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KLM-Air France Flying Blue Frequent Flyer Program
If you are going to be based in Netherlands and plan to do a lot of international travelling with Air France-KLM then you may want to consider joining the "Flying Blue" frequent flyer program. The following article is a brief overview of the program: |
• Air France-KLM is the main airline operating from Amsterdam Schiphol and has excellent connections to UK and Europe and a reasonable international network which includes North and South America, Africa and Asia. Many more destinations require a connection through Paris with Air France.
• It is part of the ever growing SkyTeam alliance with fellow members Aeroflot, Aeromexico, Air Europa, Alitalia, China Airlines, China Eastern, China Southern, Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Kenya Airways, Korean Air, TAROM and Vietnam Airlines.
• It's free to join the Flying Blue program and sometimes bonus miles are given on joining.
• When flying on KLM-Air France and partners you will earn "Award Miles" corresponding to your flight distance - these can be saved up and redeemed for travel on KLM, Air France and other Skyteam partners. Note that the amount of miles awarded for a ticket depends on the price paid - some cheaper tickets can earn 0 or 25% miles; full fare and business class tickets will earn the most mileage.
• Don't forget that when booking "free" flights using miles you do have to pay taxes and charges - KLM's can be quite high so you should check the real price of the ticket. In fact you will get better value for your miles if you book upgrades to business class or business class tickets outright. We would probably only recommend using miles on economy flights for high last-minute fares.
• Example of "Classic Award" mileage costs of one-way economy/business tickets from Amsterdam: London 20k/40k miles; Los Angeles 50k/100k miles; Bangkok 80k/160k miles - with taxes and fees extra and subject to availability. "Flex Awards" (fully open availability) will cost double mileage. |
• Watch for occasional "Promo Awards" to selected destinations which offer 50% mileage discounts on award flights.
• When flying on KLM-Air France you will also earn "Level Miles" which set your level of membership in the program depending on how much flying you do in a calendar year. To reach the elite levels of Silver, Gold and Platinum you need to have 25,000, 40,000 and 70,000 Level Miles respectively or fly 15, 30 or 60 flights.
• Silver level benefits include priority check-in and boarding, an extra item of checked baggage, the option to pay for lounge access, premium economy seating discounts and 50% miles bonus.
• Gold level members get priority check-in and boarding, an extra item of checked baggage, priority seating assignment, free lounge access and 75% mileage bonus.
• Platinum members get priority check-in and boarding, an extra item of checked baggage, priority seating assignment, free lounge access and a 100% mileage bonus. On reaching 115k level miles (for platinum level requalification), any excess miles are rolled over to the next qualifying year.
• Lifetime Platinum status is granted after 10 consecutive years of Platinum membership.
• To maximise mileage earnings one could consider applying for the Flying Blue American Express Card which earns between 1 and 2 miles per €1 spent depending on your annual spending. The standard credit card is free for the first year but costs €85 per year thereafter. For an extra €100 you can have the double miles option.
• Alternative options for Dutch based frequent flyers: British Airways Executive Club which has an excellent global network via the Oneworld alliance - but you need to travel via London. Or Lufthansa's Miles & More (flying via Frankfurt or Munich) which is part of the extensive Star Alliance. If you fly a lot to the Middle-East, Asia , Australia or South Africa you could consider using Emirates (non-alliance) which flies from Amsterdam to their Dubai hub.