Air France/KLM's Flying Blue mileage program is one of the best in the world, bar none. While most airlines have been busy raising award rates (the number of points or miles you need to book a given flight) and excising sweet spots, Flying Blue bucked the trend just over a year ago, slashing (and standardizing) award rates for a trip to Europe whether you fly in economy or up in business class.
But the bill comes due eventually. On Monday morning, the airlines quietly rolled out a widespread devaluation, with award rates to book Air France or KLM between North America and Europe shooting up by as much as 25% overnight. Our pals at Travel on Points beat us to publishing the news that:
- One-way economy redemptions that previously cost 20,000 miles each way inched up to 25,000 miles each way – a 25% increase
- Premium economy increased from the 35,000-mile standard to 40,000 miles each way – a roughly 14% jump
- And booking Air France or KLM business class across the pond – one of the best ways to get to Europe in a lie-flat class seat – increased from the previous norm of 50,000 miles to 60,000 miles each way, a 20% hike
Now, those hikes aren't egregious by any means. And so far as we can tell, the airlines have only raised award rates for booking Air France and KLM themselves – it doesn't appear that they've touched award rates for booking partner carriers like Delta, despite a false alarm around Christmas.
But this was done with no warning, giving travelers with a stash of Flying Blue miles socked away no chance to book a trip before it would cost them more miles. It's part of a broader trend across the airline industry: Everything in the world of points and miles is getting more expensive. We call it “Pointsflation.”
The head of Flying Blue confirmed the across-the-board award rate increases in a statement. But he said that should come with an upside: More award availability, making it easier to find flights – albeit at higher prices.
“Recently, we made a slight adjustment to award mile pricing and corresponding inventory access to address a common concern: the difficulty of finding availability at the lowest award levels,” Ben Lipsey, the head of Flying Blue and senior vice president with the airline, wrote in an email to Thrifty Traveler Monday. “By rebalancing the entry-level pricing, we were able to significantly increase entry-level award availability, making it easier for members to book flights at the lowest mileage levels.”
Breaking Down Flying Blue's Devaluation
No doubt about it: It's a disappointing change for an airline mileage program that has set itself apart for consumer-friendly moves.
They're some of the easiest miles to earn in the world, as Air France/KLM are transfer partners with all the major banks like Chase, American Express, Capital One and more. Its website can be clunky and error-prone, but there are still a few tricks you can use to pull up a monthlong calendar to find precious award availability. While the additional taxes and fees you'll pay aren't the lowest, they also aren't the worst. To top it all off, you can even add a stopover to any award ticket for free!
But now you'll need more miles. For the last year and change, you could book a business class seat over to Europe or back for as low as 50,000 miles each way. Now, that same flight from San Francisco (SFO) to Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG), Amsterdam (AMS), or connecting onward throughout the continent will cost you an extra 10,000 miles.
Taxes and fees remain about the same: Roughly $200 or so for a one-way to Europe and closer to $300 for a return back to the states. But you'll now see that same, 60,000-mile charge for a one-way in a lie-flat seat whether you depart from San Francisco or Boston (BOS).
But by the looks of it, there may be a silver lining here? After being incredibly generous with award availability, booking Air France/KLM is no longer among the easiest business class cabins to book – finding award space has become a serious challenge recently. While Lipsey didn't specifically call out an increase in business class availability, we can only hope that's in store.
And as Lipsey himself noted: “Even with the new pricing levels, we're still amongst the most competitively priced.” So if forking over another 60,000 miles instead of 50,000 means it gets easier to actually book Air France or KLM business class across the pond, it's not such a bad tradeoff after all.
But premium economy and even economy awards will cost you more, too.
This Air France premium economy flight from New York City (JFK) to Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) this summer, for instance, cost 35,000 miles just last night. Now, you'll pay 40,000 miles – and that's the rate you'll see regardless of which city you depart from.
And same goes for economy, where the base rate is now 25,000 miles each way between North America and Europe.
While Flying Blue's dynamic prices may mean you frequently see higher rates than these, you might also stumble upon even lower prices thanks to the airlines' excellent Promo Rewards – especially in economy, where those discounts are most prevalent. For example, you can currently book Air France economy between Miami (MIA) and Europe for as low as 15,000 miles each way.
With this devaluation, those Promo Rewards fares are an even better deal … unless, of course, Air France and KLM decide to eventually torch those monthly discounts, too.
Bottom Line
Without a word of warning, Air France/KLM Flying Blue has raised award rates by as much as 25%.
From economy up to business class, booking flights on either airline to Paris or Amsterdam will now cost you more miles than just 24 hours ago. While those increases could have been worse, it's still a tough blow for one of the best airline mileage programs.