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Flying Blue has announced major changes to the program that will come into effect April 1, 2018. At that time we'll see a shift to a revenue-based loyalty program. As of now, Flying Blue has outlined the changes it is making to earning miles, as well as tier miles needed to move between levels.
Changes To Earning With Flying Blue
With the shift to a revenue-based program, you will now earn Flying Blue miles per Euro of spending with Flying Blue. Earnings are determined by your status, and you will earn miles accordingly:
The new chart is not generous since inexpensive long-haul routes will now earn far fewer miles than they did before. So far there has been no confirmation of the exact details about partner earning changes.
Changes To Status Qualification
Flying Blue is also changing the way status is earned. For every flight, you will earn XP points depending on cabin class and distance flown. Earning will be according to the following rates:
This is interesting since there is no differentiation between different fares within a class. Discounted economy fares will earn the same as full fare economy fares, and the same also applies to business class fares. To transition between elite levels, you will need to earn the following number of XP points:
This differs significantly from the current system which uses level miles to calculate your status with Flying Blue.
Although you now have a rotating one-year period to earn your XP points as opposed to a calendar year. The new chart represents a devaluation since it is not cumulative. To earn Silver in a year, you will need to earn 100 XP points, to then move up from Silver to Gold you will need to earn a further 180 XP points. Finally, to earn Platinum, you will need to earn a further 300 points after hitting Silver. So you would have to earn 580 XP points to earn Platinum Status.
To put this into context a flight between New York (JFK) and Paris (CDG) would qualify as a long 2 tier flights. To hit Platinum, you would need to take 12 first class flights or 19 business class flights, which makes the status almost unachievable.
How Level Miles Will Transfer
At the point of the changeover, Flying Blue has outlined how it will transfer level miles to the new XP points system. Current level miles will transfer as follows:
Other Changes And Questions
There will be other changes coming to Flying Blue on June 1, 2018. So far, the company has not outlined any solid details of the changes,
While Flying Blue has released a whole lot of information, there are still plenty of questions to be answered. What will the redemption rates be? How do the changes affect partner earn and burn? These are some of the concerns that Flying Blue will have to clarify.
Overall
Without a doubt the changes will have a negative impact, hitting top status will become very difficult and earning ability has been dramatically reduced. Hopefully Flying Blue will keep its promo awards which can provide good value. Over the following months as more details emerge you will get a fuller picture of the impact of the changes on partner earning and partner redemptions.
Source: One Mile At A Time
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And once another award program changes to revenue-based. As a full-fare business flyer this greatly hurts the ability to earn status, as my flights are all long-haul and while before C would earn 175% the level miles, now we earn the same as the lower Z/I buckets. A few trips per year won’t be enough to even make Gold.
Sometimes with program devaluations I get to feeling as if I’m chasing my tail.
If you don’t expect program changes on a regular basis you need to adjust your mentality. Call it a devaluation, call it a correction, or call it simply the economy reacting. That is what these changes are. They are a part of life, will continually happen and any expectation that they won’t is just silly.
The only way to fight against this: EARN AND BURN.
revenue based programs suck!
Never flew air France on a paid fair, but they were a welcome partner to chase UR. I hope the redemption rates stay the same. I like their quarterly discounted award flight rates.
weird names for tiers…ivory??
Nothing new here; they’ve been like this.
This has always been a program that I’ve been too nervous to try, despite the sweet spot. With these current “enhancements” I think my willingness to try it has decreased.
What I hope is that the miles necessary for award tickets will stay the same.
Improved for them, not for me
Good explanation of the new developments.
Jet Blue is just the latest carrier to switch to a revenue-based program. Seems that the tendency in reward programs is to become less rather than more generous.
I think you mean FlyingBlue, not JetBlue. Completely different programs.
Please send us more info or a link regarding this.
Earnings in a program becoming revenue based whilst not something to look farward to, it is something I can live with as usually there are additional ways to earn points through credit cards, hotel stays or shopping portals. If the redemption becomes entirely revenue based then my interest in the loyalty program is completely gone. Airlines need to be careful going down this route as it is the loyalty program that will quite often make you choose that airline even if it is much higher in price than a rival. Kill the interest in the program and price becomes the determing factor, for which the low cost carriers will always have the edge.
These changes look very bad, and there is probably a lot more bad news to come in relation to redemptions.
Thanks for the heads up!
Another “improvement” in mileage program..funny did not see any recent changes for different airlines working in your favour..always a devaluation.