Tag Archives for air france klm.
Ben Lipsey, head of Air France KLM Flying Blue who got his start in the airline industry by messaging Air Canada’s President on FlyerTalk to score an internship when he was 20 years old and eventually moved over with Ben Smith when he became CEO of Air France KLM, gave an interview where he talked about the importance of the program’s value proposition for Americans.
I still see Flying Blue as the most useful SkyTeam program, with better award availability on Air France and KLM for their own members than is offered to partners and mostly reasonable pricing when saver inventory is available. The addition of free stopovers on one way awards is great, and modest pricing and region adjustments are things most will be able to live with.
Some programs offer ‘saver awards only’. Award space is available or it isn’t. You get a ‘decent’ price, or no option to book at all.
Other programs offer last seat availability, or access to most seats for points. But when fares are exorbitant, the algorithms can lead to some absurd results, like over a million miles for a one-way flight on peak travel days. That makes the program look bad, and even if members like “last seat availability” offering these seats costs too much to the program’s reputation.
80,000 miles for Delta travel between New York and Austin. How about 90,000 miles? Those aren’t saver award prices, but they’re now being charged by Air France KLM’s Flying Blue.
The Bank of America-issued U.S. credit card for Air France KLM Flying Blue has an offer that’s better than any I’ve seen before. And it’s interesting for more than just the bonus miles. It opens up elite status and potentially first class awards, too.
Paris – Houston at the saver level should run 49,500 miles but if you’re starting or ending beyond Paris with a European connection that price can go even lower. I’ve had great luck booking this flight, in fact I even took it myself in March (as a booking for 3 passengers in business).
Last year Air France KLM received $12.3 billion in government aid. Now the government of France will provide a new $4.7 billion in support, while the Dutch government is in talks with European regulators over an additional $1.18 billion.
The new aid to Air France is “a state-backed recapitalization,” converting loans from the government into “bonds with no maturity” along with additional capital through the issuance of new shares.
While there’s no doubt that airlines are struggling in the face of a sudden evaporation of demand for their product, what’s especially striking about this moment is the success airlines are having at the political game given that public health concerns might take budgetary priority – such as prioritizing funds for hospital beds, protective equipment, ventilators (which don’t appear to do much good) but just as importantly for treatments and ultimately vaccine research.
I like business class awards at a discount, and 50% off premium economy can be useful. However 25% off premium economy from Seattle is only moderately useful and really only if you’re based in Seattle. 25% off economy redemptions aren’t great since you do pay some carrier-imposed surcharges. I need to see at least 50% off economy to suggest the awards as worth pursuing.
Air France KLM makes great award availability to members using their Flying Blue miles (more than what’s offered to partner airlines). Fortunately all the major bank currencies transfer to Air France KLM Flying Blue.
This space is useful if you want to connect anywhere in Europe, travel onward to the Mideast or India or even Southeast Asia (115k miles from the US East Coast).
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
