Flying Blue (Air France & KLM) - Upgrades to JAL

Hi.

Im wondering whether I can buy a standard economy ticket at JAL and then use my Flying Blue points to upgrade to a business class?

Its 55000 for a upgrade and I noticed the JAL program that im signed to as well is 55000 for a upgrade.

Also.... can you transfer Flying Blue points to JAL points? If so what is the site or contact details?

Many thanks.

Tina

Hi Tina,

Welcome to FT.

Im wondering whether I can buy a standard economy ticket at JAL and then use my Flying Blue points to upgrade to a business class?
There is a general view that this is not a good use of miles, because you have to buy a full-fare economy ticket, and they are tremendously expensive. It is usually better to buy a business ticket with your award miles, on which you would have to pay taxes. The best value awards are promos. The straightforward answer to your question is 'yes' - but not recommended.

Also.... can you transfer Flying Blue points to JAL points? If so what is the site or contact details?
I would be very surprised if you could do this. These are loyalty programmes, and there would be no concept of loyalty if we could simply transfer miles. You might be able to get a status match if you are at an elite level, but this would not help with award style miles. Someone else may have come across such a transfer, but similar questions have been asked many times in this forum and I have never known anyone get a transfer of miles.

Where and when are you flying? Maybe the current promo awards could be of use to you?

The straightforward answer to your question is 'yes' - but not recommended.


WHAT?

Thanks for getting back to me.

I thought it would be difficult to do so. But is there an answer for my question below.

>Im wondering whether I can buy a standard economy ticket at JAL Airlines and then use my Flying Blue points to upgrade it to a business class?

Many thanks.

WHAT?
I would not recommend buying a full-fare economy ticket and upgrading with miles. This is a commonly held view, for good reasons. I would use the miles to buy a promo business award outright or a classic award if I had to. The cost of full-fare economy is prohibitive.

Ah!! I see the issue Alan, thanks for spotting it. Sorry Tina. It is a JAL ticket!!! Then I do not know - but it still would be unlikely to be a good idea even if it is possible - again because of full-fare economy cost. Someone else will know this, but I suspect that although you can buy a ticket with miles on JAL, upgrading with miles is probably not possible.

:)

Sadly, upgrades haven't been worthwhile since FD. Remember 20K to go Y-C on a TATL, any fare, bookable online, confirmed during booking? I'm getting all teary-eyed again.

Unless I am mistaken, it is only possible to upgrade Skyteam flights.
The only way to transfer FB miles to JAL miles would be through AMEX membership rewards or a hotel programme, but I do not know what the conversion rate is. In any case you will make a loss on the transaction.

Short answer is:no upgrade, no miles transfer.