Air France-KLM Flying Blue is one of the most useful loyalty programs out there for redeeming points. Flying Blue has access to more long haul award availability on Air France-KLM than other programs, and the points are easy to rack up, thanks to Flying Blue partnering with major transferable points currencies.
Anyway, there’s an interesting development when it comes to Flying Blue’s award pricing, which people will have mixed feelings about. This was trialed several months back, but it’s now an official part of the program.
Flying Blue Platinum members get better award pricing
While the Flying Blue program has consistent entry level award pricing, award costs are dynamic beyond that. In general, we’ve seen a decrease in saver level Flying Blue award availability over time, especially on transatlantic flights in business class, presumably reflecting the amount of demand, plus the underlying economics.
Over the summer, Flying Blue quietly began offering better award pricing for its Platinum and Ultimate members, compared to what non-elite, Silver, and Gold members have access to. Well, what started as a test has now become an official program benefit.
When you look at the Flying Blue elite benefits page, you’ll now see “Priority access to lowest Miles fares” described as a benefit for Platinum and Ultimate members, with the following description:
As a Platinum or Ultimate member, you will enjoy better access to the lowest available Miles fares for reward tickets. Compared to other tiers, you’ll more often see these lowest fare levels when booking from your account.
As an example, take a look at a search for business class awards from New York to Paris in March 2026, using the hidden calendar feature. When I’m logged into my Flying Blue Platinum account, I see 20 dates with the lowest award pricing, of just 60,000 miles per seat.
Meanwhile if I do exactly the same search with a non-elite account, the cheapest award cost is 142,000 miles (also available on 20 dates).
It seems like what’s happening is that Platinum members are simply getting access to more saver level award availability. Meanwhile if saver level awards aren’t available, then pricing is the same, regardless of elite status. I’m seeing this across a wide variety of markets, so this isn’t just some isolated thing.
This is a sensible but controversial change
Of course as a consumer, I love when airlines have wide open saver level award availability, including in premium cabins on long haul flights. I mean, who doesn’t? As far as I’m concerned, every seat should be available as a saver award… as long as I don’t have to report to shareholders. 😉
But as I’ve written about before, the miles & points world has changed a lot over the years, and airlines have gotten savvier. Flying Blue is presumably dealing with the same issue that so many programs are — how do you best allocate a limited amount of award availability?
We’ve seen airlines increasingly make award space available to their own members rather than to members of partner frequent flyer programs. It seems the latest trend is limiting some award availability to elite members.
Ultimately Europe is Flying Blue’s biggest market, and for years, loyal Air France-KLM customers in Europe have been complaining about the lack of saver level award space, and about how much harder it is to earn miles in Europe than in the United States.
With that in mind, I think this is a reasonable direction for a program to take:
- It’s a way to reward those who increasingly engage with the Flying Blue program
- It’s an incentive for others to engage more in the program, beyond just making a one-time points transfer
Admittedly I should acknowledge that I’m a Flying Blue Platinum member, and I put the effort in to earn the status. So yes, I’ll absolutely benefit from this. At the same time, I think this just makes good business sense, for the way the industry has evolved.
If you have a very limited number of long haul business class awards, should those go primarily to someone who flies Air France-KLM every week for work, and wants to take their family on vacation? Or should they go to someone who applied for a credit card in the US with a huge bonus, has never flown Air France-KLM before, and just found some seats through an online search tool?
There’s of course no right or wrong answer here, but I think we can all see the reasonable commercial justification for this. And I also appreciate how Flying Blue leadership has been trying to make meaningfully positive changes to the elite program, and this is another example of that (even if it sort of comes at the expense of others).
Bottom line
Air France-KLM now is now officially offering more award space to Flying Blue Platinum and Ultimate members than to others, including for long haul business class flights.
While everyone won’t be a fan of this policy, I think it’s logical enough. There are a limited number of award seats that airlines are going to open up (especially in premium cabins on long haul flights), and the question comes down to how those should be allocated.
We’ve increasingly seen airlines limit award seats to members of their own program rather than to members of other programs, and it feels like the evolution of that is to start limiting award space based on elite status.
What do you make of Flying Blue making more award space available for elite members?