Flying Blue Air France KLM Loyalty Program Review

Branded and Partnered Credit Cards

Flying Blue is one of a handful of award programs that partners with all of the flexible point programs.

Flying Blue Credit Cards

Flying Blue recently released its Air France-KLM World Elite Mastercard, which is issued by Bank of America.

While the credit card comes with a 25,000 point signup bonus after making $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days, we recommend focusing your spending with credit cards by American Express, Chase, Citi, and Marriott that earn transferable points.

American Express Credit Cards

Amex credit cards are a great way to earn Amex points that can be transferred directly to Flying Blue.

With its impressive selection of personal and business credit cards, you’ll have more than enough ways to earn miles for your next redemption.

Amex also has regular bonuses with some of its airline partners when you transfer your points into airline miles, making this a valuable program to earn points in.

Brex

Brex is an interesting small-business card unlike other credit cards. Points from Brex transfer to Flying Blue at a 1:1 ratio

Capital One Cards

Capital One has been upping its game in the realm of transfer partners and this includes its relationship with Flying Blue. You can transfer over your Capital One Miles to Flying Blue at a 1:1 ratio.

Chase Credit Cards

Chase is another flexible point program that has Flying Blue as a Chase airline partner, giving you an excellent way to earn miles.

Chase stacks up with Amex in terms of the number of personal and business credit cards it has that earn Ultimate Rewards points, which can be transferred directly to Flying Blue.

Recommended Chase Cards (Personal)

If you’re a business owner, see our list of recommended Chase credit cards.

Citi Credit Cards

Citi falls short of Amex and Chase with the number of credit cards it has that earn transferable ThankYou points. But that doesn’t mean the program should be ignored!

Citi, like Amex, has regular bonuses when transferring points to some of its airline partners, which can provide significant value.

The only credit card available to new applicants that earns ThankYou points is the Citi ThankYou^® Premier Card. You can find more about it here:

Marriott Credit Cards

Marriott credit cards provide yet another way to earn flexible points that can be transferred directly to Flying Blue.

What makes this transfer even better is the fact that you’ll receive a 5,000-point bonus for every 60,000 points that you convert into airline miles.

Marriott points convert into airline miles at a 3:1 ratio, so 60,000 miles become 25,000 airline miles with the 5,000 point bonus.

Other Hotel Partner Credit Cards

Transferring other hotel points to Flying Blue will result in a terrible transfer ratio, so we recommend avoiding this if at all possible.

If you are topping off an airline account or are in a bind, this option can be used as a last-ditch effort.

Air France KLM Flying Blue Program Overview

The Air France KLM frequent flyer program is called Flying Blue, and the program can be used for SkyTeam redemptions like flights on Delta.

Both Air France and KLM fly from a number of U.S. destinations to Europe, giving you plenty of ways to fly to Europe.

Flying Blue miles can be earned in many ways — here are the 3 most common:

• Flying Air France, KLM, or its partner airlines’ flights
• Spending on flexible points program credit cards
• Spending at car rental, hotel, or retail partners

Joining Flying Blue

The Flying Blue program is free to join by simply completing this application.

When your application is complete, you’ll have the ability to earn miles by flying with Air France, KLM or their partner airlines, earn elite status, and redeem miles for award flights.

How to Sign in to Your Flying Blue Account

Head to the Flying Blue login page and enter your membership number and password.

Hot Tip: Both the KLM and Air France websites require you to log in using your Flying Blue account number to search for award flights. 

Viewing Your Account Activity

The easiest way to check your Air France mileage balance is to:

1. Log in to your account
2. Click the grey drop-down arrow in the top right corner
3. Click My Profile
4. Click Activity Overview

The easiest way to check your KLM mileage balance is to:

1. Log in to your account
2. Click Flying Blue in the middle
3. Click Log In on the left
4. Click Activity Overview

Air France and KLM state that it may take a couple of weeks for qualifying activity to appear in your account.

Points Expiration

Mileage expiration will depend on your Flying Blue elite status.

Air France and KLM miles will expire after 2 years of no qualifying activity for Explorer Members.

All Flying Blue Miles are valid for life as long as one of the following is true:

• You take an eligible flight on Air France, KLM, Joon, HOP!, Aircalin, Kenya Airways, TAROM, or other SkyTeam partner at least once every 2 years
• You’re an Elite or Elite Plus member
• You make a purchase with an eligible co-branded credit card at least once every 2 years.

These “overall extending activities” extend the validity of all miles 2 years from the date of the activity.

You can also extend the validity of miles earned with all other partners (airline partners not mentioned above, car rental partners, hotel partners, and experience partners) for 2 years by earning miles with any of these other partners.

These “partial extending activities” with other partners will extend the validity of miles earned with any of these other partners by 2 years from the date of the activity.

“Partial extending activities” do not extend the validity of miles earned from “overall extending activities.”

Air France KLM Flying Blue Mileage Program

Flying Blue Elite Status

The Flying Blue program has 3 elite tiers: Silver, Gold, and Platinum.

Silver: The lowest elite tier offered by Flying Blue, which comes with the following benefits:

• Earn 6 miles for each euro spent*
• Access to priority lines at check-in, baggage drop-off, and boarding
• 25% discount when purchasing seats
• 1 additional baggage allowance on all SkyTeam flights

*Flying Blue will convert your currency to euros to determine the miles you will earn.

Gold: After earning this status level, you’ll have access to additional benefits including:

• All of the benefits of Silver, plus;
• Earn 7 miles for each euro spent
• Lounge access with a guest of your choice
• SkyPriority access at the airport
• 50% discount when purchasing seats

Platinum: The highest elite tier that you can earn comes with the following benefits:

• All of the benefits of Gold, plus;
• Earn 8 miles for each euro spent
• Free choice of any preferred seat
• Exclusive Platinum Service Line

If you’re interested in diving into more detail about the elite benefits at each tier, go here.

Value of Flying Blue Elite Status

Earning elite status with Flying Blue makes the most sense if you fly Air France and/or KLM regularly, or you are looking for elite benefits when flying a SkyTeam partner like Delta.

If you meet one of these criteria, access to premium lounges and earning additional miles when flying are benefits to consider.

Earning Flying Blue Elite Status

How to Earn Flying Blue Miles

With Flying Blue, you’ve got 3 main ways to earn miles:

1. Spend with and transfer points from flexible point credit cards
2. Transfer points from Marriott’s loyalty program
3. Fly on Air France, KLM, or partner airline flights

Using a combination of all 3, you’ll have no problem earning Flying Blue miles.

Earning Miles Through Flying

If you are flying other Flying Blue or SkyTeam partner-marketed flights, the miles you earn are based on distance, booking class earning percentage, and elite bonus earning percentage.

The booking class earning percentage determines the earning percentage to apply to the distance. Each airline has a different earning percentage that can be found on this page.

Elite bonus earning percentage are the additional miles that you earn based on your elite status. Flying Blue offers bonus miles for elites at the following rates:

• Silver – 50%
• Gold – 75%
• Platinum – 100%

The elite bonus is applied to the distance multiplied by the booking class earning percentage.

Here’s an example of how this works in practice:

How to Redeem Flying Blue Miles

Flying Blue does not have an award chart. The number of miles for your flight will vary, so it’s best to use the Miles Price Estimator and either the Air France or KLM search engine.

The program also uses Promo Awards that offer discounts of up to 50% on award tickets between select destinations.

Hot Tip: If you’re trying to determine how to use your miles, we put together a piece with the best ways to use Flying Blue miles. 

SkyTeam Alliance and Partner Awards

Since Flying Blue is in the SkyTeam alliance, you can use Flying Blue miles to fly on any airline in the alliance.

Separately, you can use your Flying Blue miles to fly on the airline’s partners outside of the SkyTeam alliance.

Booking Online

The Flying Blue website search engine can be a great way to book Air France, KLM, and SkyTeam flights.

For Star Alliance partner flights, you’ll want to use United Airlines, Aeroplan, or ANA to search for award space.

If you’re looking to book a Oneworld partner flight, you’ll want to use British Airways or Qantas to search for award space.

The Flying Blue website will allow you to book most SkyTeam partner flights. If the partner you are trying to book can’t be booked on Air France or KLM, call the program at 800-375-8723  to search for award space and ticket the award flight.

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