After dropping the kids off in Germany, I had to get back…and I scored a killer deal that really underscores the value of the Air France-KLM Flying Blue program.
Air France-KLM Flying Blue Still Offers Immense Value, Especially With Business Class Promo Awards
Flying Blue runs Promo Awards each month in which certain routes are discounted, sometimes up to 50%. While in recent times these deals have been predominantly for economy class, once in a while there are discounts on business class fares too. In July, business class trips between New York and Europe on Air France or KLM were available for as little as 45K miles each-way in business class, a 25% reduction over the cheapest available “saver” rate.
That’s quite a deal, but of course I don’t live or work in New York City and by the time you add on a transcontinental flight to California, you’re better off spending the 60,000 miles for space directly to/from the West Coast. But I had to stop at Pittsburgh for a work obligation and noticed–just 36 hours before travel–that I could travel from Basel (BSL) to New York (JFK) via Paris (CDG) on Air France for only 45K Flying Blue miles and about $455 in taxes/fees.
Score!
The FlyingBlue website was not confirming the itinerary, as you can see in the screenshot above, so I thought the space might be phantom, but I phoned the Flying Blue call center and was able to ticket the reservation over the phone.
Even better? I had taken advantage of an American Express Membership Rewards 25% transfer bonus in June, so this 45,000 miles ticket was only 36,000 AMEX points.
You really can’t beat 36K points for transatlantic business class.
My point: the miles and points “game” has changed tremendously and mostly in a negative way, but there are still excellent deals to be found and there are some improvements: I’d argue that Flying Blue program in its current form is better than it has ever been (don’t let us down, Tiffany!). There are other exceptional deals too with Aeroplan and even Delta’s SkyMiles “flash sales.” Even United saver awards are cheaper than they’ve been in 18+ months if you have elite status or hold a United co-branded credit card.
I may not like the way the evolution of miles and points in the aggregate, but there are still many good deals that make smart credit card spending and collecting credit card points absolutely worth your effort.
Did you take advantage of the FlyingBlue New York business class Promo Award?
image: Air France
Nice score but the equivalent of me saying I bet $25k on the Brewers last night today after the game was played.
You aren’t the only one that does this but announcing you took advantage of a deal afterwards means little. Announcing it when you find it would certainly help more readers. But I understand the klick of travel writers only share the good stuff with each other and I don’t blame them.
Need the rubes to keep reading to pay for the addiction while dropping a few crumbs here and there. What is it a wise lady once said? Let them eat cake!
I haven’t highlighted these Flying Blue promo awards in a long time, but will start doing that again when there are good ones – in the past, there would be “deals” but no availability. This time, there was a lot of space all month long.
Awesome – nice redemption!
Folks love to complain about Aeroplan and Flying Blue… and yet… there they are, taking many of our transferrable points year after year, with transfer bonuses and sometimes quite reasonable TATL redemptions.
Still not sure it’s worth going through the hassle of getting the FB credit card to try and get FB Platinum status (you know, the old “get the card, then status match to FB Gold, then get the SUB XP and anniversary XP and another 40XP and get FB Plat ~14 months from now” trick…), but would be “fun” to pull it off…
I’d certainly love to fly La Premiere again via that method…unlike every other carrier (but Starlux) there are just no first class deals to be had and it is impressive that AF figures it does not need to offer any!