Every month, on the first weekday of the month, Air France/KLM releases its Flying Blue Promo Rewards. These promo rewards offer some of the best ways to use your miles and transferable points to get between Europe and the United States. This month’s deals include flights in economy from several U.S. gateways, making it a great time to plan your summer vacation if you want to go to Europe using a Flying Blue Promo award.
This month, you can get coach one-way flights as low as 15,000 Flying Blue miles from Austin, Los Angeles, Quebec, and my hometown, Minneapolis. If you’re in any one of these locations, now is a great time to plan your summer vacation. Here are the details.
Flying Blue promo awards for May 2024
Here are the destinations from the U.S. and Canada where Flying Blue has published promo awards this month. Additional promo awards to and from international destinations or within Europe can be found on the Flying Blue Promo Award site. All prices listed are promotional prices between the listed cities and Europe.
| City | Economy | Premium Economy | Business Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austin to Europe (via Amsterdam on KLM) | 15,000 miles | ||
| Los Angeles to Europe (via Paris on Air France) | 15,000 miles | ||
| Minneapolis to Europe (via Amsterdam on KLM) | 15,000 miles | ||
| Quebec to Europe (via Paris on Air France) | 15,000 miles |
We update this post monthly and whenever we find any additional promo award availability. Unadvertised promo fares that we find are in boldface.
What are Flying Blue promo rewards?
Each month, Flying Blue releases its promo rewards. These are discounts of between 25-50% on economy and business class tickets between Europe and the program’s featured reward destinations. Flying Blue no longer has an award chart, so the price you pay varies. But this discount means that you can fly to Europe for a minimal amount of points.
In late 2023, Flying Blue has lowered its price for saver-level award spaces and harmonized prices throughout the United States. This is great news and it makes Flying Blue miles more usable. Previously, it would cost you more to fly between Europe and the west coast than it would between Europe and the East Coast. Now, you can get from the U.S. to Europe in economy class from 20,000 miles, premium economy from 35,000 miles, and business class from 50,000 miles each way.
| Economy | Premium Comfort Class (Premium Economy) | Business Class | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Between U.S. and Europe | 20,000 miles | 35,000 miles | 50,000 miles |
I love Flying Blue miles. First, Flying Blue miles are some of the easiest to get, as they are transfer partners with Membership Rewards, Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Points, and Capital One Miles. The program is relatively easy to use as awards are bookable on the website. And they offer both opportunities to fly in business class to Europe and super cheap flights to Europe in coach.
Flying Blue program highlights
Flying Blue is the loyalty program of Air France and KLM. I’ve found the best use of Flying Blue to be award tickets between the United States and Europe. The program offers what are probably the cheapest tickets available between the United States and Europe through its monthly promo rewards. Flying Blue is easy to use, but charges a moderate amount of taxes and fees on business class awards. It also is a transfer partner of every major transferable point currency. For most people, Flying Blue is a program that is worth learning to use.
Positives
- Very cheap award tickets to Europe when using Flying Blue promo rewards
- Website is usable; awards are bookable online
Negatives
- Taxes/Fees charged are moderately high. Expect to pay ~$100 in taxes each way on economy awards and ~$250 in taxes each way on business class awards.
- Award change fees cost €50 to change or cancel
- Flying Blue miles expire after 2 years of inactivity
How to search for Air France/KLM Promo Rewards
The best way to start your search for Air France/KLM Flying Blue promo rewards is to start on the desktop version of the Air France or KLM website. You’ll need to log in with your Flying Blue account to search for award tickets. Flying Blue is free to join, so simply create a new account if you don’t already have one.
You’ll search for Air France/KLM Promo Rewards in three steps:
- Search on either site to find award availability for your flights, for each direction of your journey, if possible.
- Once you have found award availability, price your complete journey using both the Air France and KLM websites.
- When you are ready to book, transfer your points and book your award ticket
Search for each way separately
Air France/KLM doesn’t show additional award availability or favorable pricing for round-trip itineraries, so it is best to search for a round-trip award using one-way searches. Here’s how you perform each search.
Of the Air France or KLM website, click “Book with Miles” on the booking panel and search for one-way awards. Enter your origin and destination, but leave your departure date blank.
You’ll get a calendar showing the lowest fares (in terms of miles) on a calendar display. If you are searching from or to a promo rewards destination, the fares that are subject to lower promotional pricing will be highlighted in a contrasting color. Click on any date to see the flight options.
While the calendar may give you a good idea about flight availability, the displayed calendar may be slightly inaccurate. If the expected pricing isn’t available on the date you select, look one day ahead or behind of your selected date. You’re likely to find the pricing you expect within one day of the date displayed on the calendar.
You’ll then select the flight that you want. Note that taxes and fees can vary a bit between the Air France and KLM websites, so be sure to check both if you’re searching for an award.
Once you have found an outbound flight that works for you, repeat the process and search for your return flight.
Booking round trip awards with Air France/KLM
If you want to book a round trip with Flying Blue miles, your best bet is to search for your outbound and return flights separately as one-way trips. But when you actually book then, book them as a round trip. You’ll save money on taxes/fees and it will be much easier to negotiate schedule changes or service cancelations.
Here’s an example of how you’ll save on fees. Let’s say we wanted to take a quick trip to Copenhagen from Chicago in business class. Here’s what I found for flights when I searched them as one-way trips:
The outbound flight:
And the return flight:
But when I priced them together as a complete journey, I saved slightly on the taxes.
Of course, there can be good reasons to book your outbound and return trips separately. Maybe you’re traveling in business class in one direction, but economy in the other. Maybe you’re flying into one city and out of another. But for simple round trips, your best bet is to book a combined itinerary.
Final step: Transfer your miles and book your award
The final step is to transfer miles from your transferable points programs and book your award tickets. Whether you’re collecting Membership Rewards, Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Points, or Capital One Miles, transfers are simple and usually happen instantly. See our guide to each program for how to transfer miles to partner airlines.