Award Travel Vacations is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation when you use these links through MileValue.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on the site. This site does not include all financial offers. The content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of the offers mentioned may have expired.
Flying Blue is the combined loyalty program of Air France and KLM. It is one of my favorite airlines to book award travel through. It was a wide variety of amazing ways to redeem points for flights all over the world. Air France and KLM are both members of Sky Team. You’ll have the ability to redeem Flying Blue miles on other airlines like Delta, Virgin Atlantic and Korean Airlines.
The loyalty program was a few quirks to look past. Once you do, there is tons of value to find.
In this Article:
Short Hops in Europe
US to Mexico
US to South America
US to South Pacific
US to Israel and North Africa
US to Hawaii
US to Caribbean
US to Central America
Promo Rewards
Free Stopovers
How to Earn these Points and Miles
Flying Blue Sweet Spots
Short Hops in Europe
Flying Blue has a distance-based award chart. The further you fly, the more points you’ll need. Air France and KLM have tons of flights to various destinations in Europe. Plus there are several other Flying Blue partners including Virgin Atlantic.
One-way flights in Europe start at 10,000 miles but sometimes can be found for less! Business class within Europe generally sucks. It’s just economy with the middle seat blocked. Don’t waste miles on this.
Short hops within Europe are great uses of Flying Blue miles.
US to Mexico
If Mexico is your next destination, this is also a great use of points. One-way economy flights start at 14,500. Neither Air France or KLM fly to Mexico, you’ll be relying on their partners Delta and Aeromexico. Delta flies to several different cities in Mexico.
| Cancun | Cozumel | Guadalajara |
| Mexico City | Monterrey | Puerto Vallarta |
| San Jose del Cabo | | |
While Aeromexico flies from several different US cities to about 50 different destinations in Mexico.
| Austin | Dallas (DFW) | Chicago (ORD) | Denver |
| Fresno | Houston (IAH) | Las Vegas | Los Angeles (LAX) |
| Miami | New York City (JFK) | Orlando | Sacramento |
| Salt Lake City | San Antonio | San Francisco (SFO) | Seattle |
US to South America
While Flying Blue doesn’t fly to South America from the United States, they do have several partners that do fly to South America.
If you want to see the Southern part of South America, Delta flies to Santiago, Chile. Economy flights start at 40,000 miles each way.
Tickets to Northern part of South America are even less expensive. Flights to Bogota, Colombia go for 35,000 miles.
US to South Pacific
The South Pacific region is notoriously expensive with cash. Economy fares regularly start at over a $1,000! Forget about business class. That can easily set you back $8,000 round trip. Instead, points are a great option for these flights.
Maybe Tahiti is a destination you are looking at visiting. Economy starts at 26,000 miles while business class starts at 55,000 miles each way.
If Australia is your next vacation, there is a deal with Flying Blue miles. Economy can be found for 48,500 each way. Business class goes for 121,000.
Related: Park Hyatt Sydney Review
US to Israel and North Africa
One quirk of the Flying Blue program is the way they classify Europe. Several countries outside of Europe are included in Flying Blue’s definition of Europe. These countries are Israel, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and the Canary Islands. Geographically these countries are part of the Middle East or North Africa. I won’t complain especially if that means I can save miles!
These awards start at 21,500 in economy each way while business starts at 55,000. These prices increase slightly depending on where you depart in the United States.
US to Hawaii
When you can find partner award space through Flying Blue, that is a major win. Especially when Delta redemptions can cost twice as much. Economy starts at 17,500 or 43,000 in business class each way.
Keep in mind, to find these awards, Delta must offer it to Flying Blue. Recently, Delta hasn’t released much space to their partners.
US to Caribbean
The Caribbean is a great destination with tons of islands each with their own individual identify. While Air France or KLM fly to several destinations from Europe, it is easier to hop on a Delta flight from the United States.
Flights start at 14,500 in economy or 36,000 in business each way. Most of these flights are pretty short. Might be better to focus on economy redemptions here.
Delta flies to a ton of different islands including:
| Antigua and Barbuda | Aruba | Bahamas | Bermuda |
| Bonaire | Cayman Islands | Jamaica | Saint Kitts and Nevis |
| Saint Lucia | Sint Maarten | Turks and Caicos | |
US to Central America
Another Flying Blue partner is Copa. This is an odd partnership since Copa is a Star Alliance partner, but yet you can book Copa flights through this strategic partnership. You’ll need just 17,500 Flying Blue miles each way to fly economy from the US to Central America.
Copa flies to from several US cities.
| Atlanta | Chicago (ORD) | Denver | Fort Lauderdale |
| Las Vegas | Los Angeles (LAX) | Miami | New Orleans |
| New York City (JFK) | Orlando | Tampa | Washington, DC (IAD) |
Flying Blue Promo Rewards are discounted tickets for 20% to 50% off travel to and from certain cities on Air France and KLM. These discounted tickets change every month. Most of the discounts are in economy, but sometimes discounts are offered in business class.
Depending on the discount, you can find economy tickets for as low as 11,000 miles each way. That gets even better if you can pair this with a transfer bonus.
An example of a Flying Blue Promo. Hard to pass up this Flying Blue Sweet Spot.
Free Stopovers
Back in December 2022, Flying Blue implemented free stopover awards. This gives you the ability to check out two different cities for the price of one! I love utilizing stopover awards whenever possible.
Related: Best Points Hotels in Amsterdam, The Netherlands
How to Earn These Points and Miles
Flying Blue is a transfer partner of all major transferrable points currencies. You can transfer from Chase, American Express, Capital One and Citi. Any card that earns the transferrable points from those four banks are great additions to your wallet.
Great cards from these banks include the Chase Sapphire Preferred, The Platinum Card from American Express, Citi Premier and the Capital One Venture X.
Flying Blue Sweet Spots
Flying Blue doesn’t get the attention that programs like Singapore or Emirates does. After all, Air France and KLM are lacking the incredible first class and business class seats that Singapore and Emirates has. But that doesn’t mean the loyalty program doesn’t have great redemptions.
These miles are incredibly earn through tons of different credit cards across all the major credit card issuers. Watch out for Flying Blue’s dynamic pricing. That can easily make these redemptions twice as much.
Still not sure how to find these award flights? Join our free private Facebook group to get daily tips on redeem points and miles.
These opinions in this article are the author’s not those of a bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.