Air France KLM Flying Blue have made some unannounced changes to their reward flight pricing out of North America. As flagged by TJ at PoT there are both good and bad changes happening with the program’s rewards.
Quick overview of the changes
The minimum amount of miles required for economy class rewards out of Eastern Canada (you know, the ones we have raved about for the past year) have been increased to 20,000 miles one way. This now matches the required mileage out of Western Canada.
Premium Economy rewards for Eastern Canada also get bumped up by 5,000 miles but for Western Canada they go down by 5,000 miles. Both now will start at 35,000 miles.
The shining light in the news? The minimum mileage for Business Class rewards is now 50,000 miles across Canada. This is down as much as 37.5% from the previous 55,000 to 80,000 miles that was required!
These changes and updates have been confirmed on FlyerTalk by Ben Lipsey, the SVP of Loyalty | Head of Flying Blue at Air France KLM:
We are progressively implementing a new pricing model that will lower the pricing on 71% of O&Ds in J, 68% in W, and 66% in Y. The rest will either stay the same or increase slightly (eg JFK went from 15k to 20k in Y), but there shouldn’t be anything too shocking I hope. There are still some routes to be rolled out, particularly the 5th freedom routes, so please be patient.
Minimum mileage for economy class from Eastern Canada jumps 33.3%
It always seems like program changes come at the worst time. Just last week I posted the “Five amazing flight rewards you can redeem for with really low spend on the American Express Cobalt Card” where economy class flights out of Eastern Canada were still pricing at 15,000 miles one way. Now less than a week a later we see a ~33% increase in the minimum mileage requirement to 20,000 miles. Now I’ll have to go update that feature and a lot of other content on the site. 😉
All of this is starting to make sense however as this change was foreshadowed! For the past two months Ottawa has been featured in the monthly Flying Blue Promo Rewards at 25% off. However, the 25% off mileage amount was advertised as 15,000 miles instead of 11,250. If you take 25% off 20,000 you get the 15,000 showing up in the Promo Rewards. Air France KLM told us this was a glitch back in September but I really should have clued in on it once October’s Promo Rewards came out with the same amounts.
During this time Montreal, Quebec City and Toronto all continued to price at the standard 15,000 miles and the 25% off in this month’s Promo Rewards for Montreal coming in at 11,250 miles. So, it does appear Ottawa was the first city to get bumped up to the new pricing and now the rest of Eastern Canada has followed suit.
Here’s a couple of examples of the new 20,000 miles rewards:
This new minimum mileage requirement from Eastern Canada matches what has been required out of Western Canada since these lower amounts came into effect in the summer of 2022. Now it does not matter where in Canada you are, your minimum required mileage for a one way economy class to Europe, Turkey or North Africa will start at 20,000 miles.
It’s too bad the amazing 15,000 miles one way minimum requirement didn’t last long, it definitely wasn’t ‘permanent’. This is what we posted in September 2022 just a few weeks after Flying Blue began offering flights between Canada and Europe for that low amount out of Eastern Canada and 20,000 miles out of Western Canada:
These redemption options will remain in place indefinitely
We reached out to our contact at Air France and they looked into it for us and came back with great news. This pricing of 15,000 miles one way (30,000 round trip) from Eastern Canada (and Eastern U.S.) and 20,000 miles one way (40,000 round trip) from Western Canada (and Western U.S.) will become a permanent* fixture of the Flying Blue program.
Here’s exactly what they told Rewards Canada:
“this is not a promotional but rather permanent* set-up in order to align better with the actual value of tickets.”
There you have it. Air France KLM feels this lower redemption rate better matches the value of their transatlantic economy class fares. This is a bit of surprise as their ‘old’ standard redemption rates weren’t so bad to begin with!
The airline also let us know this will be communicated soon to members which should solidify this awesome news.
* They use the terminology permanent however any loyalty program can always change redemption options whenever they like. I believe in the case of Air France, by stating “permanent” they mean these will be the regular/standard starting point for the miles required for economy class redemptions.
Well, permanent works out to just over a year but as I mentioned in that post, programs can change any time they like and Air France KLM have done so – unfortunately without any notice.
Now with all this being said – the economy class redemptions at 20,000 miles one way still work out to be some of, if not the best transatlantic options out of Canada. In many cases they remain better than the very popular Air Canada Aeroplan and British Airways Executive Club as they’ll still require less miles (even with Amex Membership Rewards converting 1 to 0.75) and your first checked bag is included on Flying Blue economy class redemptions.
Premium Economy rewards increased for Eastern Canada, decreased for Western Canada
It’s both good and bad news for Flying Blue Premium Economy reward tickets.
For those in Eastern Canada these have been bumped up to a minimum requirement of 35,000 miles one way. This is roughly a 17% increase from the previous 30,000 miles.
On the flip side, Western Canada sees a decrease in miles required for these rewards. Previously, 40,000 miles was the minimum required miles for Premium Economy rewards out of Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver but that has now been dropped down to the same 35,000 miles seen for Eastern Canada.
Here’s an example of a decreased Premium Economy reward:
Business Class redemptions just became better!
The best news in all the changes is for those coveted business class reward tickets! The Flying Blue program has now set the minimum mileage amount at 50,000 miles one way for all of Canada. This is down from the following minimums:
- KLM from Eastern Canada: 55,000 miles
- Air France from Eastern Canada: 70,000 miles
- KLM from Western Canada: 65,000 miles
- Air France from Western Canada: 80,000 miles
As you can see the new minimum 50,000 miles is a significant decrease for the majority of those business class rewards. This is a big win for Canadians looking to redeem for premium cabin rewards across the Atlantic. To be able to redeem only 50,000 miles one way, 100,000 round trip for business class is fantastic and it will be utterly fantastic if and when we see the return of a 50% off Promo Reward for business class!
Here’s a couple of examples of the new 50,000 mile business class rewards:
This is an important move by Air France KLM for the premium market in Canada as up until now they have been relatively comparable for business class reward tickets to Aeroplan but this definitely places them ahead in this category. Not only is it good for us points and miles aficionados but frequent travellers, namely those flying transatlantic, may take heed and switch their allegiance from Air Canada to Air France KLM especially with AF KLM now offering their own credit card in Canada and being an American Express Membership Rewards transfer partner.
Flying Blue reward pricing is dynamic
Just a friendly reminder that Flying Blue reward flights are priced dynamically. All of the mileage amounts discussed above may not be available at all times or on all routes. These are simply the minimum mileage amounts that the rewards can start at and they can go up from that amount depending on the route, the dates of travel, what the flights are pricing for cash wise and other factor.
The good news with Air France KLM is they tend to have decent availability at the lowest mileage amounts. This is based upon our own reward flight searches conducted over the years here on RWRDS Canada that we publish in the Promo Rewards articles and our other features.
Some additional notes:
- The Flying Blue interactive reward map and reward chart have not been updated and are still showing the old minimum mileage requirements
- The October Promo Rewards are still pricing based on the old minimum mileage requirements. This means you can still book Montreal to Europe, Turkey or North Africa for as little as 11,250 miles one way in Economy Class or 41,250 one way in Business Class. You have until October 31st to book these.
Wrapping it up
We have a mixed bag of news out of Air France KLM Flying Blue with bad news for economy class rewards, good and bad news for Premium Economy and great news for business class. As good as 20,000 mile reward flights in economy are, it still stings to see that as a result of a 33.3% increase. The increase in Premium Economy for those in Eastern Canada stings as well, though not as much as economy class. The decrease for Premium Economy out of Western Canada is a boon but the by far and away the best news out of all this is that new 50,000 mile one way business class reward! That’s a win for all of Canada.