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Update: In January 2025, Flying Blue devalued award rates between North America and Europe. Award rates now start at 25k miles in economy, 40k miles in premium economy, and 60k miles in business class. The post below is being maintained to show the improvements Flying Blue made to its program in October 2023.
Flying Blue — the mileage program for Air France/KLM — has always been a quirky program. Starting with a program in 2018, Flying Blue has priced awards dynamically, with the minimum award rate varying on the origin and destination airport. Now, Flying Blue seems to have ditched that complicated award pricing scheme. Instead, Flying Blue is now pricing all routes at the same minimum award rate — at least for awards on Air France and KLM.
This is good news for some economy/premium economy routes and bad news for others. But, the new minimum rate of 50,000 miles is excellent for business-class awards! Here's what you need to know about these changes first reported by Thrifty Traveler.
Key Takeaways of Flying Blue Award Chart Changes
- Awards between North America and Europe now start at standardized prices regardless of route (per person, one-way):
- 20,000 miles in economy
- 35,000 miles in premium economy
- 50,000 miles in business
- These are just the starting rates. Awards can price much higher, due to dynamic award pricing.
- These new rates are bad news for certain economy routes where award pricing increased by 33%. However, other economy routes have decreased by a few thousand miles.
- Premium economy rates are a mixed bag. Flying Blue decreased award pricing on some routes by up to 22% (e.g. Atlanta to Paris). However, other routes have increased by 17% (e.g. Boston to Warsaw).
- However, this is great news for business class, where awards are cheaper across the board — up to 38% cheaper (e.g. Mexico to Europe dropped from 80,000 to 50,000 miles each way).
- These prices are for Air France and KLM flights; partner awards are showing higher prices.
Related: Do Air France/KLM Flying Blue Miles Expire?
New Flying Blue Award Pricing Between the U.S. and Europe
Based on dozens of award searches performed by AwardWallet, Flying Blue has now standardized its award pricing. Previously, the minimum award pricing depended on the airport you were flying from and to. For example, you could fly from Washington D.C. to Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna, or Budapest for as few as 17,000 miles. However, for some reason, D.C. to Rome never priced lower than 25,000 miles.
Now, Flying Blue seems to have eliminated this complexity — opting for standardized starting award rates.
This is excellent news for business class awards. Rather than pricing as high as 80,000 miles each way (e.g. Mexico City to London), we are finding 50,000-mile awards on every route that we check. Here are the biggest award rate drops we found:
| To | From | Previous rate (business class) | New rate (business class) | % Decrease |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta | Paris | 70,000 | 50,000 | 29% |
| Atlanta | Rome | 70,000 | 50,000 | 29% |
| Atlanta | Helsinki | 70,000 | 50,000 | 29% |
| Atlanta | London | 70,000 | 50,000 | 29% |
| Atlanta | Warsaw | 70,000 | 50,000 | 29% |
| Atlanta | Zurich | 70,000 | 50,000 | 29% |
| Boston | Warsaw | 70,000 | 50,000 | 29% |
| Cancun | Paris | 80,000 | 50,000 | 38% |
| Cancun | London | 77,000 | 50,000 | 35% |
| Dallas | Paris | 70,000 | 50,000 | 29% |
| Dallas | London | 70,000 | 50,000 | 29% |
| Dallas | Warsaw | 70,000 | 50,000 | 29% |
| Washington DC | Paris | 70,000 | 50,000 | 29% |
| Washington DC | London | 70,000 | 50,000 | 29% |
| Mexico City | London | 80,000 | 50,000 | 38% |
| Mexico City | Warsaw | 76,500 | 50,000 | 35% |
However, this isn't universally good news. Back in 2022, Flying Blue decreased one-way economy award rates to Europe to as few as 15,000 miles each way. Now, the new 20,000-mile minimum rate is an increase of 33% on these routes. Here's how economy award prices have changed on a selection of routes where we had prior award pricing:
| To | From | Previous rate | New rate | % Decrease |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta | Paris | 21,000 | 20,000 | 5% |
| Atlanta | Rome | 22,000 | 20,000 | 9% |
| Atlanta | Helsinki | 21,000 | 20,000 | 5% |
| Atlanta | London | 21,500 | 20,000 | 7% |
| Atlanta | Warsaw | 21,000 | 20,000 | 5% |
| Atlanta | Zurich | 21,000 | 20,000 | 5% |
| Boston | Warsaw | 15,000 | 20,000 | 33% increase |
| Cancun | Paris | 20,000 | 20,000 | n/a |
| Cancun | London | 20,000 | 20,000 | n/a |
| Dallas | Paris | 20,000 | 20,000 | n/a |
| Dallas | London | 19,500 | 20,000 | 3% increase |
| Dallas | Warsaw | 19,500 | 20,000 | 3% increase |
| Washington DC | Paris | 17,500 | 20,000 | 14% increase |
| Washington DC | London | 17000 | 20,000 | 18% increase |
| Mexico City | London | 21,000 | 20,000 | 5% |
| Mexico City | Warsaw | 21,000 | 20,000 | 5% |
Note that this new award pricing doesn't seem to just be additional Flying Blue Promo Rewards. This new, lower pricing shows on every route we've checked between North America and Europe.
These are still just starting rates
Flying Blue is still employing dynamic pricing, meaning these awards are “starting at” prices. Costs can go up as seats fill or near busy holidays.
For example, you can currently book business class awards from Atlanta to Rome for as few as 50,000 miles on December 3, 7, 11, 30-31. However, business class awards skyrocket to 700,000 Flying Blue miles one-way on December 16.
Still, this is a notable improvement. Previously, finding business-class awards from Atlanta to Rome at the “starting at” 70k price was tough. Now, we're generally seeing better availability and better prices.
Finding cheap Flying Blue awards
We recommend using the Flying Blue calendar search feature to find the cheapest awards. Rather than having to search day-by-day, you can use this trick to view a month of award pricing at a time — with headers showing the minimum rate for up to seven months!
Just note that the calendar is currently acting a bit buggy. For example, the calendar header shows a minimum award price of 50,000 miles for some months, but many dates price as low as 35,000 miles in that month. So, make sure to click on the month your interested in to check prices.
Exceptions to the new rule
When checking award pricing, we found an exception with even lower pricing: Premium economy awards from Cancun to Paris are currently priced at 30,000 miles per passenger.
However, it's worth noting that Cancun is on this month's list of Flying Blue Promo Rewards. So, standard premium economy pricing on this route may be 40,000 miles each way — instead of the 35k rate found on routes between the U.S. and Europe.
Another interesting exception is between Chicago and Paris in business class, where we are seeing 52,500 miles each way. Here again, Promo Rewards may be playing a role. Chicago is one of the unadvertised Promo Rewards routes this month. This 52,500-mile rate is 25% off the old 70,000-mile price — indicating that Flying Blue might not have adjusted the rate on all routes yet.
The North African sweet spot is still available
One of our favorite Flying Blue sweet spots has always been the inclusion of some North African countries in “Europe” for the sake of awards. Would this sweet spot disappear as prices change? Luckily, the answer is “no.” From Washington, D.C. to Tunis, Tunisia, expect to pay 20k miles per person.
In premium economy, you'll pay 35,000 miles.
And you'll get the same 50k-per-person award pricing in business class.
Changes in Flying Blue Award Prices to Asia?
We wanted to see if new, lower pricing was also available on Flying Blue awards from the U.S. to Asia. However, the previous award pricing seems to still be in place:
Atlanta (ATL) to Seoul (ICN)
- 35k economy
- 55k premium economy
- 95k business class
Boston (BOS) to Tokyo (TYO)
- 35k economy
- 55k premium economy
- 95k business class
One especially quirky route is between Boston (BOS) and Hanoi (HAN). We've seen business-class award pricing drop as low as 55,000 miles each way in the past. However, that's not the case right now. Business class rates are currently 761,500 miles each way across the board.
Getting Flying Blue Miles
50,000-mile business class awards to Europe are appealing. But what if you don't have Flying Blue miles? You might be surprised by how many Flying Blue miles you have access to. That's because Flying Blue is a transfer partner of most major transferable points programs:
Related: You Can Earn Flying Blue Miles When Paying With Miles, But Don't Do It
Bottom Line
After years of a quirky, complicated award pricing scheme, Flying Blue seems to have standardized award pricing for all routes between North America and Europe. That's a mixed bag for economy and premium economy, but it's excellent news for business-class awards. You can now book Air France or KLM awards between any city in the U.S. and any destination in Europe for as few as 50,000 Flying Blue miles each way in business!
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