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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. These “Promo Awards” are advertised as offering “up to 50% off” award travel but, while some awards may be discounted by 50%, generally speaking we’re more used to seeing discounts of between 20 and 25% on the awards most of us would like to book.
Well, we’re at the beginning of a new month so the December 2018 Flying Blue Promo awards have now been published and they cover travel between 1 February and 31 March 2019.
Bookings must be made by 31 December 2018.
Flying Blue December 2018 Promo Awards
As usual I’m going to concentrate on the long-haul awards and this time around there are a few that look interesting:
- 8 Business Class Promo Awards
- 6 premium Economy Promo Awards
North America Promo Awards
The good news is that there are 5 Promo Awards covering North America this time around and all are for Business Class travel.
Canada is very well represented…..
….the US gets one Promo award this time….
….and Mexico City is the fifth award on offer:
Here’s what all of that means in practice from a cost point of view:
The Edmonton to Europe Business Class itinerary for 61,000 miles roundtrip is fantastic value as is the Mexico City to Europe award for just 65,000 miles roundtrip….and these fares are easily achievable.
Not only are these promo awards not all that hard to find (at the time of writing)….
…..but they’re also not that hard to book courtesy of the three major US credit card currencies.
Amex Membership Rewards Points, Chase Ultimate Rewards Points and Citi ThankYou points all convert over to Flying Blue in a 1:1 ratio so, effectively, you need just 61,000 points between all three of those currencies to book the cheapest of the latest North America Promo Awards.
Asia/Middle East Promo Awards
The Asia/Middle East December Promo Awards are a mixture of Business Class and Premium Economy offers….
…but the Business Class offers are restricted to the Middle East.
I can’t see anything to get particularly excited about here although, if you were already planning to visit any of these destinations, the discounts of up to 50% (Beirut) should make travel considerably cheaper.
Caribbean/Indian Ocean Promo Awards
It’s winter season and a time when a lot of people are looking to escape the northern hemisphere winter so it’s not all that surprising to only find one premium cabin Promo Award for travel between the Europe and these regions…..and it’s not even for Business Class or for the Caribbean.
Antananarivo was I place I’d never heard of before I saw these Promo Awards so, for anyone else wondering where it is, here’s a map:
That’s a long way to travel so the 50% discount on Premium Economy awards may well be useful if you’re heading to the Indian Ocean.
Africa Promo Awards
There are just two premium cabin Africa Promo award this time around and both are for Premium Economy travel.
Abidjan is in the Ivory Coast while Dakar is on the westernmost point of Senegal and I can’t believe that either of these awards will be on any use to someone reading this blog 🙂
Bottom Line
If you’re looking to travel between North American and Europe there are some very tempting Promo Awards available this time around and, if you see something that interests you, I suggest booking sooner rather than later – I expect availability to dwindle quickly.
Outside of the North America awards the premium cabin pickings are scant to non-existent and if you weren’t already planning a visit to one of the locations on offer I doubt these deals will have you rushing to book.
If you’re based in the US and you’re short of miles don’t forget that you can transfer points to Flying Blue from all three major credit card currencies. If you’re also short of credit card points to transfer then there may be a good signup bonus available that will help you on your way.
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