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Home » Flying Blue » Pros and Cons of the Illogical New Flying Blue Program
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Pros and Cons of the Illogical New Flying Blue Program

Matthew Klint Posted onJune 5, 2018November 14, 2023 13 Comments

a puzzle with a piece missing

A new pricing scheme kicked in for Air France/KLM Flying Blue award redemptions on June 1st. Figuring it out has been like trying to figure out the writing of Faulkner. But I’ve been able to make a few general observations.

Pros

Cheaper Awards in Some Cases

The most popular redemption I make for Award Expert clients using Flying Blue points is between the USA and Europe. In some cases, prices have dropped. Previously, saver rates were a flat 62,500 miles each way. Now, “saver” business class seats seem to range from 51K to 68K. That makes award redemptions to Europe even more valuable than before.

a screenshot of a flight

Remember, “Europe” includes Morocco and Israel for Flying Blue, a great way to get all the way to the Middle East or Northern Africa for cheap.

Odd Married Segment Logic

Flying Blue is doing exactly what I recently observed with Delta SkyMiles redemptions: what seems to be an odd use of married segment fare logic. Take for example the example above. What if you just wanted to travel as far as Paris?

a screenshot of a flight

Same day, same flight, 2K more. That’s just odd. There are other more draconian examples, but we see that on many routes around the world, including on partner flights.

The potential for hidden city or throw-away ticketing is excellent in the new program. Remember, however, that once you skip a segment all remaining segments are cancelled. You’ll never book a round-trip if you intend to skip part of the outbound journey. Checking luggage is also difficult.

Cons

Odd Married Segment Logic

This odd married segment logic is also a huge hindrance in some cases, like if you want to go to Paris and check bags in the example above. Check out these other examples:

JFK to Paris is 91,500 miles for a one-way in economy (ouch):

a screenshot of a computer

New York to Singapore via Paris? 8K miles less, same flight/same day from New York to Paris.

a screenshot of a flight

What about New York to London? That will set you back 150K, so almost double the price for the CDG-LHR segment:

a screenshot of a flight

How about from the West Coast?

San Francisco to Amsterdam is only 26K miles one-way on October 3rd:

a screenshot of a flight information

But if you connect to London, the fare drops to 21,500 miles. Same flight to Amsterdam…

a screenshot of a flight information

There’s just no sense to it from a redemption perspective (where married segment logic has traditionally been limited and unlike revenue tickets, the point is to limit liability, not entice passengers to take extra flights).

Promo Awards

Perhaps you’ve heard about the great deal: Chicago to Paris for 22K r/t and even less with the current 25% transfer bonus from American Express to Flying Blue.

a screenshot of a flight rewards program

That’s great…if you want to go Paris. Traditionally, Flying Blue Promo Awards included a connecting flight to wherever you wished to go in Europe, subject of course to award availability. That’s gone now — the Promo awards will get you only to Pairs on Air France or Amsterdam on KLM. That’s a shame, though if the deal is good enough it still may make sense.

CONCLUSION

I’m still “learning” the ins and outs of the new Flying Blue program. As I unearth more tricks, I will certainly bring them to your attention.

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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13 Comments

  1. Sexy_kitten7 Reply
    June 5, 2018 at 2:51 pm

    I think the married segment examples make perfect sense. You pay a premium for nonstop over connecting. I suspect they are pegging the award cost to the cash price similar to UA and DL. Btw, does anyone know how they do that in practice?

    • Richard Reply
      June 5, 2018 at 5:07 pm

      Except the London example blows that logic up. Just bizarre.

      • Sexy_kitten7 Reply
        June 5, 2018 at 9:52 pm

        I don’t think so. Which example are you referring to?

        • Matthew Reply
          June 5, 2018 at 11:13 pm

          I think he means the New York to London via Paris for 150K — a huge premium to connect in Paris.

          • Sexy_kitten7
            June 6, 2018 at 10:57 am

            Oh I see. I just read the text, not the screenshot.

  2. waldy Reply
    June 5, 2018 at 6:57 pm

    I observed something similar as well and transferred a few points from Amex MR to Flying Blue.
    But the sad part seems to be that the transfers are not instantaneous anymore 🙁
    SO basically I can book because my miles havent arrived yet.

    • Matthew Reply
      June 5, 2018 at 7:27 pm

      Take advantage of the free 72-hour holds (available only if you make the reservation over the telephone).

  3. Sam Reply
    June 6, 2018 at 1:01 am

    So does the new FB have big YQ On TATL awards?

    • Matthew Reply
      June 6, 2018 at 1:23 am

      Same as before. Sweet-spot is Delta, which has no fuel surcharges for one-way trips to Europe departing from North America or r/t journeys departing from North America. Also no fuel surcharges for Asia or South America.

      Air France/KLM fuel surcharges remain moderate. China Airlines, Aeroflot not appearing right now. High surcharges on Middle East Airlines and Air Europa.

  4. Paolo Reply
    June 6, 2018 at 6:05 am

    Hah! No, not Faulkner so much as Proust.
    They really screwed this up. Even AF loyalists have been anxious over the strikes and the already implemented changes to FB ( XP and all); the last thing AF would have wanted is more confusion/uncertainty, but that’s exactly the outcome of the award changes.
    OK, there could be a bargain in there somewhere ( sure, it’s great for anyone looking for a CDG-ORD in Y over the next 2 months ( @11,000 o/w). But that’s not a bread and butter route…and the other offerings range from luke-warm to insane ( and are pretty much without rhyme nor reason).
    They’ve stuffed this up…at at very bad time for the airline.

  5. Josh Reply
    June 6, 2018 at 10:35 am

    The worst bit is that you could upgrade from economy to business in a flight from Detroit to Amsterdam and atill only get the XP for economy as that was your oroginal booking class and they do not consider upgrades for the XP. It is just plain stupid.

  6. Simone Comparini Reply
    June 26, 2018 at 5:09 am

    Hello everyone, I’m Platinum since 6 years, I give You a rough idea of my new Flying Blue BAD experience: as Italian citizen I needed with the old program 70.000 miles to renew the platinum status. With Alitalia from Roma to Buenos Aires/return it was about 14k miles, based on economy ticket H fare basis, it’s like saying that in 5 trips/year I had renewed my status (including some domestic flights). Today, flying economy class no matter the fare basis, for return trip to Buenos Aires I get 24XP points, but now I need 300XP points to renew the platinum status!!! You don’t need to be a master at Harvard business school to understand that they fcked me…… and like me I’m sure most of frequent travellers have been penalized. I was aiming to get to lifetime platinum and now I have a mountain in from of me to climb.

  7. Pingback: Air France Returns To Dallas (Great Deal Using Miles) | Good Planes

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