Flying Blue (Air France & KLM) - Book a flight to prevent miles from expiring

Hi all,

I tried to call FB helpdesk, but I didn't succeed in getting a real person on the phone. I already sent them 2 emails as well, but they keep sending me automatically generated parts of the FAQ that for my first email had something to do with my question, but for my 2nd one was miles away from the actual topic. So I'll give it a try here.
Next January I'm flying with KLM again so last month I was checking their site a bit and I saw that miles expire after 20 months now instead of the 3 years before. And what a coincidence, this month is actually 20 months since my previous flight. I really don't have time this month to either take an award flight or take a new flight to prevent my miles from expiring, so I'm thinking about booking a flight without actually taking it. But is this a valid way to earn miles and hence prevent them from expiring?

Unfortunately for you, the answer is no. Just booking a flight is not enough. You need to fly it to have your points credited.

What you can do is buy an award ticket with your current miles before they desapear. Once you have purchase it, it can be change (assuming there is some availability) for 45€ or it can even be reimbursed for the same amount. i don't know then what happen when you get such reimbursment with the 20 months expiring date???

What you can do is buy an award ticket with your current miles before they desapear. Once you have purchase it, it can be change (assuming there is some availability) for 45€ or it can even be reimbursed for the same amount. i don't know then what happen when you get such reimbursment with the 20 months expiring date???

It has been talked here a few weeks ago : miles will be lost in the case you refer to.

I have personaly seen it with one of my relative's FB account.

Ok, thanks for the answers. Too bad I already bought my tickets for January. This will definitely be my last KLM flight. If I want crappy service, I'll fly low cost, if I want good service, I'll use one of the Asian airlines.

Hi blardo and welcome to the forum,

Where are you based, hold any status and how many points are you about to loose?

Cheerio

Hi blardo and welcome to the forum,

Where are you based, hold any status and how many points are you about to loose?

Cheerio
Based in Belgium, lowest Ivory status and loosing 35,000 miles.

You could cross the border, go to the next French "Bureau de Poste" (Post Office), open a checking account at La Banque Postale, apply immediately for the French Gold Flying Blue Amex (debit card) on www.americanexpress.fr and spend at least a single Euro on the card. As this will bring you 1 level miles per EUR spent, your full balance of FB miles will be valid for another 20 months.

However, you should hurry to do this because Amex takes at least a week to open and send the card. Then the Amex balance is closed a month later. FB level miles are immediately transferred.

Based in Belgium, lowest Ivory status and loosing 35,000 miles.

If there is no way you can keep the points alive you could always give them away to charity or maybe give them as a gift to someone who could use them before they expire? 35,000 miles are not an enormous amount of miles, but they are still usable miles...

Is there an Air France/KLM online shopping site where the points could be used like that of SAS?

bodory's idea is not half bad either and doable...

If there is no way you can keep the points alive you could always give them away to charity or maybe give them as a gift to someone who could use them before they expire? 35,000 miles are not an enormous amount of miles, but they are still usable miles...

Is there an Air France/KLM online shopping site where the points could be used like that of SAS?

bodory's idea is not half bad either and doable...
Indeed, it's not a bad idea, but I don't think 35,000 miles is worth the hassle. I'll do some research on the charity option. Thank you both for the suggestions.

Update: 'Your miles will be credited from your account in approximately one month'. Does it mean that by the time they receive them, they will be unusable?

Update: 'Your miles will be credited from your account in approximately one month'. Does it mean that by the time they receive them, they will be unusable?

Let's say your Amex billing cycle runs from the 11th of each month to the 10the next month. Balance is then closed on the 11th. The level miles are generally transferred to your FB account on the 12th. Amex withdraws the amount on your bank account on the 14th.

So indeed, if your first purchase happened on the 12th, it takes one month to credit the miles. But if it happens on the 8th, it takes less than one week...

One month the maximum time.

Or, for 212 EUR, you book a return ZYR-CDG-NTE ticket. You go to Bruxelles Midi train station, check-in for the ZYR-CDG leg, pick-up your boarding pass (actually a train ticket) and never step on the train as no one will ever check that.

Of course the remaining part of your ticket will be lost.

2 days later, 187 level miles for the ZYR-CDG in fare bucket N leg would magically appear on your FB statement, extending the validy of your 35,000 miles for another 20 months.

Let's say your Amex billing cycle runs from the 11th of each month to the 10the next month. Balance is then closed on the 11th. The level miles are generally transferred to your FB account on the 12th. Amex withdraws the amount on your bank account on the 14th.

So indeed, if your first purchase happened on the 12th, it takes one month to credit the miles. But if it happens on the 8th, it takes less than one week...

One month the maximum time.
Sorry to be unclear, but this was the return statement I received after donating my miles to one of the charity organisations. So does it mean that they will have expired already by the time this organisation will receive them?

Possibly, I remember someone reporting that his miles were not deducted for about a month after donating, so he did it several times... Don't know what happened at the end.

This would mean I have to donate my orphan miles one month in advance.

I doubt cancellation would affect the donation to a charity.


"I wanted to give all my miles to a charity and AF took extra time to register the gift so they could expire and not help the children" is certainly not what they'd like to hear.

On the other hand, which charity do you hate so much as to force them to fly a future low-cost airline? Be charitable, please give something worthwhile :p