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Flying Blue Air France KLM Loyalty Program Review

Q: Where can I sign up for Flying Blue?

Sign up to the Flying Blue program by filling out this online form.

Michael McHugh

- Updated: December 28, 2022|

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Travel /
Airlines

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Flying Blue Summary Table

Home Country Amsterdam, Paris
Airline Website AirFrance.com and KLM.com
Loyalty Program Flying Blue
Major Hubs Amsterdam (AMS), Paris (CDG)
Airline Alliance SkyTeam
Points Are Worth 1.25 cents/point
Signature Lounge KLM Crown Lounges (Amsterdam - AMS), La Première Lounge (Paris - CDG); Access to partner lounges in the U.S. include: KLM lounges in Chicago (ORD), Houston (IAH), New York (JFK), San Francisco (SFO), Washington (IAD); Air France lounges in Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), Houston (IAH), New York (JFK), San Francisco (SFO), Washington (IAD)
Earn Points/Miles
- How to Earn Lots of Air France KLM Flying Blue Miles
Redeem Points/Miles
- Best Ways to Redeem Air France KLM Flying Blue Miles
- Air France KLM Flying Blue: What Region Is Your Destination?
Airline Fees
- Air France KLM Flying Blue Baggage Fees
Award Chart Link
- Flying Blue Miles Calculator

Branded and Partnered Credit Cards

Flying Blue is one of a handful of award programs that partners with all of the flexible point programs.

Flying Blue Credit Cards

Flying Blue recently released its Air France-KLM World Elite Mastercard, which is issued by Bank of America.

While the credit card comes with a 25,000 point signup bonus after making $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days, we recommend focusing your spending with credit cards by American Express, Chase, Citi, and Marriott that earn transferable points.

American Express Credit Cards

Amex credit cards are a great way to earn Amex points that can be transferred directly to Flying Blue.

With its impressive selection of personal and business credit cards, you’ll have more than enough ways to earn miles for your next redemption.

Amex also has regular bonuses with some of its airline partners when you transfer your points into airline miles, making this a valuable program to earn points in.

Brex

Brex is an interesting small-business card unlike other credit cards. Points from Brex transfer to Flying Blue at a 1:1 ratio

Capital One Cards

Capital One has been upping its game in the realm of transfer partners and this includes its relationship with Flying Blue. You can transfer over your Capital One Miles to Flying Blue at a 1:1 ratio.

Chase Credit Cards

Chase is another flexible point program that partners with Flying Blue, giving you an excellent way to earn miles.

Chase stacks up with Amex in terms of the number of personal and business credit cards it has that earn Ultimate Rewards points, which can be transferred directly to Flying Blue.

Recommended Chase Cards (Personal)

If you’re a business owner, see our list of recommended Chase credit cards.

Citi Credit Cards

Citi falls short of Amex and Chase with the number of credit cards it has that earn transferable ThankYou points. But that doesn’t mean the program should be ignored!

Citi, like Amex, has regular bonuses when transferring points to some of its airline partners, which can provide significant value.

The only credit card available to new applicants that earns ThankYou points is the Citi ThankYou® Premier Card. You can find more about it here:

Marriott Credit Cards

Marriott credit cards provide yet another way to earn flexible points that can be transferred directly to Flying Blue.

What makes this transfer even better is the fact that you’ll receive a 5,000-point bonus for every 60,000 points that you convert into airline miles.

Marriott points convert into airline miles at a 3:1 ratio, so 60,000 miles become 25,000 airline miles with the 5,000 point bonus.

Other Hotel Partner Credit Cards

Transferring other hotel points to Flying Blue will result in a terrible transfer ratio, so we recommend avoiding this if at all possible.

If you are topping off an airline account or are in a bind, this option can be used as a last-ditch effort.

Air France KLM Flying Blue Program Overview

The Air France KLM frequent flyer program is called Flying Blue, and the program can be used for SkyTeam redemptions like flights on Delta.

Both Air France and KLM fly from a number of U.S. destinations to Europe, giving you plenty of ways to fly to Europe.

Flying Blue miles can be earned in many ways — here are the 3 most common:

Flying Air France, KLM, or its partner airlines’ flights
Spending on flexible points program credit cards
Spending at car rental, hotel, or retail partners

Joining Flying Blue

The Flying Blue program is free to join by simply completing this application.

When your application is complete, you’ll have the ability to earn miles by flying with Air France, KLM or their partner airlines, earn elite status, and redeem miles for award flights.

How to Sign in to Your Flying Blue Account

Head to the Flying Blue login page and enter your membership number and password.

KLM Login Screen — KLM login screen. Image courtesy of klm.com

Air France Login — Air France login screen. Image courtesy of airfrance.com

Hot Tip: Both the KLM and Air France websites require you to log in using your Flying Blue account number to search for award flights.

Viewing Your Account Activity

The easiest way to check your Air France mileage balance is to:

Log in to your account
Click the grey drop-down arrow in the top right corner
Click My Profile
Click Activity Overview

The easiest way to check your KLM mileage balance is to:

Log in to your account
Click Flying Blue in the middle
Click Log In on the left
Click Activity Overview

Air France and KLM state that it may take a couple of weeks for qualifying activity to appear in your account.

Points Expiration

Mileage expiration will depend on your Flying Blue elite status.

Air France and KLM miles will expire after 2 years of no qualifying activity for Explorer Members.

All Flying Blue Miles are valid for life as long as one of the following is true:

You take an eligible flight on Air France, KLM, Joon, HOP!, Aircalin, Kenya Airways, TAROM, or other SkyTeam partner at least once every 2 years
You’re an Elite or Elite Plus member
You make a purchase with an eligible co-branded credit card at least once every 2 years.

These “overall extending activities” extend the validity of all miles 2 years from the date of the activity.

These “partial extending activities” with other partners will extend the validity of miles earned with any of these other partners by 2 years from the date of the activity.

“Partial extending activities” do not extend the validity of miles earned from “overall extending activities.”

Air France KLM Flying Blue Mileage Program

Flying Blue Elite Tiers — Flying Blue elite levels. Image courtesy of flyingblue.com

Flying Blue Elite Status

The Flying Blue program has 3 elite tiers: Silver, Gold, and Platinum.

Silver: The lowest elite tier offered by Flying Blue, which comes with the following benefits:

Earn 6 miles for each euro spent*
Access to priority lines at check-in, baggage drop-off, and boarding
25% discount when purchasing seats
1 additional baggage allowance on all SkyTeam flights

*Flying Blue will convert your currency to euros to determine the miles you will earn.

Gold: After earning this status level, you’ll have access to additional benefits including:

All of the benefits of Silver, plus;
Earn 7 miles for each euro spent
Lounge access with a guest of your choice
SkyPriority access at the airport
50% discount when purchasing seats

Platinum: The highest elite tier that you can earn comes with the following benefits:

All of the benefits of Gold, plus;
Earn 8 miles for each euro spent
Free choice of any preferred seat
Exclusive Platinum Service Line

If you’re interested in diving into more detail about the elite benefits at each tier, go here.

Value of Flying Blue Elite Status

Earning elite status with Flying Blue makes the most sense if you fly Air France and/or KLM regularly, or you are looking for elite benefits when flying a SkyTeam partner like Delta.

If you meet one of these criteria, access to premium lounges and earning additional miles when flying are benefits to consider.

Earning Flying Blue Elite Status

The Flying Blue program uses XP (Experience Points) to determine your elite tier. The more XP you earn, the higher elite tier you will qualify for.

The number of XP you earn is based on your flight type and cabin.

For example, fly New York (JFK) to Paris (CDG) in Economy and you’ll earn 10 XP; New York to Paris in Economy is “Long 2” in the chart below.

The best way to determine the number of XP that you’ll earn is to use both the chart below and the flight simulator at the bottom of this page.

Flying Blue XP Chart — Flying Blue XP chart. Image courtesy of flyingblue.com

Hot Tip: To quickly calculate how many XP you will gain for cabins other than economy, take the number of XP for economy for your flight and multiply by 2 for premium economy, by 3 for business, or by 5 for first. For example, for a Long 2 flight in business, take 10 XP x 3 = 30 XP.

All eligible flights on Air France, KLM, Joon, HOP!, and SkyTeam partners earn XP.

You have a 12-month window to earn enough XP to move up to the next elite tier. The 12-month period begins as soon as you earn your first Flying Blue miles or you earn your first XP after joining the program.

Once you earn enough XP to move up to the next level, you’ll be upgraded to that level instantly.

Elite tiers work as follows:

If you’re an Explorer, earn 100 XP to move up to Silver. When you reach Silver, you’ll enjoy the benefits of Silver for the next 15 months. After you earn Silver, you’ll have 12 months to earn 100 XP to maintain Silver.
If you’re Silver, earn 180 XP to move up to Gold. When you reach Gold, you’ll enjoy the benefits of Gold for the next 15 months. If you earn less than 100 XP within 12 months, you’ll move down to Explorer.
If you’re Gold, earn 300 XP to move up to Platinum. When you reach Platinum, you’ll enjoy the benefits of Platinum for the next 15 months. If you earn less than 180 XP within 12 months, you’ll move down to Silver.
If you’re Platinum, earn 300 XP to maintain Platinum. If you earn less than 300 XP in 12 months, you’ll move down to Gold.

Find more details about the requirements for each elite tier level here.

How to Earn Flying Blue Miles

With Flying Blue, you’ve got 3 main ways to earn miles:

Spend with and transfer points from flexible point credit cards
Transfer points from Marriott’s loyalty program
Fly on Air France, KLM, or partner airline flights

Using a combination of all 3, you’ll have no problem earning Flying Blue miles.

Earning Miles Through Flying

The number of Flying Blue miles that you earn on flights marketed by Air France, KLM, Joon and HOP! is driven by 3 factors: cost of the ticket, carrier surcharge, and your elite level.

For example, if the cost of your ticket is 750 euros, the airline surcharge is 100 euros, and you are a Gold elite, you’ll earn 5,950 miles [(750 + 100)*7].

If you are flying other Flying Blue or SkyTeam partner-marketed flights, the miles you earn are based on distance, booking class earning percentage, and elite bonus earning percentage.

The booking class earning percentage determines the earning percentage to apply to the distance. Each airline has a different earning percentage that can be found on this page.

Elite bonus earning percentage are the additional miles that you earn based on your elite status. Flying Blue offers bonus miles for elites at the following rates:

Silver – 50%
Gold – 75%
Platinum – 100%

The elite bonus is applied to the distance multiplied by the booking class earning percentage.

Here’s an example of how this works in practice:

A Japan Airlines flight from Los Angeles (LAX) to Tokyo (NRT): 5,451 miles

Distance = 5,451 miles
You book a business class “C” ticket, so the earning percentage is 125%
As a Gold member, your elite bonus earning percentage is 75%

Miles earned = (5,451 x 125%) + Elite Bonus (5,451 x 75% x 75%) = 6,814 + 3,066 = 9,880 miles

SkyTeam alliance airlines. Image courtesy of skyteam.com

Earn Miles With Credit Cards

The best way to earn points from credit card spending is to focus on the cards offered by flexible point programs. When you earn flexible points, these points can be transferred directly to the program’s airline partners.

Flying Blue partners with all 4 major flexible point programs, giving you more than enough ways to earn points for a redemption.

Earning Bonus Miles in Other Ways

The Flying Blue program has a number of ways to earn Flying Blue miles without flying.

The airline partners with hotels like Hyatt and car rental companies like Enterprise.

How to Redeem Flying Blue Miles

Flying Blue does not have an award chart. The number of miles for your flight will vary, so it’s best to use the Miles Price Estimator and either the Air France or KLM search engine.

The program also uses Promo Awards that offer discounts of up to 50% on award tickets between select destinations.

Hot Tip: If you’re trying to determine how to use your miles, we put together a piece with the best ways to use Flying Blue miles.

SkyTeam Alliance and Partner Awards

Since Flying Blue is in the SkyTeam alliance, you can use Flying Blue miles to fly on any airline in the alliance.

Separately, you can use your Flying Blue miles to fly on the airline’s partners outside of the SkyTeam alliance.

Booking Online

The Flying Blue website search engine can be a great way to book Air France, KLM, and SkyTeam flights.

For Star Alliance partner flights, you’ll want to use United Airlines, Aeroplan, or ANA to search for award space.

If you’re looking to book a Oneworld partner flight, you’ll want to use British Airways or Qantas to search for award space.

The Flying Blue website will allow you to book most SkyTeam partner flights. If the partner you are trying to book can’t be booked on Air France or KLM, call the program at 800-375-8723 to search for award space and ticket the award flight.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Flying Blue program? Is it worth it? What are the benefits?

Flying Blue is the free frequent flyer program of Air France and KLM. By signing up for a membership, you'll have the ability to earn and redeem Flying Blue miles, as well as work your way toward elite status.

The benefit of the program will vary depending on your elite status. Flying Blue has 3 elite tiers in Silver, Gold, and Platinum.

The higher your elite status, the more benefits you will have access to, like earning bonus points when flying.

The number of Flying Blue miles that you earn is driven by 3 factors: cost of the ticket, carrier surcharge, and your elite level.

With enough Flying Blue miles earned by flying Air France, KLM, or its partner airlines, you'll be able to book Air France, KLM, and partner award flights online (or by calling Flying Blue to book partner airline flights).

In Flying Blue, who are the partners? Can I transfer miles to them?

Flying Blue is a member of the SkyTeam alliance and separately has partnerships with individual airlines.

You can find a list of Flying Blue's airline partners here.

Flying Blue also has other partners like hotels and car rental companies. You can transfer airline miles directly to these partners if you need points for a redemption.

What is the Flying Blue login?

You can sign in to Flying Blue here. If you are searching for award space, you can sign in to KLM here and sign in to Air France here.

Where can I sign up for Flying Blue?

What is my Flying Blue number?

You can find your Flying Blue number by signing in to your account, on your membership card, or through a variety of marketing emails they send to you.

If you can't find it there, try using the "forgot my password" tool to reset your account so you can get in. Alternatively, try calling the customer service desk to find your number.

When do miles post in Flying Blue?

Your Miles will automatically be credited to your account after your flight. If you traveled with Air France or KLM, this can take up to 2 weeks. If you've earned Miles with one of the program's other partners (including hotel partners, car rental partners, etc.), it may take up to 8 weeks.

When do Flying Blue miles expire?

All Flying Blue Miles are valid for life as long as one of the following is true:

You take an eligible flight on Air France, KLM, Joon, HOP!, Aircalin, Kenya Airways, TAROM, or other SkyTeam partners at least once every 2 years
You're an Elite or Elite Plus member
You make a purchase with an eligible co-branded credit card at least once every 2 years. These "Overall extending activities" extend the validity of all Miles 2 years from the date of the activity.

You can also extend the validity of miles earned with all other partners (airline partners not mentioned above, car rental partners, hotel partners, and experience partners) for 2 years by earning miles with any of these other partners. These "partial extending activities" with other partners will extend the validity of miles earned with any of these other partners by 2 years from the date of the activity. "Partial extending activities" do not extend the validity of Miles earned from "overall extending activities."

When does Flying Blue status expire?

If you’re an Explorer, earn 100 XP to move up to Silver. You’ll then get to enjoy the benefits of Silver for the next 15 months. After you become a Silver member, you’ll have another 12 months to maintain Silver.
If you’re Silver, earn 180 XP to move up to Gold. When you reach Gold, you’ll enjoy the benefits of Gold for the next 15 months. If you earn less than 100 XP within 12 months, you’ll move down to Explorer.
If you’re Gold, earn 300 XP to move up to Platinum. When you reach Platinum, you’ll enjoy the benefits of Platinum for the next 15 months. If you earn less than 180 XP within 12 months, you’ll move down to Silver.
If you’re Platinum, earn 300 XP to maintain Platinum. If you earn less than 300 XP in 12 months, you’ll move down to Gold.

Is there an Flying Blue credit card?

Flying Blue doesn't currently offer a credit card for the U.S. market.

In Flying Blue, what is an award hold?

The Flying Blue terms and conditions do not address the ability to hold an award flight.

However, based on data points from other articles, it appears Flying Blue is willing to put a flight on hold for you if you ask.

About Michael McHugh

Born and raised in Mobile, Alabama, Michael took his first international trip in 2013 with friends to the Bahamas. Although he didn't travel much in his younger years, on that trip, he caught the travel bug and has been hooked ever since. Michael first caught wind of the points and miles game in 2014 while at a bar in Washington, DC where the conversation amongst friends was quickly derailed because of an alert on a friend's phone about a mistake fare. That's where the love affair with points and miles began.

Osilaja Toyedayo August 20, 2019
I’m just wondering if Flying Blue has a lifetime status tier. For instance, if one maintains Gold status for 10 years continuously without breaking, does one get Gold status for life?
- Andrew Kunesh August 21, 2019
  Hi Osilaja, we’ve heard rumors that those who maintain Flying Blue Platinum status for 10 years are awarded Platinum For Life status. We haven’t been able to verify this beyond first-hand accounts around the internet, though. There is no mention of lifetime Gold status. Thanks!
Rex November 17, 2020
What makes Flying Blue unique if we compare them with other Sky Team airlines? Thanks!
George September 22, 2021
Hi, just a question. My miles expire at the end of the year. Is it enough to buy a ticket this year or do I have to fly this year as well to keep them?
- Jarrod West September 22, 2021
  Hi George,
  Any sort of qualifying activity, like earning new miles or redeeming some of your current miles, should renew your miles. Thanks for reading!

Flying Blue Summary Table

Branded and Partnered Credit Cards

Flying Blue Credit Cards

American Express Credit Cards

Brex

Capital One Cards

Chase Credit Cards

Recommended Chase Cards (Personal)

Citi Credit Cards

Marriott Credit Cards

Other Hotel Partner Credit Cards

Air France KLM Flying Blue Program Overview

Joining Flying Blue

How to Sign in to Your Flying Blue Account

Viewing Your Account Activity

Points Expiration

Air France KLM Flying Blue Mileage Program

Flying Blue Elite Status

Value of Flying Blue Elite Status

Earning Flying Blue Elite Status

How to Earn Flying Blue Miles

Earning Miles Through Flying

Earn Miles With Credit Cards

Earning Bonus Miles in Other Ways

How to Redeem Flying Blue Miles

SkyTeam Alliance and Partner Awards

Booking Online

Frequently asked questions

What is the Flying Blue program? Is it worth it? What are the benefits?

In Flying Blue, who are the partners? Can I transfer miles to them?

What is the Flying Blue login?

Where can I sign up for Flying Blue?

What is my Flying Blue number?

When do miles post in Flying Blue?

When do Flying Blue miles expire?

When does Flying Blue status expire?

Is there an Flying Blue credit card?

In Flying Blue, what is an award hold?

About Michael McHugh

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