Flying Blue is the airline loyalty program of KLM and Air France and has recently become one of the top airline loyalty programs in the world with its excellent program benefits. Despite their dynamic award pricing, Flying Blue has evolved in such a way to allow consumers to feel like they’re getting a lot of value out of their points. Led by Ben Lipsey, part of their approach has been to offer better deals such that more people are willing to transfer their points to Flying Blue (and it certainly has been working!).
This article seeks to outline the main things you need to know about Flying Blue’s award program.
What Airlines Can You Book Using Flying Blue?
Flying Blue miles can be earned and used with their 35 partners, consisting of primarily SkyTeam entities and several other various carriers, including off ones like Japan Airlines and Qantas (both oneworld airlines):
BRAND
SkyTeam Partners
Other Partners
- Aerolíneas Argentinas
- Aeroméxico
- Air Europa
- Air France
- China Airlines
- China Eastern Airlines
- Czech Airlines
- Delta Air Lines
- Garuda Indonesia
- ITA Airways
- Kenya Airways
- KLM
- Korean Air
- Middle East Airlines
- Saudia
- TAROM
- Vietnam Airlines
- Virgin Atlantic
- Xiamen Air
- Air Corsica
- Air Mauritius
- airBaltic
- Aircalin
- Bangkok Airways
- Chalair Aviation
- China Southern Airlines
- Copa Airlines
- Etihad Airways
- GOL
- Japan Airlines
- Malaysia Airlines
- Qantas
- Transavia
- Twin Jet
- WestJet
- Winair
Since Flying Blue partners with these airlines, you can earn and redeem miles with them. However, it’s worth noting that relationships change all the time, and it’s also possible that you might not even be able to earn miles with some partners (and only redeem with them). Checking Flying Blue’s direct website for this information is the best way to learn more about that.
What Cards Transfer To Flying Blue?
Flying Blue partners with pretty much all the major credit card points programs, meaning it’s typically easy to accrue Flying Blue miles:
BRAND
Airline Transfer Partner
Transfer Ratio
(Issuer to Flying Blue)
Transfer Time
American Express
1:1
Usually instant
Chase Ultimate Rewards
1:1
Usually Instant
Capital One Miles
1:1
Usually instant
Citi ThankYou Points
1:1
Usually instant
Bilt
1:1
Usually instant
Marriott Bonvoy
3:1
Up to 3 days
So if you have any of these cards, you can transfer your points/miles to Flying Blue:
Notably, a lot of issuers run transfer bonuses to Flying Blue every once in a while. We’ve seen Bilt offer an incredible up to 150% transfer bonus while other issues offer ~20% transfer bonuses in the past. Nevertheless, when these are around, it’s worth taking a look at Flying Blue to see what’s available.
How Can You Use Your Flying Blue Miles?
While we typically don’t like dynamic pricing, Flying Blue’s program has some unique features in place that still make it one of the best programs out there to redeem your valuable points and miles.
Notably, Flying Blue has this awesome award tool that lets you price out the lowest saver fare award rates.
Fly North America to Europe And Vice Versa
Flying Blue has set standardized level saver pricing bands for all one-way flights between North America and Europe:
- Economy: 20,000 miles
- Premium Economy: 35,000 miles
- Business Class: 50,000 miles
This means you could find one-way business class flights from the West Coast, Vancouver, or Mexico City to Europe for just 50,000 Flying Blue miles… that’s some fantastic value. The unfortunate part is that these flights are not super easy to find, as they are very high in demand. Additionally, Flying Blue business class seats award tickets typically come with fees ranging from $100-350 USD, so just be wary of that as well.
If you’re savvy, you can also add a free stopover on your award ticket (keep reading to learn more).
Fly Delta Airlines
It’s a common misconception that booking directly with the airline is better than booking via its partners. This is no exception to the rule—booking Delta flights using Sky Miles is oftentimes way more expensive than booking the same flights with Flying Blue miles. For example, when comparing these random Delta flights going from SFO to JFK, booking with Flying Blue is a few thousand miles cheaper.
A more dramatic example is looking at international itineraries, where Sky Miles oftentimes cost a ridiculous amount of miles relative to partners. Here is no different:
What Are Flying Blue’s Promo Awards?
Every month, Flying Blue releases new promo awards letting you get 25-50% off normal saver fare rates for flights. Here are some of our favorite ones from recent memory:
- Toronto <> Paris Business Class for just 37.5k miles each way
- San Francisco / Los Angeles <> Paris Economy Class for just 15k miles each way
- Chicago <> Paris Economy Class for just 11,250 miles each way
Combine this with transfer bonuses and you can start scoring some incredible deals to Paris. Imagine flying roundtrip business class for just 30k points roundtrip—this is made possible with Bilt’s up to 150% transfer bonus and Flying Blue’s promo awards for discounted business class tickets. Truly incredible value.
Can You Cancel Your Flying Blue Awards?
Flying Blue lets you cancel and reinstate your miles starting at 50 euros. However, I have seen some economy + business class tickets (recently issued in 2024) denote a 70 euro refund fee.
What Is Flying Blue’s Stopover Policy?
Flying Blue has one of the most generous stopover policies in the award ticket space: you can get free, unlimited stopovers on award tickets. This can make for some incredible savings and can really help maximize the value of your points.
For instance, with the free stopovers, you can do a lot of cool things:
- You could fly from San Francisco to Zurich with a stopover in Paris (SFO-CDG-ZRH) and only have to pay for the cost to fly from the origin (SFO) to final destination (ZRH)
- You could fly from Barcelona to Athens with a stopover in Amsterdam (BCN-AMS-ATH) and only have to pay the price to fly from BCN-ATH
- You could fly from Paris to Bali with a stopover in PVG via China Eastern
If you’re really savvy (in theory), you could fly from Los Angeles to Frankfurt with multiple stopovers in CDG, BRU, and AMS, all for the price of flying from LAX-FRA—super cool!
Conclusion
Flying Blue is one of our favorite loyalty programs for a reason. With reasonably priced saver awards, generous stopover policies, and several transfer partners, Flying Blue miles are easy to come by and are tremendously valuable. It's always worth keeping an eye out for great redemptions with this top frequent flyer program.
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