Flying Blue XP - does it reset after each status?
 

Hi - I am trying to find the definitive answers about XP but unable to find. If my search is not comprehensive enough, I apologized. I tried looking at the wiki and sticky threads and did not find the answers.

Context:
I am flying on KL from YYC to AMS in J on paid tix round trip. From AMS, I will also have some trips to ICN (in J), and a few short hops between ICN and NRT, maybe a round trip between AMS and RNS, definitely a few short domestic hops with GA in Indonesia as well and 1 segment on Westjet from YYC to SEA. The short hops are in Y, but the ones in Indonesia, I might upgrade bid to J since it is usually very cheap to do so.

Right now, the FF listed is SkyMiles, and I do have SkyPesos Gold, which does not give much. I thought FlyingBlue Elite is more interesting, even for a Seattle-based pax like me, with lots of DL options out of SEA.

Questions:
1. To reach elite tiers beyond Silver, does XP point reset after reaching each tier?
Eg: if I get to Silver after 100XP, to get to Gold, do I need whole 180XP or just additional 80?

I read various blogs and I got mixed bags of info.

However, if I am reading the program page on FlyingBlue itself, it seems like to get to Gold, I would need 280 XP, not just 180XP. Is this correct?

2. If I play this out:

YYC to AMS in J - 30XP

AMS to RNS in Y - 5 XP
RNS to AMS in Y - 5 XP

AMS to ICN in J - 36 XP

CGK to SUB in Y - 2 XP
SUB to CGK in Y - 2 XP
(will do the above 2x)

BSL to AMS in Y - 5 XP

AMS to YYC in J - 30 XP

YYC to SEA in Y - 5 XP

Total is 134XP.

To get to Gold, do I need 146 more XP, or just 46 more XP?

Thank you in advance!

It does reset.

You need 146 extra.

Yes, when you hit the next tier, the XP points are "consumed" and start from zéro/reset, so another 146 XP. However, your qualification period also restarts so you have another 12 months to attain the next tier or retain current status.

And it also bears repeating that one should not interpret "reset" to mean "reset to zero", as XP in excess of the requirement rollover to the newly started qualification year.

The requirements are the requirements to either retain a status or move up after having the next lowest status (there's a soft landing from Gold/Platinum: the requirements are then relevant for soft landings and rollover). The required XP are deducted when moving up in status and otherwise deducted at the end of a qualification year.

When moving up a status, it's also worth noting that you get up to an extra month in your year, depending on when the XP post.

As a side suggestion: if US-based, the Flying Blue credit card gives 60 XP at signup and 20 or 60 every year.

Any international hop between two countries under 2000 miles in J is 15 xp each hop. ICN-NRT is 15 xp each, so a roundtrip is 30 xp. You said that you will have a few short hops and are left with 146 xp to Gold, so if "few" means 5 round trips, then you'll easily get 150 XP.

Another trick is to buy sustainable aviation fuel for your AMS-YYC trip. Usually, for North America-AMS roundtrip, it costs between $1500-$2500, but you get 1XP/10 Euros spend (~$11), meaning it's around 150-250 XP. This is usually the best deal per XP for those based in North America.

Thank you for all the answers/pointers.

Yes, we will have short hops within So KR, and one likely between PUS and TYO, but most likely I would just burn the SkyPesos. That segment is also all Y anyway with A220. There's not much that we can use them for except for short West Coast flights. I think if I need more XP, I would find SEA-YVR cheap J to top off.

Note that if your home base is SEA and you want to eventually redeem miles, the Flying Blue redemptions on DL flights are extremely hard to find availability on.

Very true. So far, we almost always took prepositioned flight at YVR, YYC or YEG. The segment to those CA gateways are not too expensive and most have good in terminal hotel.

yeah! I was looking at DTW - HNL and Flying Blue basically told me that they don't sell that route as an award ticket.

As I am about to hit a very modest Silver I was wondering the same thing and it seems to me that it's quite hard to progress through FB levels compared with frequent flyer programmes in other alliances
If I'm correct:
For example, a EU to SE Asia trip with 4 segments in J (for example via DOH on Qatar Airways/OneWorld) would generate almost enough tier points in British Airways Executive Club for their mid-level tier 'Silver' (which is comparable with FB 'Gold).
However, regarding Flying Blue, a EU to SE Asia trip with 4 segments in J (via JED on Saudia/Skyteam) would generate 132 XP, which is not nearly enough for FB's mid-tier 'Gold'.

In a time where I probably have to move some of my travel from OneWorld to Skyteam this is not something I look forward to.

Nope , go try do to the same in star alliance or other oneworld competitors and you wont regret BAEC or FB

Its more the opposite , like you find a sweet spot rather than progress being hard

You will rarely find FFPs where you get status with one trip , or let alone a cheap one

They made changes to FB few years ago to make it hard to get status by flying lot of inexpensive short/middle haul flights

Then you need to assess if it is worth or not , and which FFPs might be good for you , if its just one to collect miles randomly rather than loosing them or a FFP to get a status in another alliance (assuming you travel enough to keep both)

It's also worth noting that Flying Blue rolls over the excess XP, which is not something you get with BAEC. 11 one-ways earning 66 XP each over a 4 year period will get and maintain Gold and two more in that period would have you regularly bounce between Gold and Platinum.

Not just BAEC, but almost no other frequent flyer programs does that. It's my favorite part of the program. Delta rolls over the miles but not the dollar spending requirement, I believe. Other than these two, I haven't heard of a single program which does this. Can't tell you how frustrated I was in the past as a United MileagePlus member, flying way over the Gold threshold, almost but not quite achieving Platinum, and then restarting on Jan 1 all over again. Hated that.

To elaborate, that activity pattern (a 66 XP per direction round trip, which would not quite get BA Silver, each year), starting from Silver with zero XP would get you Flying Blue Gold 2 years out of every 5 (FB Silver the other 3 years) with no other activity and 5 years of BA Bronze (I think that's the sub-Silver tier over there?) out of 5.

Year 1: start with zero, add 132 XP, requalify as Silver
Year 2: roll over 32 XP, add 132 XP, requalify as Silver
Year 3: roll over 64 XP, add 132 XP, move up to Gold
Year 4: roll over 16 XP, add 132 XP, move down to Silver
Year 5: roll over 48 XP, add 132 XP, move up to Gold
Year 6: start with zero, add 132 XP, move down to Silver
(You're now in the exact same state you were in at the start of Year 2: Silver rolling over 32 XP)

The rollover almost certainly decreases the elite credit relative to status requirements in FB relative to other programs, but if you're able to consistently maintain any status, it actually becomes more rewarding longer term.