The cost of this depends on your route and the cost of the cabin you’re upgrading to.

Miles&Cash

With the Miles&Cash feature, you can combine Miles and cash to buy your flight. You can read more about this here.

Flying Blue Store

You can spend your miles via the Flying Blue Store on a wide range of things from hotels to electronics and fashion.

Other Ways to Earn Flying Blue Miles

There are many ways to earn Flying Blue miles, including via flight. There are several transfer partners.

Hotel Stays

You can earn Flying Blue miles with hotel stays from partners like Marriott, Hilton, IHG, and Hyatt. You can also use the Flying Blue Hotels for Miles and earn through sites like Booking.com (2 miles per €1 spent) and Trip.com (Up to 3 miles per €1 spent). You can earn miles for your entire stay with Air France Holidays.

UK Credit Cards

You can transfer your American Express Membership Rewards Points to Flying Blue. 1000 Points = 1000 Flying Blue miles. A minimum of 500 points is required to transfer.

Revolut

Flying Blue is the only loyalty programme that Revolut supports aside from Avios. One RevPoint is equal to one Flying Blue Mile. It’s worth noting that you have to opt into RevPoints to redeem your points on airline miles. The number of miles you earn depends on which Revolut card you choose:

Cancellations

Cash Payments: Cancellation is based on the fare you booked. Under “My Bookings,” you can see whether your flight is cancellable and whether there is a fee associated with changes.

Award Flights: Cancellable until the latest check-in time. More fees may be involved.

Final Words

The new status match with BA means Flying Blue is set to become one of our readers’ most popular frequent flyer programmes. Not only can you use miles across the SkyTeam alliance, but you can also use them with non-alliance partners. Earning status is easy if you already have BA status due to the new status match and easier than attaining status in the new BA Club.

Will you be swapping to Flying Blue or SkyTeam? Let us know in the comments below: