stimpy

Sorry I'm feeling dumb this morning, but I can't figure out how to change this website to source a flight from the US rather than Europe. I can change the country at the top to the US, but it still won't allow me to search for US to Europe flights? I hope I don't have to wipe out all my cookies?

brunos

That is weird. It could be a bug but it currently works for me with AF.
I would suggest that you do not log under your FB number and simply select in "other countries".
But it also works for me after login my FB number.

irishguy28

You don't need to change anything. When you get to the search screen, just type in whatever origin you want, which can be in any country, or click the "List of all destinations" link in order to select your desired starting point.

brunos

But if you do it from the French (US) website, the ticket will be priced in euro (dollar). There has been discussion on FT that the fares could be different.

stimpy

I'm not even logged in. I'm on http://www.flyingblue.com/promo-awards.html trying to see what awards are available for March. There's no search screen on that page that I can see.

irishguy28

For award bookings, there is no fare, and no difference in price. The fees/taxes depend only on the origin, and will be converted into whatever currency.

Errr...there is only one list of Promo Awards. There is not a special US-centric list intended for the US market. To see what promo offers are available from the US, just click on "North America" under the heading "Choose Your Region", or just click the down arrow beside the "North America" heading to expand that section.

There are only 2 offers to/from the United States at present - Boston to Europe (for 25k return in Y) and Houston to Europe (for 37.5k return in Y)



Also, you said March...and I presume you mean May...but the booking period for May flights has already passed.

stimpy

I only see Europe to the US, not the other way around. I only need a one-way. But if it is indeed the case that there's no business class then no worries. And sorry I meant to say July. Not sure why I wrote March.

irishguy28

But stimpy, all offers are bidirectional. When "Europe - Boston (and vice versa)" appears on the list it means you can:
- book a one-way from anywhere in Europe to Boston for 12.5k miles
- book a one-way from Boston to anywhere in Europe for 12.5k miles
- book a return from anywhere in Europe to Boston and back for 25k miles
- book a return from Boston to anywhere in Europe and back for 25k miles

Flying Blue just always writes the intercontinental ones as "Europe - wherever (and v.v.)" by custom - but this means these can also be booked as "wherever - Europe" either as a one-way or a return. It doesn't mean that this offer is limited to starting in Europe; there is no other or separate listing for U.S.-originating offers.

You must understand that the Promo Awards are location independent. There is one list of awards that apply to everyone regardless of where they are based (or where they want to start their flight) - you can start your journey either in Europe or in the mentioned places.

It sounds as if you expect there to be a completely separate list of promo awards, possibly covering other US cities that don't appear in the "European" list, but this is not how it works. Europe is always covered - FB is a European FFP after all - so Europeans will ALWAYS have offers to choose from, but for customers in the U.S, it is not always guaranteed that their local airport will be featured, and they could go several months, or years, before their local airport is featured as a Promo Award origin/destination.

Concerto

Good answer that, it reminds and explains how it all works in one go. It definitely works from the other end, I have done it. I remember the taxes were indeed priced in Euros, but they were a LOT less than going the other way.

kevinflyaway

Thanks Gajan. Let's hope and will see what it turns out to be. So far another post in the NEWS section as another 'improvement' of the program. Well I just realised that my FB Miles since all these latest improvements have dropped more in value then the last AEX index crash

johanfbg

I received the following information from the FB head office:

Cross your fingers for long haul...

irishguy28

Summer is always the best time for long-haul business class availability - particularly on TATL. Business travel tapers off during the long summer holidays, and this is reflected in better award availability and cheaper pricing in the J cabin.

That said, the very recent fare wars on US-originating tickets to Europe in business class might mean that advance bookings are better than would be the usual case!

delanotre

And no Asia destination actually...incredible

orbitmic

Yep, US-originating deal seekers (and even Canada-based ones) have had some tremendous deals (e.g. EWR-IST for €800 return in J on DL via CDG or AMS!!), but for us based in Europe, still zilch...

ahar

Not from NCL it isn't. In fact I've quickly gone through all the AF promos and none of them offer the promo rates (or even any flights at all) from NCL but switching to MAN gives you promo rates on all of them.
An accidental or intentional snub for NCL (and EDI and ABZ it seems)?