The Air France-KLM Flying Blue program is improving its mileage expiration policy, in a way that most members will certainly appreciate.
Flying Blue updates 24-month mileage expiration policy
Up until now, the mileage expiration policy for Air France-KLM Flying Blue has been as follows:
- Miles expire after 24 months of inactivity (though this doesn’t apply to Flying Blue elite members, for as long as they maintain their status)
- Only select activity can rest the expiration of miles, including crediting a flight to the program, or earning miles with a co-branded card
- Other mileage earning activity, like moving over points from a transferable points currency, wouldn’t reset the expiration of miles
This policy will finally be changing. As of May 4, 2026 (this applies to miles earned before or after that date), Flying Blue will use the same 24-month mileage expiration policy for all miles earned. In other words, all your miles will have one expiration date, and any activity that involves earning miles will reset that expiration.
For what it’s worth, this is the first time that Flying Blue has meaningfully updated its mileage expiration policy since 2017. At that time, we saw the period of inactivity before miles expire increase from 20 months to 24 months.
This is a sensible policy change from Flying Blue
I’m very happy to see Flying Blue update its policy, since it means that you can now extend the expiration of your miles simply by moving over a small number of points from a transferable currency. This new policy isn’t only more generous, but it’s also just more straightforward, as I know the old policy confused a lot of people.
It’s nice to see positive changes from a program, without a catch. For that matter, I’ll add that I think a two-year mileage expiration policy is perfectly fair. Personally, I don’t care much if programs have miles that don’t expire, since ultimately I’d rather they invest more in other areas, for engaged members (keeping in mind that every perk comes with a tradeoff and opportunity cost).
Bottom line
The Air France-KLM Flying Blue program is improving its mileage expiration policy. As of May 2026, all Flying Blue miles won’t expire as long as there’s at least some earning activity every 24 months.
Under the old policy, only select earning activity (including crediting flights and spending on a Flying Blue credit card) can extend the expiration of miles, while miles earned through other means can’t be used to extend miles.
What do you make of this Flying Blue mileage expiration policy change?
