Flying Blue (Air France, KLM, and Other Partners) - Silver - can't book F-Award

I'm (still) Silver, at least until my status expires on March 31st. I should, however, still be able to book a 1st class award as long as I'm Silver, right? Or does that right expire at the end of a calendar year? I'd like to burn my miles, so I thought, the best way for this is a 1st class return to LAX…

Correct - as you are currently a Flying Blue Elite member, you should still be able to book Flex Awards. First Class is only available to book as a Flex Award.

Addition: First awards are only available to Elite+ (Gold an Platinum).

Addition: First awards are only available to Elite+ (Gold an Platinum).

Nope, also for Silver Elites:

* Reservations for award tickets can be made based on the availability of seats on the chosen flight. Only Flying Blue Elite members can use Flex Awards to fly in First Class or Business Class.

First is not Flex ;)

Maybe a glitch since the new FB website. It's very weird anyway.

First is not Flex ;)

But as pointed out by irishguy28, First awards are only available as flex awards.

not worth the miles. Book some C awards instead.

Makes no sense to book F award. And do you have enough miles (e.g. 400K for Asia)?

not worth the miles. Book some C awards instead.

I have roughly 250k miles which is a round-trip F-award to the US (LAX is the best value). I don't know if I'll fly AF/KL or ST this year, so my status will be gone by end of March, and if I don't fly, my miles will expire one year after. I don't have enough vacation to spend all the miles for promo-awards :(, so a single F-award would be the best option for me…

It is working now, but only for the summer schedule. Bookings for the next winter are still not (yet) possible (in F). But it doesn't matter, as these awards are flexible.

and if I don't fly, my miles will expire one year after.

Just to clarify - miles expire 20 months after the last mileage-earning activity.

So while it might be convenient to burn them all in one extravagant F redemption, one Skyteam flight every 18-20 months is all that's really required to keep your miles alive. (And they may come in convenient to you a few years down the road).

I have roughly 250k miles which is a round-trip F-award to the US (LAX is the best value). I don't know if I'll fly AF/KL or ST this year, so my status will be gone by end of March, and if I don't fly, my miles will expire one year after. I don't have enough vacation to spend all the miles for promo-awards :(, so a single F-award would be the best option for me…

you don't need status to book C-awards and keeping the miles alive is not that difficult. F on AF is WAYYY overrated and too expensive, almost twice the cost of *A.