Flying Blue Introduces Redemptions for Any Seat, Miles & Cash, Mileage Calculator Tool

It’s not a secret that Flying Blue, Air France and KLM’s joint frequent-flyer program, is changing later this year. Back in November, it was announced that the program is transforming itself to a revenue-based program, which means that earning elite status and redeemable miles will correlate to the monetary cost of a flight instead of the distance between cities. And recently, the program announced some changes to the redemption side.

Redeem Miles for Any Ticket

Effective June 1, it will be possible to redeem miles for any seat on any flight operated by Air France, KLM, HOP!, Joon and Transavia. Redemption rates will be calculated based on the distance between cities as well as travel dates. In other words, the program is changing to dynamic pricing, which means that the cost in miles will go up or down with demand on specific routes.

Redeem Miles & Cash

Also as of June 1, Flying Blue members who are short on miles will be able to pay cash for up to a quarter of the ticket cost and redeem miles to cover the rest of it. Miles & Cash sounds good in theory, but we’ll have to wait to see if the option presents good value in practice. The cent-to-mile ratio has to be justifiable; otherwise this could get ugly really quickly.

Take Advantage of Promo Reward Tickets

Discounted tickets formerly known as Promo Awards are not going anywhere. They’re being re-branded to Promo Rewards and will still offer Flying Blue members a monthly discount of up to 50 percent on flights to select destinations.

Minimum Redemption Rates are Changing

In addition to all these changes, it seems that award pricing is changing as well. Some rates are going up, and some are going down, depending on where you are. You can calculate your specific routing with Flying Blue’s new tool.

For example, right now, a one-way award flight between New York City and Paris requires 25,000 miles in economy class and 62,500 miles in business class. The same flight is dropping in cost to 22,000 miles in economy and 57,500 miles in business.

However, if you live in Salt Lake City, the mileage cost is going up for you. Because the cities are farther apart, the new redemption rates will increase to 29,000 miles in economy and 72,000 miles in business class for tickets booked on and after June 1.

Another notable route that can work out in your favor is Los Angeles to Papeete, French Polynesia. Right now, this one-way route charges 30,000 miles in economy class and 100,000 miles in business class. Looks like it’ll be changing to 25,500 miles in economy and 64,000 miles in business class.

Keep in mind that these minimum redemption rates can go up based on how popular the route is. If you have a trip coming up and you’re planning on redeeming Flying Blue miles, play with the miles calculator tool to determine whether you want to book now or after June 1. Award flights that are already ticketed are not affected and will remain as is.

Meta-description: Air France and KLM’s Flying Blue has introduced different ways to redeem miles. You can redeem miles for any seat on any flight as long as it’s open, pay for 25 percent of an award ticket with cash and check out the new awards calculator tool.