Flying Blue (Air France, KLM, and Other Partners) - Reward booking assistance.... NYC > CPT/JNB

We are looking to make a reward booking for the following trip:

1. Late November / Early December 2012 (We could possibly also travel in January or February of 2013.

2. NYC > CPT or JNB. Preferably from EWR but JFK is fine. Preferably on AF but would be willing to consider KLM.

3. We would like to transfer AMEX points to Flying Blue to cover the trip.

I have read through some of the FAQ posts but not all of the links are working or lead to dead sites. Some questions we have are:

1. What would the mileage amounts be for this trip in Business or First?

2. When searching for these tickets online I am only able to find seats in Economy but not business or first... Am I missing some trick to availability search?

3. Any recent experience/trip reports in these routing?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

1. What would the mileage amounts be for this trip in Business or First?

Use the "Miles Finder" beside "Spend Miles" on this page:

https://www.klm.com/travel/nl_en/flying_blue/earn_and_spend_miles/all_about_earning_and_spending_miles/index.htm

Or go directly to the miles finder here:

http://partnersearch.ehn.klm.com/af/us_en/burnstart.jsp

Note that, unless you have Flying Blue Elite status, you will not be able to book First Class Awards (which are only available on Air France). But I'm guessing you wouldn't have wanted to spend 800,000 FB miles for two First Tickets, anyway.



2. When searching for these tickets online I am only able to find seats in Economy but not business or first... Am I missing some trick to availability search?

If you are signed in to your Flying Blue account and searching for these flights correctly then what you see is the current award availability. You will never be allowed to book First Class tickets, as explained above. Award Availability sometimes improves if you have Flying Blue Elite/Elite Plus status. But there are no "tricks" for improving award availability.

Note that transferring Amex MR points to Flying Blue is a one-way only transfer - you can't undo the transaction later if you can not find the tickets that you were hoping to redeem.

And I think you're in for quite a surprise when you see the Taxes and Charges that will be due on your redemption. Play around with the Flying Blue booking tool before you do anything as drastic as transferring MR points over.

@irishguy

Thank you for the information - good to know about the award bookings in First - we were unaware.

And thankfully we know not to transfer unless our availability is there ;)

You are looking at 160,000 miles RT minimum per ticket in business if seats are available plus $550.00 minimum per ticket in taxes and fees. At those times of year since it is peak season, you would likely need 320,000/ticket for business and you would be lucky to get a seat. You are probably better off looking at some better use for your MR points.

British Airways is offering a 50% transfer bonus until May 31, 2012. This would bring a business RT down to 120,000 points and a first class ticket down to 180,000 points. BA flies out of EWR while AF is discontinuing their service from EWR. This may be your best option.