Flying Blue – The Ultimate Guide to The Program

Flying Blue is one of the most used frequent flyer programs across Europe. It is the frequent flyer program of the Air France-KLM Group. Let me guide you through the ins and outs of Flying Blue, its benefits and how it works.

Which Airlines Share Flying Blue as a Frequent Flyer Program?

Let's start off with the basics, which are the airlines that share Flying Blue as a frequent flyer program? Currently four airlines adopted this as their loyalty program, three are part of the Air France-KLM Group:

• Air France
• KLM
• Transavia
• Air Calin

How Do Flying Blue XP Points and Miles Work?

Now we've got to get a little technical about the quirks of Flying Blue as a frequent flyer program. As is the case with virtually every airline out there, miles and status points are no longer the same thing. Airlines, including Air France and KLM, have split miles that can be used on reward tickets with points required to unlock or maintain a status tier.

Flying Blue calls its tier points XP points. You can earn these points when flying on:

• Air France
• KLM
• Transavia
• Partner SkyTeam Airlines
• Aircalin

And of course you can only earn these points when paying for your ticket. You won't earn XP points by booking a ticket using miles. The amount of tier XP points you build up over the year will determine the tier you will fall into.

Miles on the other hand are the currency you can spend on rewards. They are easier to build up, as you can do so with credit cards, flying on Air France-KLM airlines or even on partner airlines.

In recent years though Air France-KLM have added another additional type of points, UXP (Ultimate XP) that are the only contributing factor to acquiring Ultimate Flying Blue status, the highest and most exclusive of the lot.

Which Are The Flying Blue Tiers, Access and Perks?

As we're talking about tier status in this section, all points I refer to are XP points. Flying Blue runs a 5-tier system, however, unlike Lufthansa's Miles&More entry level users have a tier assigned (Explorer). The Air France-KLM loyalty program tiers are:

• Explorer (Entry level)
• Silver – 100xp in a year
• Gold – 280xp in a year
• Platinum – 580xp in a year
• Ultimate – Unstated

As for perks and benefits, Explorer (the entry level tier) provides no advantages except for allowing you to start building up your miles (4 miles and XP point tally. As for the other higher tier statuses they unlock:

Wrapping things up in regards to the XP points accrual system you get a fixed number of XP points per trip. The number of points assigned to each flight varies depending on the travel class and, of course, the length of the flight itself. Here's the breakdown of how to gain XP points to climb up the status ladder with Flying Blue:

If you earn more XP points than necessary to reach the higher tier, the excess points will remain in your account as overflow. What that means is, if you are an Explorer and earn 120XP points, you'll be bumped up to Silver and have 20XP points already added to the account to renew your Silver status or climb up to Gold.

Does Flying Blue Have a Soft Landing System?

So let's answer what a soft landing system? If you don't reach the minimum XP points to renew your status, instead of dropping you back down to the entry level tier you will drop only by one step.

Air France-KLM's Flying Blue is one of the loyalty programs that includes such a system. For instance, if you are Gold and don't meet the number of XP points necessary to remain Gold you'll only drop down to Silver.