Gajan

After you have finally earned some miles after enjoying 25% earnings in economy there are a number of ways you can use your miles:

• booking award tickets;
• using miles for upgrades;
• using miles for non-airline awards such as hotel stays or car rentals.

Gajan

For the number of miles needed for an award ticket please see here. Type in the departure and arrival city to find out how many miles are needed for a round-trip award.
Furthermore, Junior_2J&K has created an award chart. This can be found here.

Flying Blue has divided the destinations into various zones [a thank you to Mokshu for providing the information]:

Europe 1
Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Switzerland, Luxembourg

Europe 2
Austria, Denmark, Spain, Balearic Islands, Finland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Sweden

Europe 3 (+North Africa & Israël)
Albania, Algeria, Belarus, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Canary Islands, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Libya, Lithuania, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova, Morocco, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, West Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Tunisia, Ukraine.

Africa
Angola, Benin, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of Uganda, Central Africa Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Chad, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Indian Subcontinent
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka

Middle East (+Central Asia & Central Russia)
Saudi Arabia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Central Russia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Georgia, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Syria, Qatar, Uzbekistan

North America (+ Netherlands Antilles)
Canada, Mexico, USA, Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Suriname

Central America (+Caribbean, Hawaii & Bermuda)
Antigua, Barbados, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Hawaii, Bahamas, Cuba, Bermuda, Dominican Republic, French Guyana , Guadeloupe, Caiman Islands, Turks & Caucus Islands, Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Martinique, Nicaragua, Haiti, Porto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago, Saint Marteen, St Lucia

Indian Ocean
Mauritius, Reunion Island, Seychelles, Mayotte, Comoros, Madagascar

Latin America 1
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela,

Latin America 2
Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Uruguay

Asia 1 (+East Russia)
China, South Korea, Japan, East Russia (+Siberia), Mongolia

Asia 2
Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam

Pacific 1
New Caledonia, Tahiti

Pacific 2
Australia, Fiji, Guam, Marianas Islands, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, New Zealand, Palau Islands

PS. Mokshu has underlined countries that are included in a certain zone which is not really linked geographically.

Gajan

The Flying Blue programme differentiates between three different types of award tickets:

• promo-awards;
• classic awards;
• flex awards.

Promo-awards offer a 50% discount in the number of award miles needed that usually required for a Classic Award ticket in the same cabin class to certain destinations. These are available for a limited period (~ 2 months) and exclusively online. Promo-awards cannot be modified or cancelled.
In some situations (when the website is playing up etc) it is also possible to book these awards over the phone. Remember to tell them that you want to book a promo-award but the website does not work in order to get the discount.

Classic awards can be booked to any destination. The basic rule is that classic awards can only be booked for round-trip tickets only. For certain airlines (Aircalin, Air Europa, Kenya Airways, Tarom, Delta Airlines, Martinair, Malaysia Airlines and VLM) it is possible to book a one-way award for half the price of a round-trip. Classic awards are changeable and cancellable for €45 per change.
For elite members of Flying Blue Air France and KLM have extra inventory. This means that when the award inventory that is available for all is full, extra seats are available for the elite members. Air France only offers this in business class, while KLM offers this for economy and business class.

Flex awards ca n be booked when there are no seats available in the classic award scheme. Flex awards can be modified and cancelled free of charge. This is the most flexible award in Flying Blue. The cost of a Flex award is 200% of a classic award.
Award tickets in Air France’s first class (La Premiere) are only available in Flex awards and are only available for Flying Blue elite members.

For flights within Europe, passengers travelling on an Air France or KLM award ticket have the option to pay the taxes and surcharges with award miles. The fee is 7.500 award miles per flight segment.


Flying Blue awards also have some other features:

• One-way awards on Aircalin (between Noumea and Osaka, Tokyo and Seoul), Air Europa, Kenya Airways, Tarom, Delta Airlines, Martinair, Malaysia Airlines and VLM;
• A single award ticket can include up to six international segments;
• It is possible to make one 24-hour stopover during a round-trip award as long as the country of stopover is not the same as the country of departure of the outward flight;
• Open jaw flight: it is possible to arrive in one city and depart from another;
• Round-the-world award: the ticket must include one transatlantic and one transpacific flight and all segments must be flown in the same direction (i.e. no back-tracking).

Gajan

There are two ways to upgrade using miles:

• Upgrade awards;
• Skyteam upgrade.

It is possible to use an upgrade award when you have bought a (near) full-fare ticket. The number of miles to upgrade to a higher fare class per one-way is given below [a thank you to albireo for providing the information].

Europe 1, 2, 3 to North America:
Economy to business: Y,B [M,U] -> O 32.500 miles;
Premium economy to business: S,W -> O 16.500 miles;
Economy to premium economy: Y, B, [M, U] -> A 16.500 miles.

Europe 1, 2, 3 to Central America & Caribbean:
Economy to business: Y,B [M,U] -> O 39.000 miles;
Premium economy to business: S,W -> O 19.000 miles;
Economy to premium economy: Y, B, [M, U] -> A 19.000 miles.

Europe 1, 2, 3 to Africa & Latin America 1:
Economy to business: Y,B [M,U] -> O 45.500 miles;
Premium economy to business: S,W -> O 22.500 miles;
Economy to premium economy: Y, B, [M, U] -> A 22.500 miles.

Europe 1, 2, 3 to Asia 1, 2 & Latin America 2:
Economy to business: Y,B [M,U] -> O 52.000 miles;
Premium economy to business: S,W -> O 26.000 miles;
Economy to premium economy: Y, B, [M, U] -> A 26.000 miles.

[M, U] fare classes are only upgradeable if the ticket has been bought outside of France.

It is also possible to use your miles for upgrading a full-fare economy class ticket on a Skyteam partner flight. The number of miles needed for a Skyteam upgrade are equivalent to the number of miles needed for an upgrade award.
It is possible to apply for a Skyteam upgrade award for all Skyteam airline flights except Alitalia and the Skyteam associate airlines (Air Europa, Kenya Airways and Tarom). It has to be an international full-fare economy class ticket (the flight has to be marketed and operated by the Skyteam airline). These awards can only be processed through the Flying Blue Service Centre at least three days before departure. For more information on Skyteam upgrades, see here.

Gajan

To be completed soon

Gajan

The new award booking classes from 1 June 2011 are [thank you to Mokshu]:

Air France
Long haul & COI
Première Flex: F
Affaires Flex: C
Affaires Classic: O (+ extra availability for Elite customers)
Premium Voyageur Flex: S
Premium Voyageur Classic: A
Voyageur Flex: B
Voyageur Elite: L
Voyageur Classic: X

Medium, short haul & Intra COI
Affaires Flex: C
Affaires Classic: O
Alizé Flex: S (Intra COI)
Alizé Flex: A (Intra COI)
Premium Eco Flex: W / Y (Intra COI + COI-USA)
Voyageur Classic: X

KLM
Intercontinental
Business Flex: C
Business Classic: O (+ extra availability for Elite customers)
Economy Flex: B
Economy Classic: W (+ extra availability for Elite customers)

Europe
Business Flex: C
Business Classic: O (+ extra availability for Elite customers)
Economy Flex: B
Economy Classic: W (+ extra availability for Elite customers)