It can be a great deal to strategically buy miles & points for luxury travel. Along those lines, the Air France-KLM Flying Blue program has just launched a promotion on purchased miles, which is in line with the offers we typically see from the program.
In this post:
Promotion on purchased Flying Blue miles
Through 11:59PM CET on Thursday, February 29, 2024, the Air France-KLM Flying Blue program is offering a promotion on purchased miles. The accounts I manage all show a tiered discount of up to 50%, as follows:
- Buy 4,000-14,000 miles, get a 35% discount
- Buy 16,000-38,000 miles, get a 40% discount
- Buy 40,000-100,000 miles, get a 50% discount
It’s possible that different accounts may be targeted for different bonuses, as you do have to log into your Flying Blue account to see what your offer is. Ordinarily we see Flying Blue offer a 100% bonus on purchased miles, though in this case we’re seeing a 50% discount instead. That’s the same price, it just lowers the limit on how many miles you can buy.
How much does it cost to buy Flying Blue miles?
Ordinarily you can buy Flying Blue miles for 3.05 cents each (in USD), before any discounts or bonuses. If you maxed out the promotion and purchased 100,000 Flying Blue miles before the discount, you’d receive a total of 100,000 miles at a cost of $1,525, which is a rate of 1.53 cents per mile.
This is an excellent promotion from Flying Blue. With the exception of one 120% bonus in 2022, this is otherwise in line with the best offers from the program in terms of the cost per mile.
How many Flying Blue miles can you purchase?
Those without status in the Flying Blue program are limited to purchasing at most 100,000 Flying Blue miles per calendar year before any bonuses. Elite members can purchase an unlimited number of miles, though there may be limits on how many bonus miles can be earned during promotions.
Which credit card should you buy Flying Blue miles with?
Flying Blue mileage purchases are processed by points.com, meaning they don’t count as an airfare purchase for the purposes of credit card spending. Therefore I’d recommend using a card on which you’re trying to reach minimum spending, or otherwise, a credit card that maximizes your return on everyday spending.
In this case the best option is the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (review) (Rates & Fees), which offers 2x miles and has no foreign transaction fees. Usually the Chase Freedom Unlimited® (review) or Citi Double Cash® Card (review) would also be good options for maximizing everyday spending, but the cards have foreign transaction fees, so wouldn’t be a good option in this case.
- Earn 1% cash back when you make a purchase, earn 1% cash back when you pay for that purchase
- $0
- Earn 3% Cash Back on Dining
- Earn 3% Cash Back at Drugstores
- Earn 1.5% Cash Back On All Other Purchases
- $0
- Earn 2x miles on every purchase
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- 10,000 bonus miles every account anniversary
- $395
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, every day
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check Credit
- $95
- 2x points on purchases up to $50k then 1x
- Access to Amex Offers
- No annual fee
See this post for more on which credit cards are best for buying points.
Is buying Flying Blue miles worth it?
The Air France-KLM Flying Blue program has dynamic award pricing, though has more consistency in pricing than in the past. Generally speaking, saver level transatlantic business class awards cost 50,000 miles one-way, which is great.
The way I view it, the big selling point of the Flying Blue program is that Air France and KLM make more award seats available to members of the Flying Blue program than to members of partner airline frequent flyer programs. Furthermore, nowadays Flying Blue allows free stopovers on awards, which is an awesome feature.
If you’re looking to book a transatlantic award ticket, especially in business class, it’s hard to beat the value proposition of booking through Flying Blue. Not only is there a good amount of availability, but both Air France and KLM offer solid transatlantic business class products (read my review of KLM’s 787 business class, read my review of Air France’s A350 business class). I use Flying Blue miles a lot, and consistently get great value with them.
What are good uses of Flying Blue miles?
As mentioned above, my preferred use of Flying Blue miles is for travel in business class on Air France or KLM across the Atlantic. Currently business class awards across the Atlantic start at 50,000 miles one-way, which is an amazing deal.
When you combine the overall value and availability for transatlantic business class flights, Flying Blue miles are pretty tough to beat, in my opinion.
While there are some other niche redemptions available with Flying Blue miles, I think this is where the most value lies.
Does Flying Blue have fuel surcharges on award tickets?
Flying Blue does have carrier imposed surcharges (often referred to as fuel surcharges) on award tickets, though they’re mild in comparison to what you’d pay for a British Airways business class award, for example. Expect Flying Blue carrier imposed surcharges to generally be around $200 one-way for a transatlantic business class award (and then taxes and fees are in addition to that, but you’d pay that with any airline).
On what airlines can you redeem Flying Blue miles?
As you can see above, personally I think there’s the most value to be had when redeeming directly on Air France & KLM. Beyond that, Flying Blue miles can also be redeemed on a variety of other airlines:
- Air France & KLM are in SkyTeam, so you can redeem miles on all SkyTeam partners; however, I generally find SkyTeam isn’t as good as oneworld or Star Alliance when it comes to reciprocal award space
- Flying Blue has some unique airline partnerships outside of SkyTeam, including with airlines like Aircalin and Etihad
- Flying Blue also allows first class redemptions on select partners, including China Eastern and Garuda Indonesia
How much are Flying Blue miles worth?
Everyone will value mileage currencies differently, but personally I value Flying Blue miles at ~1.3 cents each. However, I tend to value points pretty conservatively, and there are many ways to get way more value from Flying Blue miles than that.
Do Flying Blue miles expire?
Flying Blue miles expire if you have no qualifying flight or credit card activity in your account for 24 months. You can extend the expiration of miles by crediting any eligible flights to Flying Blue, having Flying Blue elite status, or by having a co-branded Flying Blue credit card.
Note that buying points directly from Flying Blue, or transferring them from a Flying Blue transfer partner, wouldn’t extend the expiration of the miles.
What other ways can you earn Flying Blue miles?
While buying Flying Blue miles could represent a great deal, keep in mind that there are lots of other ways to earn Flying Blue miles. Most significantly, Flying Blue is transfer partners with American Express Membership Rewards, Brex, Capital One, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou, and Marriott Bonvoy. As you can see, there are lots of ways to acquire points with the program through other currencies.
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
- Chase Sapphire Reserve®
- Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
- American Express® Gold Card
- The Platinum Card® from American Express
- Citi Premier® Card
- Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
- Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
- Capital One Spark Miles for Business
- Bilt Mastercard®
- 5x total points on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®
- 3x points on dining
- 2x points on travel purchases
- $95
- 3x points on Travel after the $300 Annual Travel Credit
- 3x points on Dining
- $300 Travel Credit
- $550
- Earn 3x points on travel
- Earn 3x points on shipping purchases
- Cell Phone Protection
- $95
- 4x points at restaurants
- 4x points at U.S. supermarkets, on up to $25,000 in purchases annually
- 3x points on flights booked directly with airlines or through amextravel.com
- $250
- Earn 5x points on flights purchased directly from airlines or through Amex Travel (up to $500k/year)
- $200 Annual Uber Credit
- Amex Centurion Lounge Access
- $695
- Earn 3x Points on Airfare
- Earn 3x Points on Hotels
- Earn 3x Points at Restaurants
- $95
- Earn 2x miles on every purchase
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- 10,000 bonus miles every account anniversary
- $395
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, every day
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check Credit
- $95
- Unlimited 2x miles per dollar
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- Capital One Travel Portal
- $0 intro for first year; $95 after that
- 3x on Dining
- Earn Points on Rent with No Fees
- 15 Points Transfer Partners
- $0
Bottom line
Air France-KLM Flying Blue is offering a promotion on purchased miles, giving members the opportunity to buy miles with up to a 50% discount. This is an opportunity to acquire miles for 1.53 cents each.
This is a good offer for acquiring Flying Blue miles. There’s lots of value to be had with Flying Blue miles, especially for transatlantic business class redemptions, where award pricing is generally reasonable and availability is good.
The only thing I’d remind people of is that there are lots of ways to earn Flying Blue miles, so outright buying them won’t be necessary for a lot of people.
Do you plan on purchasing Flying Blue miles with a 50% discount?
100% bonus on my end.
I am being offered 100% Bonus at the 40,000 and above level. Not sure if the offer is different in Canada or because I am Platinum. I love Air France but I find very few deals to use my points out of Vancouver (YVR), however, as Lucky has taught me and I can confirm, the one way deals within Europe are incredible. I have gotten Business Class on the same flight cheaper than Economy for...
I am being offered 100% Bonus at the 40,000 and above level. Not sure if the offer is different in Canada or because I am Platinum. I love Air France but I find very few deals to use my points out of Vancouver (YVR), however, as Lucky has taught me and I can confirm, the one way deals within Europe are incredible. I have gotten Business Class on the same flight cheaper than Economy for points. Go figure. What I don't like are their "from blah blah points" for Business Class as I never find them and they lopve to send you on other airlines on multi-stops for anything value wise. A Big AF 90th Anniversary Sale just ended yesterday and all I could find was a flight to Paris but both ways on Delta vis Seattle Not AF out of YVR. The other one was KL over and AF back to Toronto with a 5 1/2 hr Economy seat from YYZ to YVR on Westjet; not even in Westjet Premium Economy Class. Why sell it with Y class & multiple stops when it is supposd to be J? Purely marketing and less options up here. It's kind of like all my Alaska points which are better to use on other carriers value wise. LOL
@ben - regarding the FlyingBlue calendar, are you experiencing the error where the calendar and day of week view no longer display point prices?
On my account (registered in the EU), I am offered the regular promotion with up to 100% bonus instead.
Extending Flying Blue miles is complicated.
If no miles are from flying then any miles earning activity extends them. That includes miles purchases.
If you credit any flying miles to Flying Blue, then all the miles you have become flying miles can only be extended by flying or by credit card.
Moral: Unless you regularly fly on SkyTeam flights never credit fligh miles to Flying Blue