Air France-KLM Flying Blue: How to earn and redeem miles, elite status and more

Air France and KLM formed the Air France-KLM Group in 2004 and soon after launched a joint loyalty program called Flying Blue.

Though award availability can be unpredictable due to dynamic pricing, Flying Blue remains popular with travelers for its extensive list of credit card transfer partners, lucrative Promo Rewards and saver-level award seats. If you’re looking to redeem your credit card points and miles with Flying Blue, here’s everything you need to know about the program.

Related: How to find the cheapest redemption rates using Flying Blue miles

Flying Blue program overview

Flying Blue is the joint loyalty program of Air France, KLM and Transavia. If you’re a Flying Blue member traveling on one of these airlines, you can add your Flying Blue member number to earn miles and Experience Points, or XP, for elite status qualification. Once you earn elite status, you can use your benefits on these airlines and reciprocal benefits on other partner airlines.

But just because these airlines use Flying Blue as their default program doesn’t mean you’re limited to earning on those flights. Most partner airlines that allow you to earn Flying Blue miles, such as Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic, are part of the SkyTeam alliance. However, Flying Blue has many nonalliance partners, including:

• Air Corsica
• Air Mauritius
• Air Tahiti
• AirBaltic
• Aircalin
• Bangkok Airways
• Chalair Aviation
• Copa Airlines
• El Al
• Etihad Airways
• Gol Airlines
• Japan Airlines
• Malaysia Airlines
• Oman Air
• Qantas
• Twin Jet
• WestJet
• Winair

Note that there may be restrictions regarding the flights on which you can earn or redeem miles within these partnerships. Review the Flying Blue partner page before you plan your travels so you know what to expect.

Flying Blue elite status tiers

Aside from the basic Explorer membership, Flying Blue offers four elite status tiers: Silver, Gold, Platinum and Ultimate. You can qualify by earning Experience Points.

Flying Blue Silver

Silver is the lowest tier of Flying Blue elite status and requires 100 Experience Points in a 12-month period. It comes with some basic benefits, including:

• The ability to earn 6 Flying Blue miles per euro spent
• Free standard seat selection
• Priority check-in, baggage drop-off and boarding
• SkyTeam Elite benefits (the most notable SkyTeam Elite benefit is a free checked bag on all Flying Blue and SkyTeam partner flights)
• Preferred waitlist status on flights operated by Air France, KLM or SkyTeam partners
• One additional checked bag on Air France and KLM flights
• Preferred standby status
• Extra-legroom availability 24 hours before departure (on Air France and KLM flights)

Flying Blue Gold

Gold requires an additional 180 Experience Points in a 12-month period. You have access to the Flying Blue Silver benefits and:

• The ability to earn 7 Flying Blue miles per euro spent
• Access to eligible SkyTeam lounges worldwide for the member and one guest, subject to SkyTeam lounge-access rules
• SkyTeam Elite Plus (benefits include SkyPriority boarding and fast-track immigration)
• Priority baggage handling
• Extra-legroom availability 72 hours before departure (on Air France and KLM flights)

Flying Blue Platinum

Flying Blue’s Platinum status requires an additional 300 Experience Points in a 12-month period and includes all Gold benefits. However, it sweetens the deal by upgrading some benefits and adding others, such as:

• The ability to earn 8 Flying Blue miles per euro spent
• Access to a Platinum Service Line for dedicated help
• Waived fees when changing or requesting a refund on reward bookings
• Increased saver-level award availability
• The ability to book La Premiere, Air France’s first-class product, with miles
• Two additional checked bags on Air France and KLM flights
• Miles overdraft on award tickets (up to 50,000 miles)
• Extra-legroom availability at the time of booking (on Air France and KLM flights)

Once you hold Flying Blue Platinum status for 10 consecutive years, you have it for life.

Flying Blue Ultimate

Flying Blue also has a top-tier status called Ultimate. It requires a whopping 900 Ultimate Experience Points in a 12-month period (Ultimate Experience Points are only earned on eligible flights with an Air France or KLM flight number and not partner-operated flights) and offers all the Platinum benefits, as well as:

• The ability to earn 9 Flying Blue miles per euro spent
• Access to Air France and KLM lounges with up to eight travel companions
• 24-hour support from the program’s “Ultimate Assistant”
• Four one-cabin upgrade vouchers per membership year
• The ability to gift Flying Blue Platinum status to one travel companion
• Hertz Platinum status
• Complimentary onboard Wi-Fi
• 100,000-mile overdraft for award tickets and upgrades

Check out the full list of Flying Blue benefits on the loyalty program’s website. If you don’t qualify for the same elite status each year, the program offers a “soft landing,” meaning you only drop to the status below the one you failed to requalify for, without the need to start again from the entry-level Explorer tier.

How to qualify for Flying Blue elite status

You can qualify for Flying Blue elite status by earning Experience Points. Each tier requires a specific number of these points, and you can earn them by flying and through credit card spending.

Also, for every 2,000 miles contributed to carbon dioxide reduction and absorption (for example, through the purchase of sustainable aviation fuel), you are rewarded 1 Experience Point.

Earn Experience Points by flying

The number of Experience Points you earn is based on the distance you fly and the cabin class.

Earn Experience Points through Flying Blue’s US credit card

Flying Blue has a cobranded U.S. credit card with Bank of America. One of the standout benefits of the Air France KLM Visa Signature® Credit Card (formerly known as the Air France-KLM World Elite Mastercard) is earning Experience Points via credit card spending.

You’ll earn 100 Experience Points (and 50,000 bonus miles) after spending $2,000 or more on purchases within the first 90 days of your account opening. In subsequent years, you’ll earn 20 Experience Points on your account anniversary. Plus, you can earn an additional 80 Experience Points on your account anniversary after you spend $15,000 or more on purchases within the anniversary year, as well as an additional 60 Experience Points on your account anniversary after you spend $25,000 or more on purchases within the anniversary year.

The information for the Air France KLM Visa Signature and the Air France-KLM World Elite Mastercard has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Earn Experience Points through Flying Blue’s Accor partnership

Another way to earn Experience Points is through the program’s partnership with Accor. You can earn up to 10 Experience Points by linking your Flying Blue account with your Accor Live Limitless account, 5 Experience Points for completing a qualifying Accor stay and 5 Experience Points for taking a qualifying flight.

Earning miles with Flying Blue

Flying Blue miles are one of the easiest currencies to earn. Miles expire after two years of inactivity, unless you have elite status, in which case the miles never expire.

Earn miles by flying

You can earn Flying Blue miles by flying. How you earn these miles varies by airline, though. When you book a flight on Air France or KLM, you’ll earn miles based on how much you spend on the ticket (before taxes and fees).

The number of miles you’ll earn per euro spent also depends on your Flying Blue status tier. Flying Blue Explorer members (those without status) earn 4 miles per euro spent, while Silver, Gold, Platinum and Ultimate members earn 6, 7, 8 and 9 miles per euro spent, respectively. This earning doesn’t include taxes and certain fees charged on the ticket.

Earning with SkyTeam and nonalliance Flying Blue partners on tickets not purchased through Flying Blue is a different story. For tickets that are marketed by another airline and credited to Flying Blue, you’ll earn miles on the following criteria:

• Distance flown
• Fare class
• Operating airline
• Your elite status tier

Each airline partner awards a different number of miles for each fare class — you can find out how many miles your partner flight will earn on the Flying Blue partners page.

Transfer points and miles to Flying Blue

You can transfer rewards from these programs to Flying Blue at a 1:1 ratio:

You can also transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to Flying Blue at a 3:1 ratio, and Rove miles at a 1:1 ratio.

The following cards all currently offer strong welcome bonuses that you could easily convert to Flying Blue miles at a 1:1 ratio:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (see rates and fees): Earn 100,000 bonus points after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.
• Citi Strata Premier® Card (see rates and fees): Earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.
• American Express Platinum Card®: Find out your offer and see if you are eligible for as high as 175,000 bonus points after spending $12,000 on purchases in the first six months of membership. Welcome offers vary, and you may not be eligible for an offer.
• Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card: Earn 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.

Earn miles with hotel stays, car rentals, shopping and experiences

Flying Blue has a wide range of nonairline partners, allowing you to earn Flying Blue miles for activities and spending.

This includes (but is not limited to):

• Earn 2 miles for every euro spent and get at least 15% off select properties with Booking.com.
• Earn 500 miles each time you stay at a Hyatt hotel worldwide.
• Earn 12 miles for every euro spent on electric vehicles with Hertz.
• Earn miles with hundreds of retailers through the Shop for Miles online store.

Check out Flying Blue’s additional partners to learn how you can earn miles.

How to redeem Flying Blue miles

While there are various ways to redeem Flying Blue miles, we recommend sticking to award flights. This will almost always give you the most value for your miles.

Flying Blue uses dynamic pricing, which means there’s no set award chart, and some tickets can be extremely expensive (such as 100,000 miles for an economy-class flight from New York City to Europe).

Even with dynamic pricing, Flying Blue often has the best pricing for many SkyTeam awards, beating out Delta, Korean Air and other major airlines.

You should also know that Air France and KLM charge fuel surcharges on some tickets. You can expect to pay $250 to $500 on a one-way business-class award ticket across the Atlantic.

Book Air France or KLM to Amsterdam, Paris and beyond

While Flying Blue prices its awards dynamically, the program has now standardized the lowest saver-level pricing for all one-way flights between the U.S. and Europe as follows, regardless of origin or destination, meaning you can connect at no extra cost:

• 25,000 miles in economy
• 40,000 miles in premium economy
• 60,000 miles in business class

Remember that these rates are only for the lowest saver-level seats, which are limited. We have found plenty of availability on flights from the West Coast (including those with European connections) at the new lower rates in economy and premium economy cabins.

However, business-class seats at saver levels can be hard to find, so you may want to use an external tool like Seats.aero to find award seats in seconds.

Additionally, remember that you could spend a few days in Paris, Amsterdam or other eligible destinations using the free Flying Blue stopover program. This is a great way to visit another city without forking over additional miles or cash, though taxes, fees and surcharges may be applicable. To book Flying Blue stopovers, you’ll need to call Flying Blue at 800-375-8723.

Related: 9 ways to use points and miles for an incredible trip to Paris right now

Book Air France’s La Premiere first class with miles

While KLM does not operate a first-class cabin, Air France does. La Premiere is a spectacular luxury aviation experience available on select Boeing 777-300ER aircraft to high-yield destinations like New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo and Singapore.

Unfortunately, it’s one of the most difficult and expensive award seats to book. You can only book this product with Flying Blue miles and only if you hold Flying Blue Platinum or Ultimate status. Additionally, only one La Premiere award ticket can be booked per flight. Rates are also very high, with a one-way first-class award from Miami to Paris costing around 350,000 Flying Blue miles per person.

Related: Video from the first flight in the new Air France La Premiere first class

Keep an eye out for Promo Rewards

Every month, Flying Blue releases discounted award tickets for select dates and routes. Typically, you can snag economy award seats from select U.S. cities to Europe starting at 18,750 miles, premium economy awards starting at 30,000 miles and business-class awards starting at 45,000 miles.

You can view an up-to-date list of Promo Rewards on the Flying Blue website.

Bottom line

Flying Blue is an underrated frequent flyer program. With monthly Promo Rewards, you can potentially fly from the U.S. to Europe for under 20,000 miles one-way. Plus, the program lets you add a free stopover in Paris or Amsterdam at no additional mileage cost.

Though Flying Blue imposes high surcharges on award redemptions, it is a transfer partner of all major credit card programs.