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

Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information.

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

Though award availability can be unpredictable due to dynamic pricing, Flying Blue is still popular with travelers because of its 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 for elite status qualification. Once you reach 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
• AirBaltic
• Aircalin
• Bangkok Airways
• Chalair Aviation
• China Southern Airlines
• Copa Airlines
• El Al
• Etihad Airways
• Gol Airlines
• ITA Airways
• Japan Airlines
• Malaysia Airlines
• Oman Air
• Qantas
• Transavia
• Twin Jet
• WestJet
• Winair

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

Flying Blue elite status tiers

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. 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. You have access to the Flying Blue Silver benefits and:

• The ability to earn 7 Flying Blue miles per euro spent
• Access to SkyTeam lounges on international flights operated by a Flying Blue or SkyTeam airline (valid for you and a guest)
• 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 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
• 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 for 10 consecutive years, you have the status for life.

Flying Blue Ultimate

As of 2024, Flying Blue also has a top-tier status level called Ultimate. It requires a whopping 900 experience points in a year and offers all the Platinum benefits, as well as:

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

Check out the full list of Flying Blue benefits on the loyalty program’s website.

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 with 1 experience point.

Earn experience points by flying

The number of experience points you earn is based on the distance you fly and 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 World Elite Mastercard is earning experience points via credit card spending.

You receive 60 experience points when you open your account for the first year. In subsequent years, you earn 20 experience points on your account anniversary. Plus, you can earn an additional 40 experience points on your account anniversary after you spend $15,000 or more on purchases within the anniversary year.

The information for 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.

Earning miles with Flying Blue

Flying Blue miles are one of the easiest currencies to earn.

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 dollar 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.

Spend on the Flying Blue credit card

Another way to earn Flying Blue miles is with the previously discussed Air France-KLM World Elite Mastercard. This card earns 3 Flying Blue miles per dollar spent on SkyTeam airfare purchases bought directly with a SkyTeam airline and 1.5 Flying Blue miles per dollar spent on everything else.

Transfer points to Flying Blue

The program is a transfer partner of:

• American Express Membership Rewards
• Bilt Rewards
• Capital One
• Chase Ultimate Rewards
• Citi ThankYou Rewards
• Marriott Bonvoy
• Wells Fargo Rewards

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)
• Citi Strata Premier℠ Card (see rates and fees)
• The Platinum Card® from American Express
• The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
• Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Earn miles with hotels, car rentals, shopping and experiences

Flying Blue has a wide range of nonairline earning partners, which allows 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 of 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 (think: 100,000 miles for an economy-class flight from New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) 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 moderate fuel surcharges on some tickets. You can expect to pay $200 to $350 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 you could spend a few days in Paris or Amsterdam using the free Flying Blue stopover program. This is a great way to visit another city without forking over additional miles or cash. To book Flying Blue stopovers, you’ll need to call Flying Blue at 800-375-8723.

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. Rates are also very high, with a one-way first-class award from Miami to Paris costing 232,500 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 does add high surcharges for award redemptions, it is a transferable rewards program partner of all major credit cards.