Update: These mileage rates are no longer available and in fact the standard minimum amount of miles required for these flights have now been doubled from 5,000 miles to 10,000 miles
Making waves across the US points and miles blogosphere (Frequent Miler appears to have been first) are discounted and perhaps mistake fares for Air France KLM Flying Blue reward flights for short haul flights within the U.S. Well, guess what? It’s happening in Canada as well with short haul flights on WestJet.
Some quick searches revealed routes like Toronto to Ottawa or Montreal and Calgary to Edmonton that are all coming in at lower mileage amounts than what they normally charge. It appears to be happening on routes that are normally priced at 5,000 miles one way, anything higher like Calgary to Vancouver or Regina at 6,000 miles do not show the lower prices.
You’ll see that the initial search shows 5,000 miles for each of these routes however once you click on the flight selection, you’ll see the lower price. According to the U.S. blogs, people are having success in booking these lower priced reward flights.
Here are some examples:
Calgary – Edmonton for 2,000 miles one way
Toronto to Montreal for 4,500 miles one way
Toronto to Ottawa for 3,000 miles one way
Some additional finds:
Vancouver – Kelowna 2,500 miles
Vancouver – Nanaimo 2,500 miles
Calgary – Kelowna 3,500 miles
Calgary – Saskatoon 4,500 miles
Getting Flying Blue Miles for these rewards
If you don’t have any Flying Blue Miles in your account you can transfer from American Express Membership Rewards at a 1 to 0.75 ratio. That means the 2,000 miles required for Calgary to Edmonton would require 2,700 Membership Rewards points! That’s a pretty good deal!
Don’t wait – book right away but heed this warning
As this may be a mistake in Air France KLM’s system it’s best not to wait to book these reward flights. That being said they may choose to not honour these bookings – so go into them knowing they may be cancelled (and they should refund your miles + taxes/fees) which means don’t go booking any non-refundable hotels, car rentals etc. – only book additional travel requirements that can be cancelled.
You can book these flights direct on the Air France or KLM websites.