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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 October 2019 Flying Blue Promo awards cover travel between 1 December 2019 and 31 January 2020 (a very popular time to travel) and although there’s a noticeable shortage of premium cabin options for the second month in a row, there are still a few attractive deals for travel (in either direction) between North America and Europe.
Remember: Bookings must be made by 31 October 2019.
Flying Blue October 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 4 October promo Awards available for destinations in the Middle East and Asia split equally between the two regions.
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 cost of 67,500 miles doesn’t look like such a good deal.
Interestingly, the two better value promo awards in this section are for travel to destinations that aren’t actually all that far away (from Europe) as 45,000 miles for roundtrip Business Class travel to Beirut and Amman looks pretty good to me.
Air France operates an Airbus A320 between Paris and Amman (so the Business Class cabin will be a standard short-haul cabin), but it operates a 777-300ER complete with all-aisle-access lie-flat Business Class seats on its route to/from Beirut and that is a great product to get for just 22,500 miles (+ taxes/fees) each way.
Caribbean/Indian Ocean
There were no promp awards for the Indian Ocean or the Caribbean last month and things aren’t all that much improved this time around.
I had to check where Antananarivo was the first time I noticed this destination appear in a promo awards list (it’s in Madagascar) and Flying Blue offered this very same promo award 12 months ago in its December 2018 list.
As I said then, Madagascar is a long flight from Europe so, while 66,000 miles roundtio may not seem like a great deal, this could be worth it for a bit more comfort (over Economy Class) on such a long flight.
Central/South America
There are no Flying Blue Promo Awards for travel to/from Central or South America this month.
North America
Finally, as usual, we come to the category most readers will be interested in and although there are 7 promo awards for North America this time around only 4 are for premium cabin travel.
The Premium Economy award to/from Chicago O’Hare may be useful for any readers based in Chicago but the Business Class offers to/from Canada are the standout deals in this month’s list.
Firstly, at the time of writing, availability for the Business Class Promo Awards to/from Canada is not all that to find – here’s what late December/January looks like for travel from Montreal to Paris:
Secondly, you can use Flying Blue’s strange costing methodology to fly to Europe from some of these North American cities for even fewer miles than is being advertised.
For example…
You can fly Business Class between Calgary and London for just 39,750 miles even though the promo award (which is for travel to/from Paris and Amsterdam) suggests a cost of 45,375 miles.
All flights to cities outside of Paris and Amsterdam will require a change of aircraft in either Paris or Amsterdam and, if possible, the routing to choose is the one on which the aircraft offers an all-aisle-access Business Class cabin….like on the Air France 777’s:
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 much to excite travelers looking to head to Asia, Africa or the Caribbean it’s possible to get some very good deals for travel across the Atlantic in time for the holidays….just make sure you keep an eye on the taxes and fees you’re being asked to pay as they can quickly add up.
