Flying Blue (Air France, KLM, and Other Partners) - Last day for travel to save expiring miles?

Good morning,

My 17 year relationship with KLM seems to be finally coming to an end. My last 110000 miles will be expiring at the end of this month. I am trying to decide whether to save them with a paid flight or spend them but it's raised a question which I don't see answered anywhere I have looked on the forum or the FB websites (surprise).

Does the expiration date of the award miles match the 20-months-to-fly rule?

My miles expire on the last day of September. Does this mean that I can pay fly a Skyteam flight on the last day of September and save the existing miles? Or do I actually have to work out the last time I flew with them and add 20 months which will be some weeks shorter.

Thanks as always.

S.

My last 110000 miles will be expiring at the end of this month.
<snip>
My miles expire on the last day of September.


Be careful. You don't seem to know when exactly they expire!


Does the expiration date of the award miles match the 20-months-to-fly rule?

Not sure what exactly you mean.

Your entire mileage balance will expire at the end of the 20th month after your last mileage earning flight.

Just bear in mind that if you spend miles, the balance will still expire on the same date as is now the case (until you earn at least one more mile through paid flying, the expiry date of your balance will not change). The only thing that will save your entire balance is to post at least one new mile to your account by flying. If you spend some miles, the rest are not rejuvenated, but will still expire on the present schedule. Of course, if you manage to spend all of the 110k balance, that's not really an issue. But if you spend a small fraction thinking the rest are saved - then that is incorrect.


Does this mean that I can pay fly a Skyteam flight on the last day of September and save the existing miles? Or do I actually have to work out the last time I flew with them and add 20 months which will be some weeks shorter.


Given the uncertainty of your date, I would not cut things so fine by waiting to "pay" on the last day. (Payment will not save your miles - you need to actually take a flight and earn the miles and have the new miles hit your account before the old miles expire).

Bear in mind also that your miles may take several days to post to your acccount, so if you took the flight on the day your miles are due to expire, they probably will anyway, and you will have a big rigmarole on the phone to Flying Blue trying to get them reinstated.

Do yourself a favour and take a flight at the earliest opportunity. And make sure it's a flight with an AF or KL code if at all possible - if you end up booking a SkyTeam flight which does not earn miles in Flying Blue (and be aware, there are plenty of economy classes on most SkyTeam airlines that will earn you nothing in Flying Blue!) then you will have wasted your time and money as the miles will still expire.

Thanks for your advice.

My last flight with Delta was Dec 31st 2010. 20 Months on is Aug 31st 2012 but my expiration date is Sep 30th 2012 as posted on my FB account and the reminder emails. That's why I am a little confused.

I am aware that I need to actually fly, not redeem or just pay for a flight - the only thing I could consider which would not be a pointless trip is a CityJet LCY>EDI rtn in September - beyond 20 months but pre expiration date of miles leading to my original question. Does this save my existing miles?

Thanks again.

I would have thought that they would expire at the end of August, going by the December 2010 flight date. If you had been informed of a "September 2012" expiry, I would have been inclined to interpret that as meaning that when you log in on 1 September 2012, the miles will be gone.

It is confusing, and I'm not sure even if you contacted Flying Blue that you would be given a definitive answer.

But at least you have documentary evidence from FB themselves suggesting your miles will live until September 30 (an important piece of information you failed to mention in your original post!!). That means a flight taken in early/mid September (again, avoid leaving it to the very very last minute) should save those miles. And if they die early, you can fight it with the printouts you've received showing September 30.

I second irishguy28 - if you care about not losing the miles, I would personally not take a chance. There is good reason to think that they should expire on 31/8 and if you base your strategy on what was written and end up hearing that it is too late, you may well face a long, tedious, and uncertain battle to have miles reintegrated.

My question was relating to the obvious discrepancy between 20 months since last transaction and the expiry date of the miles. Ignoring my own situation, if you last flew on, say, the 5th of a month - the expiration would be the end day of the 20th month down the line but arguably any flying done between the 6th and the end of the 20th month would not have fulfilled the FB agreement that you need to fly at least once every 20 months.

There's an assumption that that even if you flew on the last day of the 20th month you would reboot your award miles but nowhere has this been confirmed in any T+Cs I can see.

My question was relating to the obvious discrepancy between 20 months since last transaction and the expiry date of the miles. Ignoring my own situation, if you last flew on, say, the 5th of a month - the expiration would be the end day of the 20th month down the line but arguably any flying done between the 6th and the end of the 20th month would not have fulfilled the FB agreement that you need to fly at least once every 20 months.

I'm not sure I agree.

Only the month of the last flight matters. It's immaterial whether it's the first day or the last day or any day in between. Regardless of whether your last flight was on December 1 or on December 31 2010, the countdown clock begins in the following month - if January 2011 goes by without any activity, it gets counted as month 1 of inactivity, Feb 2011 is month 2, and so on up to August 2012 being the 20th consecutive month of inactivity.

That is why I think that your miles should expire on September 1. That you have been told by FB in those communications that they expire on September 30 means that, in actuality, you have been given 21 months of inactivity rather than the stated 20. (If your last flight had been on December 1, 2010, that would have effectively amounted to 22 months, given that the vast majority of December 2010 was actually a fallow month for you as regards flying.)


There's an assumption that that even if you flew on the last day of the 20th month you would reboot your award miles but nowhere has this been confirmed in any T+Cs I can see.

That's probably why they give you the "extra" month.

The last day of your 20th month is 31 August. If you took a flight on 31 August, it would take until sometime in September (in the vast majority of cases - it could even take longer) to post to your account. The "extra" month is therefore perhaps a buffer period to ensure that all flying that was at the very limit of the 20 month is automatically covered (A bit like the way Flying Blue status cards are valid for 3 months past the (potential) end of your status so that you are never without a "valid" status card while waiting for your new card based on your (potentially new) status to be sent out).

I'm a bit surprised that you want to push it to the absolute limit by qualifying at the very death - the last day of the 21st month!!!

As you must know, having flown with KL for 17 years, and is the case in all airlines, there can be a delay between taking a flight and having it post to your account. Depending on some factors, you may have to wait 6 weeks, or 3 months, and then do a manual correction request.

You run the risk of making what should be a straightforward task (keeping your miles alive) into an epic slog by waiting until the miles are gone before then trying to reclaim them. I would not advise it. Especially given that any September flying seems to fall beyond the 20 month window required, i would be very, very careful to take any such flight in August, if I really wanted to keep those miles. If it must be in September, I would definitely not leave that flight until September 30.

110,000 miles are worth saving: you can get yourself a biz-class TATL return ex LON with those, no problem!

I'd play this safe: get a cheap flight in August - if you're pressed for time, and only a same-day r/t will work, then CityJet LCY-EDI or LCY-LUX are probably the best options; if you can spare an overnight Saturday stay, try also KLM LON-AMS. (CityJet seem to operate their fares on a 'per leg' basis (a la LCC model), and don't have the tricksy little conditions that KLM/AF do.)

Alternatively, you may be able to get something cheaper by taking one-way on CityJet and an LCC for the return (or outward) trip.

-- Henry

Based on what i've seen recently:
-miles expire after more than 20 months ( september 30th in your case)
-but if you want to extend them you have to fly before 20 months period (august 31th 2012 in your case)

The more I think about it, the more I worry that September is just being given to you as a holding period in case that qualfiying flight, taken in the last valid period (August) is delayed in reaching your account.

I'd be very, very worried that a flight in September would not, after all, extend the lifetime of those 110k miles.

You may be able to make a redemption booking in September before they disappear from your account, but I'm now fearful that flights made in September will not save them.

EDIT- this is what is confirmed by FBI above.

You have to fly on or before August 31st.

You could probably fight it if a September flight doesn't work, but we've had no reports of successful re-instatement requests in a long, long time, so I wouldn't be putting money on you to win in that race!

removed. No need. I think this has been answered.

Thanks guys. BTW

I'm in almost exactly the same position, my last flight using my KLM number was Dec 26th 2010 the date my miles start expiring is Aug 31st 2012

Isn't it the case that miles are considered spent the moment the award ticket is issued and therefore no longer subject to expiry? For example, if your miles expire 30 September you can book until that day but fly on 12 December. Or am I wrong?

As long as the miles are in your account, you should be able to spend them. It doesn't matter if the flight itself occurs after the miles were due to expire.

You may be able to make a redemption booking in September before they disappear from your account, but I'm now fearful that flights made in September will not save them.


However, leaving things to the very, very last minute like that is dangerous. I wouldn't stake my life on the miles remaining in the account until September 30. But if someone in this position wants to log on at 23:59 Paris time on the last day of the month after the month their miles were due to expire, in order to try and spend them, I guess that's their prerogative!