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The Air France–KLM Flying Blue loyalty program is one of the leading players in the SkyTeam alliance, alongside Delta, Korean Air, and Virgin Atlantic. The loyalty program is very well developed, features five elite status levels, and provides members with many features and benefits. Here's all you need to know about Flying Blue elite status.
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Elite Status Qualification Requirements and Earning XP
To move between Air France–KLM Flying Blue elite status levels, you need to earn XP (Experience Points), and this needs to happen every 12 months of membership. XP are earned based on your class of travel and the flight distance. Flying Blue has a table for how much XP you earn for various flights:
| Domestic (within a country) | Medium (under 2,000 miles) | Long 1 (2,000–3,500 miles) | Long 2 (3,500–5,000 miles) | Long 3 (over 5,000 miles) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Economy | 2 XP | 5 XP | 8 XP | 10 XP | 12 XP |
| Premium Economy | 4 XP | 10 XP | 16 XP | 20 XP | 24 XP |
| Business Class | 6 XP | 15 XP | 24 XP | 30 XP | 36 XP |
| First Class | 10 XP | 25 XP | 40 XP | 50 XP | 60 XP |
You need to earn the following XP within a year to move between tiers:
- Explorer: The program’s entry-level tier, received upon joining
- Silver: 100 XP
- Gold: 180 XP
- Platinum: 300 XP
- Ultimate: 900 XP
How easy is it to earn Flying Blue elite status?
Depending on which cabin you fly, earning status can be relatively easy for Silver, Gold, and Platinum — but virtually impossible for Ultimate. Take, for instance, Air France's flagship route from Paris to New York.
This comes in at just over 3,500 miles, so it will qualify as a “Long 2” for XP earnings.
If you mainly fly economy, you'll need 10 flights to reach Silver. However, that halves if you fly premium economy, needing just five flights.
Staying with premium economy, nine flights will earn you Gold. Alternatively, six business-class or four first-class flights will also yield Gold status.
Platinum status is still relatively attainable, particularly if you fly in a premium cabin. Reaching this tier only requires 10 business-class or six first-class flights.
Flying Blue Ultimate status is where things start to get ridiculous. You will need 18 first-class flights from Paris to New York to reach this tier — or an impressive 30 business-class flights.
Related: Flying Blue Standardizes Award Rates Between the U.S. and Europe
However, those living close to borders with access to inexpensive premium fares (think flights within Europe or between the U.S. and Canada or Mexico) could accrue XP quite easily through business-class tickets that cross a border.
Rolling Status Qualification Timeframe
Flying Blue operates its program a little differently from most other airline programs. When it comes to your 12-month membership year, airline loyalty programs typically follow one of the following two models.
- The membership year is a calendar year that starts on January 1 every year (though some programs have slightly different start dates).
- Your membership year starts from your registration date.
Flying Blue follows neither model and operates a rolling 12-month method from the date you earn your first XP. For instance, if you joined on January 1, 202, but only credited your first flight (to earn XP) on March 1, 2024, that would start your qualification period. You would have until March 1, 2025 to earn enough XP to upgrade to the Silver level.
Moving Between Tiers and Soft Landing Policy
Another way the Flying Blue program differs from others is the difficulty of moving to a higher tier. Typically, when you join a program, you will have your status for one year/12 months. Then, your status for the next year is determined by how many tier/experience points you earned during this year. For example, assume you meet the requirements for top-tier American Airlines elite status during your first year. You would immediately move to the top tier: Executive Platinum.
This is not the case with Flying Blue. Here, once you reach 100 XP, these are deducted, and your XP balance is reset to zero. You then have 12 months from the day you reached Silver status to either earn 100 XP (to maintain Silver) or earn 180 XP (to upgrade to Gold).
For instance, if you join Flying Blue on January 1, 2024 and earn 100 XP on May 1, 2024, you will be upgraded to Silver. You then have until May 1, 2025 to earn enough XP to maintain your status or move to a higher tier.
The continual shifting of timelines can be confusing to track.
Soft landing between status levels
Fortunately, Flying Blue operates a soft-landing model if you fail to meet the requirements for maintaining your status. Thus, if you have Gold status, for example, but don't requalify, you won't drop to Explorer, the entry-level tier.
For instance, take a Flying Blue Platinum member who has not earned any XP for a year.
After 12 months at Platinum without earning XP, this person will drop to Gold. The member will spend 12 months as a Gold elite before dropping to Silver, even if they earn zero XP.
Then, the member will spend 12 months as a Silver member before dropping to Explorer for a further 12 months. Finally, after 12 months of Silver, the member will be downgraded to Explorer.
Flying Blue Elite Status Benefits
Flying Blue has four elite status levels beyond the entry-level Explorer status. Each has its own set of benefits that build upon each other. All program members can book award flights using miles, pay with a combination of miles and cash, upgrade with miles, and even pay for extras (like preferred seats) using miles.
Explorer status benefits
- Earn 4 miles per €1 spent.
- Receive a 10% discount on your first paid checked item.
- Standard seat selection at no cost during check-in when flying with Air France, KLM, or Kenya Airways.
Silver status benefits
Silver members receive all the benefits of Explorer members, plus:
- Earn 6 miles per €1 spent (50% bonus).
- Free first checked bag.
- Priority baggage drop-off and boarding.
- Priority check-in.
- Premium service line when calling Flying Blue.
- Preferred seats (but not Economy Comfort) available free of charge 24 hours before departure on Air France, KLM, and Kenya Airways flights.
- Free seat selection on standard seats.
- Members receive an additional checked bag when flying with SkyTeam partners.
- Preferred waitlist and standby status.
- 25% discount on Delta Comfort+ seats when flying Delta.
- 25% discount when paying for access to Air France or KLM lounges.
- Your Flying Blue Miles don't expire.
- Roll over your surplus XP to the following year.
- Corresponding SkyTeam Elite status.
- Maintain your status after personal leave.
Gold status benefits
Gold members receive all the benefits of Silver members plus:
- Earn 7 miles per €1 spent (75% bonus).
- Complimentary access for you and a guest to SkyTeam Lounges worldwide when flying with a SkyTeam member.
- SkyPriorty services throughout the airport.
- Free seat selection options 72 hours before departure, including Economy Comfort, when flying Air France, KLM, or Kenya Airways.
- Complimentary standard seat selection on Air Mauritius or GOL flights.
- Guaranteed seats in economy if you book at least 24 hours in advance (meaning you shouldn't get bumped on oversold flights).
- 50% discount on Delta Comfort+ seat when flying Delta.
- Corresponding SkyTeam Elite Plus status.
Related: Do Air France–KLM Flying Blue Miles Expire?
Platinum status benefits
Platinum members receive all the benefits of Gold members plus:
- Earn 8 miles per €1 spent (100% bonus)
- Upgrade to La Premiere on Air France flights (though you'll earn XP based on your original booking).
- Complimentary Delta Comfort+ seat when flying Delta main cabin qualifying fare.
- Dedicated Platinum service line.
- Access to preferred seats on Air France, KLM, and Kenya Airways flights at the time of booking.
- Receive Platinum for Life after 10 years of Platinum status.
- Waived change and refund fees.
Ultimate status benefits
Ultimate members receive all the benefits of Platinum members plus:
- Earn 8 miles per €1 spent (100% bonus) on partner flights and 9 miles per €1 spent (125% bonus) on Air France and KLM flights.
- Dedicated Ultimate Assistant service line available 24/7.
- Complimentary access to Air France and KLM lounges for members and up to eight guests on the same reservation.
- Sky Priority service for members and up to eight guests at the airport.
- Receive four one-cabin upgrade vouchers per membership year.
- Gift a Flying Blue Platinum card.
- Receive a complimentary Hertz Platinum card.
- Complimentary, unlimited access the Air France Play App.
- Waived service fees.
- Miles overdraft permitted on award tickets.
Our Take
Air France–KLM Flying Blue remains one of the leading airline loyalty programs that has not become revenue-based. However, qualifying for the top tiers does require extensive travel and commitment to Flying Blue and its SkyTeam partners.
That said, the program remains a strong performer and offers plenty of value. These include some excellent award sweet spots and Flying Blue’s monthly Promo Rewards. In addition, if you hold elite status with Flying Blue, you can access numerous benefits when flying with Delta.
Whether you pursue status with Flying Blue or another airline will ultimately depend on your travel plan and patterns and whether you want to commit to the SkyTeam ecosystem.
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Thank you for the great distillation of what can be a difficult program to understand. Would like to add a couple points.
1) While not “officially” revenue based, the EXP system of awarding status by segments clearly favors transiting travelers over non-stop travelers. While arguably transiting passengers may have greater need and use for elite benefits they are also less likely to be Skyteam hub residents and so also paying generally lower fares for those transiting itineraries than most Skyteam hub residents will be paying for their nonstop itineraries, while earning around twice the EXP on every trip as those Skyteam hub residents, and consequently achieving higher Flying Blue status levels generally twice as fast as Skyteam hub residents. Even more so if those transiting passengers have any kind of flexibility in positioning to those airports that give them the best air fares. And remember, people who are ok with connecting flights every time they travel are also probably more likely to be flexible with their travel plans in other ways. So Flying Blue is making status benefits easier to achieve for those who have to go a little more out of their way to fly Skyteam while milking their Skyteam hub residents more. Kind of a similar story to other airlines just a little different way of doing so that maybe fits the specifics of Flying Blue’s hubs and network while a more blatantly revenue based model might work better with other airlines with very different hub and network characteristics.
So the greatest appeal for US based travelers is probably those who live somewhere other than a Skyteam hub but can readily fly Delta and/or other Skyteam carriers from their home or nearby airports. (Hello, Austin, Raleigh-Durham, south Florida, Indianapolis, or even San Diego or more competitive hubs like Seattle or New York to name a few examples). With enough flexibility, I could make this work from my home town of Houston, even though fairly thin on SkyTeam flights we have the most ideal 3 SkyTeam carriers for this specific scenario – DL, AF, KLM!
2) Bilt Rewards Mastercard holders who fit the above (non-Skyteam hub transit traveler) description should seriously consider doing what spend they can on Bilt Rent Day to fast track getting to Bilt Platinum status without sacrificing maximizing category bonuses across all their transferrable points credit cards, so they would then be eligible to status match their Bilt Platinum to Flying Blue Gold, which would put those transiting passengers within 300 EXP of competitively shopped Skyteam (transiting) flights AND destinations of Flying Blue Platinum within a year. For free upgrades and points redemptions to La Premiere, among the other benefits the article describes. Remember, La Premier is way, way superior to LH First Class (I know because my high-roller Global Services cousin has flown both), much closer to the realm of Big 3 Gulf carriers First Class, versus other easier to achieve that many travel bloggers love to gush about.