Founder and CEO of Upgraded Points, Alex is a leader in the industry and has earned and redeemed millions of points and miles. He frequently discusses the award travel industry with CNBC, Fox Business...
Edited by: Keri Stooksbury
With years of experience in corporate marketing and as the Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Qatar, Keri is now Editor-in-Chief at UP, overseeing daily content operations and r...
& Kellie Jez
Kellie’s professional experience has led her to a deep passion for compliance, data reporting, and process improvement. Kellie’s learned the ins and outs of the points and miles world and leads UP’s c...
36 comments
dixieboz
July 12, 2019
I am getting really confused trying to use 57,000 Flying Blue miles that are expiring on August 31.
I had a chance to buy a ticket with 3 out of 4 AF segments when I just booked a ticket to Amman. But I got a ticket issued by Delta, but got it though the Chase Travel Portal. Will this count as a purchase so that the miles don’t expire?
You state that eligible bank cards can be used as one of your 3 ways to keep miles from expiring. What do you do with the cards then, transfer miles from them?
Also, I am reading all these great ways to book things on partners, but am coming up with high milage requirements that aren’t matching the miles you are suggesting. Do I need to call them to book anything other than KLM and AF? Places like Madagascar or Belize aren’t even getting any hits. Please help!
Stephen Au
July 16, 2019
Hey Dixie, if you want to book the last ticket to Amman on the same segments, you’ll have to find availability on the identical flight on which 3 of the 4 tickets are booked. Otherwise, you won’t be traveling with the other companions.
Booking Air France tickets through the Chase Travel Portal WILL NOT count. You need to have eligible flight or credit card activity on your specific Air France Flying Blue account. To achieve this, you can transfer a small amount (1,000 miles) to Flying Blue to reset the expiration timer.
Regarding the high mileage requirements, the answer is YES you’ll often see high mileage requirements. However, you need to be flexible to get the lowest level award tickets. You don’t need to call to book other partners such as Delta, China Eastern, etc. You simply need to use the online search engine. For more complicated itineraries involving Madagascar and Belize, you’ll need to search segment-by-segment after finding a possible routing and call Flying Blue to book. Thanks for reading.
Jarrod West
October 24, 2019
Hi William,
Could you be more specific, please? What transfer are you trying to make exactly?
mbh
February 07, 2020
Is there any way to search multiple dates? I can’t get a “my dates are flexible” with either AF or KLM’s FB site. So frustrating.
Michael McHugh
February 09, 2020
Hi mbh! Look under the departure and arrival dates, and you will see “You are looking for a flight around these dates”. Select this box and then run your award search to see a calendar view.
Mark
February 10, 2023
I cannot find this
Lisa duprey
March 03, 2020
Can I use my air miles for things other than flights? Hotel? Merchandise?
Jarrod West
March 04, 2020
Hi Lisa,
Yes, you can use your Flying Blue miles for things other than flights. Head to this link to see your options.
Janet Evans
June 20, 2020
Dear Alex,
I would very much appreciate your help.
I have been a KLM frequent flyer member for 22 years and now have 69,919miles. They were due to expire on 29th February 2020 as I hadn’t taken a flight due to my husband’s severe bad health. I contacted KLM in December 2019, January, and February 2020 to ask if there was a way to avoid losing my miles. They said as long as I booked a qualifying flight in the 6 months after 29th February my Miles would be reinstated for the 2 year period. I was able to book a return flight from Manchester to Moscow on 6th April. The flight was subsequently canceled due to COVID 19 and despite numerous telephone conversations, emails, three formal letters to Mr. Pieter Elbers, President and CEO (which have not been delivered to him but have been intercepted by the management team), and three 1 hour long telephone conversations with management members, KLM is still refusing to reinstate my Miles. This is a condensed overview of a situation that has now been going on for 7 months. I have been polite at all times but am now at my wit’s end. KLM is a well-respected organization and for them not to reinstate my Miles, especially when it is not my fault that I couldn’t fly, is totally out of order, and incredibly dishonorable on their part. I have all the documentation in relation to this issue and would greatly appreciate your help and advice on what to do next. In short, I want my miles reinstated.
Jarrod West
June 20, 2020
Hi Janet,
I’m really sorry to hear about this frustrating situation? If you have already tried calling multiple times and they are unwilling to budge, I recommend you contact the customer service team through a public medium like Twitter. Airlines in the past have shown they are much more likely to do the right thing is the complaint is made through a public forum, and are worried about the blowback or negative PR they might experience if they do not help resolve the problem.
I hope you are able to get your miles reinstated!
AJ
June 27, 2020
Hello,
Does anyone have any idea on how to use the Flying Blue miles to book a flight? I go to the KLM site and there is no option to pay with miles, but there is an option on AirFrance. Am I doing something wrong? I’m already logged on Flying Blue and on KLM I went all the way to payment to see if they had the option there and nothing. Thanks.
Jarrod West
June 29, 2020
Hi AJ,
Have you tried booking through this page on the KLM website? https://www.klm.com/travel/us_en/flying_blue/spend/buy_ticket/index.htm
Jennifer
September 12, 2020
Hi Jarrod,
Is Alaska Airlines still bookable with flying blue points? If so, how do I go about doing it? I called the Flying Blue customer service number to search flights on Alaska from the SF Bay Area to Lihue and they stated they do not partner with Alaska and that I would only be able to book a flight to Hawaii through Delta using my miles, which unfortunately does not fly direct from the bay area.
Thank you!
Jennifer
Stephen Au
September 21, 2020
Hi Jennifer,
At this point, Flying Blue doesn’t partner with Alaska Airlines. We’re working on getting this updated!
Thanks for reading.
Michael Nelson
October 22, 2020
I’m trying to spend my Flying Blue Air Miles at the Flying Blue Store and I’m getting repeated error messages like ‘unable to validate state’. This is despite having successfully logged into my account on the initial login. In effect, it is not allowing to complete shopping purchases after having chosen items and put them in my shopping basket. The site seems to lose my log in details once I enter the Store pages and won’t allow me to then re-enter then. I have tried to resolve with Flying blue over the phone but to no avail. Has anyone else had this problem? I am concerned that I am being fobbed off and they are doing all they can to stop people from spending miles on items other than flights. Thanks
Kevin
April 30, 2021
I’ve had this exact same problem; thought it was just me. Very frustrating.
Also impossible to book flights using miles. I have nearly 100,000 miles that I can’t use on flights, merchandise, anything. I wish I had never transferred the miles over…
Elisabeth
May 05, 2022
Do you know where I can find Flex awards? I’m a gold member, but I can’t see them. I contacted KLM and the person had no idea.
Stephen Au
May 19, 2022
Hi Elisabeth,
What do you mean by Flex awards? Are you trying to book a La Premiere flight using points? If so, you’ll probably want to select “La Premiere” or “First Class” on Air France’s website. If you’re running into issues, you can call Flying Blue customer service to assist.
shaheen
June 30, 2022
I transferred CHASE and AMEX points to my flying blue account, I was able to book the flights I wanted and now have points remaining. Can I transfer them to another account to book hotels? or can I book hotels through the website?
Jarrod West
July 01, 2022
Hi Shaheen,
You have the option of using your points through either the Chase or Amex Travel portals, or you could transfer them to one of their transfer partners.
Regina Agboola
October 20, 2022
Can I use my flying blue miles to book a hotel stay? If yes which hotels?
Jarrod West
October 21, 2022
Hi Regina,
You can use Flying Blue miles on these hotel partners: https://www.flyingblue.us/en/earn-spend/partners/hotel.
Karen Hughes
October 31, 2022
Hi!
My husband held our frequent flier accounts. He passed away in August of 2020 and our miles are due to expire. We’re in the U.S. and I don’t plan on using the miles for travel. I’ve tried to use the miles on merchandise but they say they don’t ship to the U.S. Is there anything else I can do?
Jarrod West
November 09, 2022
Hi Karen,
That is a tough situation. Have you tried contacting Flying Blue to see if they can provide a work around or any other options for you?
venkat
November 05, 2022
I am seeing a lower amount of files for onward travel when compared to booking a round trip. When I try to book a one way for the same itinerary it prices at 65k, but if I try to book a round trip it prices the same onward itinerary at 47.5k. My question is can I book the roundtrip using the flying blue miles and drop the return part of the trip? Is this doable and if so or are there any costs involved?
Jarrod West
November 09, 2022
Hi Venkat,
It is doable and you should not be charged any fees for missing the return leg of your flight.
Mark
February 10, 2023
“What Flying Blue calls a “multi-destination award” online is really an open-jaw, meaning you can fly to 1 destination and return from another.” How do you search for multi-destination on airfrance.us?
Jarrod West
March 13, 2023
Hi Mark,
From the type of trip selector drop down you need to click “Multi-City”.
John Nguyễn
May 03, 2023
Sorry, it’s not possible to book a multi-city trip using Miles. That’s the error I’m getting.
Helen
May 06, 2023
Bank of America offers a Flying Blue Mastercard for US customers. https://www.flyingblue.us/en/financial/overview/financial-services-bank-of-america
Keri Stooksbury
May 07, 2023
Hi Helen – you are correct! We detail this card in our guide to earning Flying Blue miles.
Maria Pini
May 18, 2023
I am trying to donate my 11,514 miles to my husband who is a Flying Blue member and they are charging me 132 Euros! Should it not be free of charge?? Probably the miles are not even of this value. Advise??
Christine Krzyszton
May 22, 2023
Hi Maria Pini. You may be able to do it without cost by setting up a family account. Here’s the information on how to do that: https://www.flyingblue.us/en/landing-page/informative/family-youngs
Pav
June 07, 2023
This is useful, thanks! Thought you should update this as Virgin Atlantic joined SkyTeam Alliance in March 2023 and is now a FlyingBlue partner.
Pav
June 07, 2023
I meant to update this ”SkyMiles has partners such as Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia that are not Flying Blue partners”
mihail
August 14, 2023
Where can I actually book US-Hawaii or Caribbean? On KLM/AF website all I get for all dates is: Sorry, there are no flights available for this combination of departure airport, arrival airport and travel dates. Please try again.
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