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Flying Blue is running another mileage sale and the program appears to be keeping with its recent policy of offering a bonus of up to 100%. Before last year, the better points sales that we saw Flying Blue running only offered bonuses of up to 75% so this continues to be a good time to buy Flying Blue miles if you have an economical use for them.
It should be noted that Flying Blue miles can also be generated by transfers from all three big US credit card programs (Membership Rewards, Ultimate Rewards, and Citi’s ThankYou program) but when you see the price you can buy miles at in this sale, a transfer may not appear too tempting.
Key info
- Sale runs through 23:59 CET+1 on 27 February 2022- 8,000
- A maximum bonus of 100% is on offer
- Elite members can receive a maximum bonus of 300,000 miles*
- Non-elites can receive a maximum bonus of 100,000 miles
*This appears to be a new cap
Full terms and conditions can be found on the sale page.
Click To Buy Flying Blue Miles
The sale
It’s unclear if this promotion is targeted so if it is, you may see a slightly different version to the sale that my account is showing. This is what I’ve been offered.
- Buy 2,000 – 8,000 miles and get a 50% bonus
- Buy 10,000 – 18,000 miles and get a 70% bonus
- Buy 20,000 – 100,000 miles and get a 100% bonus
Link to sale page.
The numbers
Apart from the huge bonus that’s on offer, there’s one other great aspect of this sale – you can buy miles at the same great cost/mile regardless of whether you’re buying 20,000 miles (the smallest amount that triggers the 100% bonus) or if you’re buying 100,000 miles (the highest amount non-elites can buy):
Buying any number of miles between 20,000 and 100,000 will see a Flying Blue member paying 1.375 Euro Cents/mile or ~ 1.56 US cents/mile.
Is this a good deal?
As always, no one should be buying miles without a plan for how they’re going to be used in the near to medium term (that advice applies all the time and not just during a pandemic) but, if you can find awards that work for you, you’re unlikely to be able to buy Flying Blue miles any cheaper then this in the near future.
It’s also worth pointing out two further things:
- This may be an identical promotion to the one we saw running for a few days at the end of October but because the Euro has fallen against the dollar, this promotion is better. A month ago Flying Blue miles cost ~1.6 cents each while in this sale they can be picked up for ~1.56 cents each.
- Quite a few people value some of the transferable currencies that can be converted to Flying Blue Miles (e.g. Amex Membership Rewards Points) at more than what Flying Blue Miles are being sold for in this sale so, if you’re one of those people and you were considering a points transfer to Flying Blue, it may be a good idea to think again.
Flying Blue employs dynamic award pricing (which can work in a traveler’s favor when cash prices are low) and it loves to add surcharges to its awards which have to be taken into account. Ordinarily, Flying Blue Promo awards offer the best opportunity to extract maximum value out of any Flying Blue miles purchased in a sale like this one, but for now, there are only a very limited number of Promo Awards on offer and, frankly, they’re not very good.
Personally speaking, I think that 1.56 cents/mile represents a very good level at which to buy Flying Blue miles, but, again, I cannot stress enough how this will only ever be a great deal if you can be sure to use the miles in the short term.
If you’re looking to travel now (or soon) and can see that awards are available to book for cabins and dates that suit you, do the math (don’t forget to include any surcharges) and, if the math works in your favor, buy as many miles as you need because they’re unlikely to get any cheaper any time soon.
Click To Buy Flying Blue Miles
Use the right credit card
Flying Blue mileage sales are processed by Points.com so that eliminates the scope to earn a travel/flight/airline bonus by using a credit card that offers bonus points for shopping in one of those categories (e.g. card_name – terms apply). With that option closed off, this makes this sale a good opportunity to use a credit card on which you’re working towards a strong welcome bonus (like this one).
If you’re not working towards a card’s welcome bonus, the Citi® Double Cash Card which offers 2% cash back on all purchases would be one of the better options to use.
Bottom line
Do your due diligence and you won’t go far wrong in this sale.
- Check that awards are actually available on the route you’d like to fly and on dates you can fly.
- Check how many miles you need
- Check what taxes and surcharges Flying Blue will impose on the award booking
- Work out the actual full cost of buying miles and booking the award.
Only if the deal still looks good after all of the above should you buy Flying Blue Miles in this sale…otherwise just move on.
Lastly, don’t forget to check what entry restrictions are in place for whatever destination you’d like to visit. A lot of destinations still require you to be able to show proof of a negative Covid test taken before departure and some may even require you to self-isolate, so don’t go booking any trips before you’ve done your research.
