Reminder: You can currently cross the Atlantic in Business Class for 37,500 points + fees

January 4, 2024

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It has been a long time since we saw a truly great set of Promo Awards from Flying Blue (the loyalty program dedicated to KLM and Air France), but it’s worth flagging that this month, there are actually a couple of good transatlantic Business Class deals on offer.

If you’re prepared to travel in January, you can currently fly KLM or Air France Business Class between Canada and Europe for 37,500 points + taxes/fees (that’s the cost of one way travel).

With Flying Blue adding surcharges to its awards, these deals are not quite as great as they would have been had it been a North American airline publishing the offer, but with Flying Blue points relatively easy to come by (Flying Blue is a transfer partner of Amex, Capital One, Chase and Citi) these deals still represent a very cost effective way of crossing the Atlantic in relative comfort.

Example deals

These Flying Blue Business Class awards are limited to travel from Montreal or Ottawa to various cities in Europe and from the searches that I’ve performed, it looks like the best deals out of Montreal are on KLM and will require a change of aircraft in Amsterdam (unless Amsterdam is your final destination) …

a screenshot of a flight schedule a screenshot of a phone

… and that the best deals out of Ottawa are on Air France (I don’t think KLM serves Ottawa) and so will require a change of aircraft in Paris (unless Paris is your final destination):

a screenshot of a phone

For anyone wondering what you get when you book a Business Class Promo Award fare, this is what Flying Blue shows:

a screenshot of a phone

Taxes and surcharges will vary depending on the route that you choose to fly.

Two things to note

Apart from keeping an eye on the surcharges that you’re being asked to pay, there are two other things to keep in mind when considering these deals.

Firstly, the searches I performed suggest that it’s a lot easier to find these deals for travel departing Canada than it it to find them in the reverse direction. This means that you may have to be more flexible with your return date or even consider returning on a different airline using a different currency.

Do not assume that it will be easy to find roundtrip fares that match your perfect travel dates.

Secondly, while it looks like the aircraft that Air France operates out of Montreal and Ottawa all have modern Business Class cabins with 1-2-1 all-aisle-access seating, it looks like KLM is operating A330-200 and A330-300 aircraft between Canada and Amsterdam and these only appear to offer older style Business Class cabins with 2-2-2 seating.

If you have a choice, definitely book an Air France flight over a KLM flight as the Air France cabin will be significantly better.

Bottom line

This is a quick reminder that the Flying Blue Promo Awards available for travel this month include two very good Business Class deals on flights to between Europe and Montreal/Ottawa.

One-way Business class award start from 37,500 points + taxes and surcharges and availability currently looks pretty good … at least on flights traveling east.

Featured image courtesy of Chris Karidis

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