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Flying Blue, the flagship loyalty program of Air France and KLM, is known for its regular Promo Rewards sales that offer many of its routes at a significant discount. These include both economy and business class awards for sometimes as much as 50% off the regular price.
What if you don’t use Flying Blue?
Even if you don’t accrue points in Flying Blue, this promotion is still relevant. It is a transfer partner with various credit card programs including:
Even better, there are often transfer bonuses where you can earn more than one mile per point transferred with different partners. This means that you can gather Flying Blue miles quickly and with little effort if needed.
Details on the Flying Blue Promo Reward
Promo Reward reservations are available for a limited time (the current awards must be booked before Jan. 31). Travel must take place between March 1 and April 30 of this year. Each promotion period offers a different set of awards around the world.
This quarter, there are three discounted options from North America to Europe at 25% off. Flights between Chicago O’Hare, Calgary, and Toronto are available for as few as 43,500 miles one way and 87,000 miles roundtrip. That is better than any North American loyalty program can offer.
What’s even more exciting is that prices can fluctuate (often less) if your destination is beyond the Paris or Amsterdam hubs. Previously, Flying Blue offered a flat rate between destination regions. This meant that if you were flying from Chicago to either Paris, London, Madrid, or Istanbul, the discounted promotion rate was the same.
A recent change means this price can vary. But, sometimes it works in your favor at an even lower rate. It is worth playing around with the airline’s award calendar (of course, signing up for Flying Blue if you haven’t already) or the nifty new award calculator on the Flying Blue website.
Is it worth it?
Yes, you would have to get yourself to one of the North American gateway cities, but the savings can be huge if you score a good deal to Europe. If you already have plans for overseas travel, don’t forget to check out the intra-European deals, which start as low as 9,600 miles roundtrip (one-way awards are available, too).
It is important to examine how foreign loyalty programs can fit into the mix when redeeming points and miles. Credit card transfer partnerships have made them incredibly lucrative when it comes to saving on travel!
