Flying Blue is the frequent flyer program of Air France–KLM Group, the holding company that owns both airlines. Air France is headquartered in Paris while KLM is headquartered in a suburb of Amsterdam. Miles earned from flying and/or points transferred from credit card programs are called Flying Blue miles.
Both airlines are members of the SkyTeam Alliance. Thus, you can book flights with SkyTeam airline partners using Flying Blue Miles. In addition to its SkyTeam members, you can book award flights with partners like Aircalin, Alaska Airlines, Aer Lingus, Etihad Airways, Japan Airlines, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, and Virgin Atlantic.
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Credit Cards to Earn Flying Blue Miles
The Flying Blue program partners with American Express, Capital One, Chase, Citi, and Marriott. The points that you earn from these credit cards can be transferred directly to Flying Blue to book an award flight. Amex, Chase, and Citi points transfer instantly at a 1:1 ratio. Capital One Miles transfer instantly at a 2:1.5 ratio. Marriott points transfers take 3 days at a 3:1 ratio. With every 20,000 Marriott points that you transfer, you receive a 5,000 mile bonus.
Now, interesting cards within these programs include the Amex Gold Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Citi Premier Card, Capital One Venture Card, and Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant. You earn 4x points on dining and US grocery stores with the Amex Gold Card. The Chase Sapphire Reserve earns 3x points on dining and travel. You earn 3x points on restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, air travel, and hotels with the Citi Premier Card. The Capital One Venture Card earns 2x miles on all purchases. You earn 6x points with Marriott with the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant.
Other Ways to Earn Miles
Outside of transferring points from transferable point programs, you can earn Flying Blue miles by flying on Air France, KLM, or its partner airline flights. If you’re flying on partner airlines, head to wheretocredit.com to see if credit your flight to your Flying Blue account makes sense for you.
Spending on an Air France KLM credit card is another way to earn Flying Blue miles. Bank of America is the card issuer. So, this card is similar to other cards issued by Bank of America like the Alaska Airlines Visa Card.
Flying Blue Shop for Miles portal is a third way to earn miles. By clicking through a Flying Blue Shop for Miles merchant before purchase, you earn miles with your spending.
A fourth way you can earn Flying Blue miles is by using its car rental and hotel partners. Flying Blue members earn miles generally based upon the amount you spend with each travel partner.
Purchasing miles is one of the last ways to earn Flying Blue miles. Occasionally, the program will offer discounts to buy miles that can add to your account balance.
Promo Awards
Every month, the Flying Blue program releases its Promo Awards. These are flights on Air France or KLM metal (planes) that are 25-50% off the award price you’ll typically see. The city pairs will change every month, giving you an opportunity to book discounted award flights throughout the year.
As of the start of the pandemic, the promos have been lackluster at best. And this makes sense right? Restricted travel was the norm for quite a while. So, there was no incentive to offer discounted flights when no one was allowed/wanted to travel. With the pandemic coming to a close and travel ramping back up, expect to see more flight discounts in the months and years to come.
Transfer Bonus to Flying Blue
In addition to stretching your Flying Blue miles farther using Promo Awards, American Express, Capital One, and Citi have offered a 20-30% transfer bonus to Flying Blue in the past. For example, 100,000 points would become 130,000 Flying Blues miles.
In the future, one would expect for Chase to get in on the action. To date, we have’t seen Chase offer a transfer bonus to Flying Blue. With Marriott, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll see a transfer bonus.
Basic Flying Blue Redemption Rules
Mimicking fellow SkyTeam member Delta Air Lines, Flying Blue doesn’t publish an award chart. Instead, you can get an estimate of the number of miles required by using the Miles Price Estimator. Separately, running award searches shows you the number of miles required.
With the said, here are the award rules worth mentioning and keeping in mind as you knock out an award search:
- Fuel surcharges (taxes and fees) vary the airline operating the flight
- Go to airfrance.com or klm.com to search for award flights
- Stopovers are not allowed
- Only Flying Blue elite members can use miles to book La Première (Air France first class)
- Award flights can be booked up to 365 days before the flight date
Using the Flying Blue Search Engine
Similar to Delta Air Lines, you can book most Air France, KLM, and its partner airline flights (see full partner list below) on airfrance.com or klm.com. For partners, you’re unable to book online, find the award space on delta.com (SkyTeam award flights) aa.com (Oneworld award flights), or united.com (Star Alliance award flights) and then call Flying Blue contact number at 800-375-8723 to confirm the award space and then book the award flights.
| Partner Airline | Book With |
| Adria Airways Aer Lingus Aeroflot Aerolineas Argentinas Aeromexico Air Antilles Express Air Astana Air Astana Air Austral Air Baltic Air Corsica Air Europa Air Malta Air Mauritius Air Serbia Air Tahiti Nui Aircalin Alaska Airlines Alitalia Atlantic Airways Atlasglobal Austrian Azerbaijan Bangkok Airways Belavia Bulgaria Air China Airlines China Eastern China Southern CityJet Comair Copa Airlines Croatia Airlines Czech Airlines Delta Air Lines Etihad Finnair Flybe Garuda Indonesia Georgian Airways GOL Hop! Japan Airlines Kenya Airways Korean Air Luxair Malaysia Airlines Middle East Airlines Montenegro Airlines Pegasus Airlines Qantas Saudia Sichuan Airlines Silk Air Singapore Airlines Tarom Transavia Ukraine International Airlines Vietnam Airlines Virgin Atlantic WestJet Wideroe Widerøe Airlines Winair Xiamen Airlines | Air France KLM Air France/KLM Air France/KLM Air France/KLM Air France Air France KLM Air France Air France/KLM Air France Air France/KLM Air France/KLM Air France Air France/KLM Air France Air France Air France Air France Air France Air France Air France Air France Air France/KLM Air France/KLM Air France/KLM Air France/KLM Air France/KLM Air France/KLM KLM Air France Air France/KLM Air France/KLM Air France/KLM Air France/KLM Air France/KLM Air France Air France Air France/KLM Air France/KLM Air France/KLM KLM Air France Air France/KLM Air France/KLM Air France KLM Air France/KLM Air France KLM Air France Air France/KLM KLM Air France Air France Air France/KLM Air France/KLM Air France Air France/KLM Air France Air France/KLM Air France KLM Air France KLM |
Best Ways to Use Flying Blue Miles
1. Delta US to northern South America
Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona, Machu Picchu, and Uyuni Salt Flats come to mind when thinking about the beauty that is northern South America. With 44,000+ Flying Blue miles, you can book a one-way Delta business class flight between the US and northern South America.
Examples of flights between the US and South America include:
- Colombia <> Atlanta, New York–JFK
- Peru (LIM) <> Atlanta
- Ecuador (UIO) <> Atlanta
2. Air France or KLM US to Europe
The US to Europe redemption can be tricky because the award rates for nonstop flights into Amsterdam and Paris from the US require more miles. Flights to other European cities like Athens, Barcelona, and Helsinki generally require fewer miles. With 53,000 Flying Blue miles, you can book a one-way business class Air France or KLM flight between the US and Europe.
Examples of flights between the US and Europe include:
- Houston (IAH) > Amsterdam (AMS) > Tel Aviv (TLV) – KLM
- Dallas (DFW) > Paris (CDG) > Budapest (BUD) – Air France
- Atlanta (ATL) > Amsterdam (AMS) > Athens (ATH) – KLM
3. SkyTeam US to Africa
Kruger National Park, Maasai Mara National Reserve, Victoria Falls, Mount Kilimanjaro, and Serengeti National Park are just a sliver of what you can experience in Africa. So, why not leverage airline miles to get you there? With 85,000 Flying Blue miles, you can book a one-way SkyTeam business class flight between the US and Africa. It’s important to note the taxes and fees are ~$447 for this flight.
Examples of flights from the US to Africa include:
- Houston (IAH) > Amsterdam (AMS) > Nairobi (NBO) – KLM
- Atlanta (ATL) > Amsterdam (CDG) > Johannesburg (JNB) – KLM
4. SkyTeam US to Japan / Korea
Izakaya taverns, Fushimi Inari Taisha, or Korean BBQ are a few things to experience when visiting Japan or Korea. Both countries have plenty to see and do. So, let’s leverage airline miles to get us there for these experiences! With 85,000-95,000 Flying Blue miles, you can book a one-way SkyTeam business class flight from the US to Israel. It’s 85,000 miles to Korea and 95,000 miles to Japan. In addition to the miles, you’ll need to pay ~$458 in taxes and fees.
Examples of flights between the US to Japan and Korea include:
- Detroit (DTW) > Paris (CDG) > Seoul (ICN) – Air France
- Los Angeles (LAX) > Paris (CDG) > Tokyo (HND) – Air France
5. SkyTeam US to Southeast Asia
Cambodia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam have so much to offer. You can experience places like Angkor Wat (Cambodia), Marina Bay Sands (Singapore), Wat Arun Ratchawararam (Thailand), or Ben Thanh Market (Vietnam). With 85,000-93,500 Flying Blue miles, you can book a one-way Air France or KLM business class flight between the US and Southeast Asia. As far as taxes and fees, ~$446 is what you can expect to pay.
Example of flights that you can book include:
- Los Angeles (LAX) > Paris (CDG) > Singapore (SIN) – Air France
- New York (JFK) > Amsterdam (AMS) > Bangkok (BKK) – KLM
- Detoit (DTW) > Paris (CDG) > Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) – Air France
Flying Blue FAQs
Which airlines are part of Flying Blue?
Air France, KLM, Air Europa, Garuda Indonesia, Kenya Airways, Aircalin, and TAROM are part of Flying Blue.
Is Flying Blue a good program?
Flying Blue is one of two key airline programs in the SkyTeam Alliance. Both Flying Blue and Delta Air Lines SkyMiles allow you to easily earn miles that can be redeemed for award flights. Korean Air is another key SkyTeam Alliance airline program. However, it’s relatively difficult to earn Korean Air Miles compared to Flying Blue and Delta Air Lines.
Is Flying Blue for free?
Yes! You can sign up for a free account.
Who owns Flying Blue?
Air France-KLM, a Franco – Dutch multinational corporation, owns Flying Blue.
Conclusion on Using Flying Blue Miles
Flying Blue miles are generally easy to earn because of the program’s partnerships with American Express, Capital One, Chase, Citi, and Marriott. When you’re looking to redeem your miles, note that the program has Promo Awards and credit card transfer bonuses that reduce the number of miles you need to book an award flight. All in all, Flying Blue miles help you to book award flights between the US and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.
So, how do you use your miles? Have you used your miles on these or any other redemptions? Please let me know in the comments below or by sending me an email on my contact page.
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