DEALS: Book USA – Europe Business Class Awards For 36,000 Miles One-Way

a close-up of a table in a plane

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Flying Blue (the loyalty program for Air France/KLM) has gone live with its “Special Edition” Promo Awards today and there are a number of incredibly good deals on offer for travelers willing to book in the next few days and fly before the end of March 2020.

The Flying Blue Special Edition Promo Awards are offing significant discounts on Business Class, Premium Economy, and Economy Class award on long-haul flights as well as discounts on short-haul Economy Class awards and this post will focus on the long-haul deals.

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Headline Info

  • Booking dates: 16 – 20 October 2020
  • Travel dates: 1 November 2019 – 31 March 2020
  • One-way and roundtrip awards are available
  • Taxes and fees will be added to all awards

The full terms and conditions can be found at the end of this post as well as on the promotion page.

Transfer Points Or Buy Miles If You’re Shy Of An Award

If you don’t already have a healthy Flying Blue balance and like one of the awards you see below you can either convert points from one of the major transferrable currencies into Flying Blue miles or you can buy miles in the current Flying Blue sale.

American Express Membership Rewards Points, Chase Ultimate Rewards points and Citi ThankYou points all convert over to Flying Blue at a ratio of 1:1 so if you’re short of miles in your Flying Blue account this may be a very good time to send some points across.

The current Flying Blue mileage sale is offering a bonus of up to 75% on purchases of up to 75,000 miles for non-elite and 100,000 miles for elites.

The cheapest rate at which miles are being sold to non-elites is €0.0157 or ~$0.0173.

Air France/KLM Amsterdam to Singapore Business Class
KLM Business Class

Flying Blue Special Edition Promo Awards

The Promo Awards you’ll see below are for travel between the cities mentioned and all European cities served by Air France and KLM.

Travel can be booked originating in Europe or it can be booked originating in one of the cities listed below so there’s a lot of scope to find a great deal here.

Roundtrip awards are double the cost of one-way awards.

Business Class Deals (One-Way + Taxes & Surcharges)

  • Mexico City – 36,000 miles
  • Nairobi – 36,000 miles
  • Seattle – 36,000 miles
  • Seychelles – 38,000 miles
  • Toronto – 32,000 miles

It’s important to factor in the additional fees before getting too excited about the deals here as a Business Class award to/from the US will attract over $500 in surcharges (it will vary according to the route)…

a screen shot of a flight schedule

…while a Business Class fare to/from Toronto will attract over $400 in additional fees:

a screen shot of a flight

If you were to buy miles in the current sale at approximately 1.73 cents each and then use them to book a Business Class award to/from Seattle, you would end up paying approximately $1,810 for roundtrip travel.

The surcharges may be high but that’s still a pretty solid deal for a West Coast – Europe Business Class deal.

The Toronto Business Class deal is cheaper (it’s a shorter journey) and comes to approximately $1,573 for roundtrip travel…and that’s an excellent deal.

a plane with seats and seats
Air France A350 Business Class

Premium Economy Deals (One-Way + Taxes & Surcharges)

  • Beijing – 30,000 miles
  • Johannesburg – 29,000 miles
  • Los Angeles – 28,000 miles
  • Mexico City – 29,000 miles
  • Nairobi – 23,000 miles
  • Seattle – 29,000 miles
  • Tokyo – 30,000 miles
  • Toronto – 25,000 miles

Just as with the Business Class deals, the Premium Economy Promo Awards will see surcharges added (although they’re not as high as the Business Class surcharges):

a screenshot of a flight schedule

56,000 miles + $365.44 isn’t a bad deal for a Premium Economy fare to/from the West Coast if you already have a stash of Flying Blue miles (or can transfer over some points) but it’s not a great deal if you’re planning to buy miles.

If you were to buy miles in the sale to book this award, roundtrip travel would cost approximately $1,334 after all costs are accounted for and it’s not that hard to find cash fares that cost less than this.

a row of seats in an airplane
Air France New A330 Premium Economy

Economy Class Deals (One-Way + Taxes & Surcharges)

  • Beijing – 18,000 miles
  • Johannesburg – 14,000 miles
  • Los Angeles – 14,000 miles
  • Mexico City – 29,000 miles
  • New York – 11,000 miles
  • Seychelles – 18,000 miles
  • Toronto – 11,000 miles

Once again it’s important to keep an eye on the taxes and surcharges that will be added to these awards as we’re living in an age of cheap air travel where cash fares can be incredibly low.

A roundtrip Economy Class award between New York and Europe costs 22,000 + surcharges of approximately $200…

a screenshot of a flight schedule…but with non-stop cash fares on the same route often available for under $350 in Basic Economy and under $450 in regular Economy Class you should be thinking twice before using miles on one of these awards.

With Economy Class fares out of Los Angeles being more expensive and with the mileage requirement and surcharges not all that much higher (6,000 more miles and ~$30 more in surcharges), Economy Class awards from the West Coast are likely to offer a better deal.

Bottom Line

The Business Class awards are probably the ones to focus on here as whether or not you already have the miles you need or if you have to buy them the deals all look very good indeed.

If you already have a healthy stash of Flying Blue Miles or if you have a transferrable currency from which you can generate Flying Blue Miles there may well be some good deals to be had amongst the Premium Economy and Economy Class awards, but pay attention to the surcharges that will be added – they can quickly turn a very good deal into a bad one.


General Conditions (Per Flying Blue)

  • Promo reward tickets must be booked via www.airfrance.com or www.klm.com (except for bookings for minors travelling alone or when travelling with an infant under the age of 2, in these cases bookings must be made by calling customer service).
  • Promo reward tickets cannot be modified, cancelled or refunded.
  • Promo reward tickets are subject to the operating airline’s general conditions of carriage.
  • Promo reward tickets are available for one-way and round-trip tickets paid with Miles (Promo reward tickets are not available for purchase with Miles & Cash).
  • Promo reward tickets are subject to availability.
  • Promo reward tickets for medium- and short-haul flights depart from or arrive in Paris or Amsterdam.
  • Promo reward tickets for long haul-flights depart from or arrive in Europe, as defined by IATA as the following countries: Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Austria, Balearic Islands, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, West Russia.

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