TravelingForMiles.com may receive commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on TravelingForMiles.com are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. TravelingForMiles.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers.
Some links to products and travel providers on this website will earn Traveling For Miles a commission that helps contribute to the running of the site. Traveling For Miles has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Traveling For Miles and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. For more details please see the disclosures found at the bottom of every page.
At the beginning of every month Flying Blue (the loyalty program for Air France/KLM) releases discounted mileage awards for Economy, Premium Economy and Business Class travel on Air France and KLM and the latest deals are now live.
The November 2019 Flying Blue Promo awards covering travel between 1 January 2020 and 29 February 2020 are now out and although Flying Blue appears to have taken on the seasonal role of Scrooge this time around (Promo Awards are only available in 3 regions outside of Europe this month), most readers of this blog will probably be pleased to hear that North America still features.
Remember: Bookings must be made by 30 November 2019.
Flying Blue November 2019 Promo Awards
Note: Don’t forget that Promo Awards can originate in Europe or in any of the destinations mentioned.
Africa
There are no Flying Blue Promo Awards for travel to/from Africa this month.
Asia/Middle East
There are 5 November Promo Awards available for destinations in the Middle East and Asia but only one of them is for Business Class travel.
We often see promo awards for Business Class travel to/from China being offered at 45,000 miles (+ taxes and fees) one-way so this month’s award to/from Wuhan at a cost of 67,500 miles doesn’t look like such a good deal and I wouldn’t even consider the Premium Economy deal to the same destination.
Last month’s Promo Awards offered roundtrip Business Class travel to/from Beirut for just 45,000 miles so the 36,000 miles needed for Premium Economy roundtrip travel to/from the same destination in the November Promo Awards isn’t exactly enticing.
Caribbean/Indian Ocean
There are no Flying Blue Promo Awards for travel to/from the Caribbean/Indian Ocean this month.
Latin America
This is the region that Flying Blue has called “Central/South America” in past months but sadly the change of name hasn’t really yielded a great variety of Promo Awards.
All the Promo Awards for this region are for travel to/from Quito but, while that may not appear particularly exciting, 79,000 miles (+ taxes and fees) for roundtrip Business Class travel between Europe and South America is a pretty good deal so if you can use Quito as a launching point for a South America trip (i.e book a cheap fare from Quito to wherever in South America you want to visit) this Promo Award may be quite useful.
North America
Finally, as usual, we come to the category most readers will be interested in.
This time around we have 6 Promo Awards for North America out of which 2 are for Business Class travel and 2 are for Premium Economy Travel.
The standout fare here is very clearly the Business Class Promo Award for roundtrip travel between Chicago and Europe for just 58,000 miles + taxes and fees (remember, this award works for travel originating in Europe or Chicago).
Availability for this award still looks very good (don’t just focus on the dates highlighting Promo Awards as there are other dates offering travel for 29,000 one-way with a slightly increased co-charge):
Chicago – Paris
Paris – Chicago
The total cost of this particular award will come to 58,000 miles + $521.22 (taxes will vary depending on routing)
Here’s something to bear in mind:
- Air France operates an older Airbus A330-200 between Chicago and Paris which only offers a Business Class cabin with a 2-2-2 layout
- KLM operates a much newer 787-9 between Chicago and Amsterdam with a modern Business Class cabin offering a 1-2-1 layout
- There are no Business Class Promo Awards available at 29,000 miles each way for travel between Chicago and Amsterdam (at the time of writing)
- You can book non-stop Business Class awards between Chicago and Paris for 29,000 miles each way or awards that route through Amsterdam on KLM for the same mileage cost.
It may well be worth giving up a non-stop flight between Chicago and Paris and routing through Amsterdam to give yourself a more comfortable and upscale Business Class experience.
Topping Up A Flying Blue Account
If you don’t have enough Flying Blue miles to book an award you’ve found don’t forget that Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi’s ThankYou program are all Flying Blue partners so each of those three currencies can be transferred over to Flying Blue at a ratio of 1:1.
Bottom Line
Don’t forget that these awards are already live so if you see something that interests you, I suggest booking sooner rather than later.
While there isn’t that much to get excited about this time around there Promo Award for travel between Chicago and Europe can offer a very nice deal if you’re happy to swallow the ~$500 taxes and fees that you’ll be charged.
[…] Chicago – 29,000 miles/58,000 miles (November 2019) […]