Flying Blue benefits and earnings on Delta
 

For someone living in the U.S., the Flying Blue program interests me a lot because of ability to earn top tier status with flying 70K miles or 60 segments. I had one main question I am not sure about: are there any chance of upgrades on international AF/KLM flights? Thanks!

No or very low.

To expand on that: Unlike in the US, European airlines (including AF and KL) do not typically upgrade passengers for free unless operation reasons require them to.

I think the best is:
- to have a Canadian address
- use Skymiles Medallions program
- flying with AF (not KLM, except you expense a lots of short flight).

It is why, I will transfert on Skymiles for 2017.

Indeed no international upgrade on any airline bar the extremely unusual IRROP, and for that matter extremely few domestic DL upgrades as you come after all DL own in the pecking order (some people have had success, I never have in dozens of flights).

The only "upgrade" which is a perk of the FB program as a top-tier member would be free Economy Comfort instead of paid. Of course you need to look into what Economy Comfort actually is to make a value judgement on that benefit.

The OP was asking about international flights. European airlines and US airlines are not fundamentally different there, as mentioned above by orbitmic. It is only for domestic or quasi-domestic flights that US airlines provide complimentary upgrades.

Find emptier flights.

Even if it looks appealing, I would not advise to use a Flying Blue account in the US to fly Delta, as you will get close to zero perk besides the traditional SkyPriority on Delta.
No lounge access, and moreover no Domestic upgrades. You will be considered with a lower priority than the lowest Silver Medallion member.
While I was living in the US, I switched to Delta SkyMiles and quickly attained the Platinum and even the Diamond status.

If I am not mistaken (I regularly see youtube vlogs from "Travels with Sheila") United certainly does upgrade top tier frequent flyers on International flights. She very rarely sits in Coach and is almost invariably upgraded by way of tier status.

Perhaps I got lucky, I am not sure...

A couple of months ago I flew IAD -> MSP -> DEN.

My first leg I had the option to change to another IAD -> MSP flight as mine was going to be late. For this flight I got upgraded to FC from Y. I am FB Plat. FC was most definitely not full nor was Y. Probably 50% capacity in both.

For the second leg I missed my original flight MSP -> DEN so had to get the next one. They upgraded me on this one too! FC most definitely wasn't full nor was Y (I'd guess 75% capacity).

I have done quite alot of domestic DL legs over the past year or 2, perhaps 10% upgrade chance I have had. I always go in expecting nothing so it is a pleasant surprise when I do get upgraded.

As you explained here, the only chance for FB Elites to be upgraded on DL domestic is to be on flights with low loads. But those flights are very rare. I am very impressed by how US airlines are managing their inventory because all flights I take are always 100% full. And on those flights, if I am in Y, I am regularly #80 or 100 on the upgrade list :rolleyes:

Also, flights from/to ATL are clearly impossible to get an upgrade on for FB Elites, there are way too many DL status holders (from Diamonds to Silver).

But I recently flew EYW-ATL/ATL-MSY/MSY-NYC. Obviously on the first two flights, no upgrade and somewhere like #25 for the upgrade list, however on the MSY-NYC flight on a Friday evening, which wasn't too full, both my gf and I got upgraded to FC (we are both FB plat). So that was nice since it's a 3-ish hour flight!

I wouldn't say that this a a huge sample though. But clearly avoiding ATL and flying on low-load flights makes life easier for FB Elites :D

I had a different experience last August, getting upgraded on Toronto to ATL and ATL to LAX. Flying on a Sunday during the low season for business travel would have helped.

And do not forget, buying DL low fare economy ticket will only accrual 25% of the miles flown in Flying Blue.

Which means, if you qualify through segment, after a year of 60 flights within NA, you may probably have around 17k bonus miles, which can't even make a one-way to Europe.