It is that time of month again – the Flying Blue Promo awards. Flying Blue is the frequent flyer program of KLM, Air France, and Air Europa and together, they offer awards at a discount ranging from 25 – 50% for travel all over the world. When it comes to travel from the US, the awards can be quite helpful as it is often that you can get economy awards from specific gateway cities in the US to cities around Europe (and to Israel) for only 25,000 miles roundtrip (though there are no economy awards in this round of promo awards)!
In 2013, Flying Blue made some award changes and raised the prices on some of their regular award redemptions. However, a positive about those changes was that they lowered the surcharges on economy tickets. Now, these economy awards come with a flat 50 euro surcharge each way (plus any taxes). This makes the economy promo awards a lot more enticing if you live in or near the targeted cities. Business class awards, however, have retained the higher surcharges (in the high hundreds of dollars for a round-trip).
Flying Blue Awards To Europe For Up To 50% Off
With this round of promo awards, there are only two cities that have the 50% off pricing and it is for premium economy – not regular economy – and business class. While it is great to have a business class deal discounted, do not forget that you will be paying more in surcharges than if it was in basic economy. Still, business class from the US to Europe for only 62,500 miles roundtrip is a pretty great deal!
The cities from North America that are valid for this promo (and the type of class offered) are:
- Atlanta (in Air France Business Class) – 46,875 miles one-way / 93,750 miles roundtrip (25% off)
- Edmonton (in KLM World Business Class) – 46,875 miles one-way / 93,750 miles roundtrip (25% off)
- Miami (in Air France Premium Economy) – 37,500 miles one-way /75,000 miles roundtrip (25% off)
- Minneapolis (in Air France Business Class) – 31,250 miles one-way / 62,500 miles roundtrip (50% off)
- New York (JFK) (in Air France Premium Economy) – 25,000 miles one-way / 50,000 miles roundtrip (50% off)
These awards are bookable from now until April 30, so if something strikes your fancy, better to move on it! The awards are valid for travel from June 1 – July 31st. Even though there is not any basic economy options this time around, it is nice to see a substantial savings for business class and premium economy for travel to Europe in the summer!
Do not forget that Flying Blue’s description of Europe also includes Israel! These awards make it much cheaper than most other airline award charts, especially weighing in the promo prices. Even economy at full price is a good deal – 50,000 miles roundtrip. Since you can actually book Delta flights with your Flying Blue miles, that means that you can book Delta out of NY to Israel roundtrip for only 50,000 miles – and that is full price, not a promo award!
Summary
If you need miles in your Flying Blue account, American Express Membership Reward points and Citi ThankYou points transfer to your Flying Blue account at 1:1. You can also transfer Starpoints from your SPG account over at a rate of 1:1 with a bonus of 5,000 miles for every block of 20,000 points transferred.
Thank you