Six reasons + 1 why Flying Blue is (to date) the best loyalty program for Italian travelers

I have written numerous articles on TFC for Explain rules, features and secrets Of the various loyalty programs accessible to Italian travelers, both frequent and occasional travelers. Today I want to focus on Air France and KLM's loyalty program. and explain why in view of the "departure" of ITA Airways from the Skyteam alliance, the choice to focus on Flying Blue is undoubtedly the best move for those who want to remain in this alliance.

Foreword. AF and KLM fly to almost every airport in Italy, in some cases they have both flown several times a day. The hubs of Paris and Amsterdam are typical destinations for Italian travelers, and Delta, a Skyteam partner, has in JFK a very important hub for Italian passengers bound for the US.

#1 Points do not expire (almost never)

You don't have to be a thermonuclear engineer to understand that if the points do not expire you will have more time to accumulate and use them. Unlike what happens with point collections in Italy, which cannot last longer than 36 months, the FB program has no set time limit and points can remain in the account for decades, of course if you know the rules.

• If you have the status, even the lowest rung, in the flying blue program you postpone the expiration of points indefinitely.
• If you do not have the status it is possible to renew the validity of points by making one flight every 24 months, including aboard the low-cost Transavia or any of the companies participating in the Skyteam training.

#2 You can join the dots in the family.

Not all loyalty programs allow you to "merge" points from multiple accounts. The Flying Blue program, on the other hand, last year launched Flying Blue Family an option that allows two adults and 3 minors to merge their profiles and transfer points to a "main" account. But the benefits are even greater.

First among them minor's miles never expire: It doesn't matter if you make one flight a year or fly twice in 14 years. All minors can have a personal account and accumulate points and XP, so also have status like adults. The status will have the same cycle as an adult account, while points never expire until they reach the age of majority.

Last but not least, when redeeming an award ticket for a minor you will get a discount on the number of points required To reserve an award ticket.

#3 Flying Blue offers

Every first of the month the monthly offers come out that allow you to redeem award tickets at a discount between 25% and 50% of the normally required points. In addition to these offers, the FB program makes plenty of tickets available on all flights and in all classes. Although you need lots of points and Platinum status to book La Premiere.

Even when not on offer, the FB points required for a ticket from Italy to NY, for example, start at 11,250 miles. And a business class always to the United States costs an average of 55k FB miles.

#4 Rollover points and controlled status decreases.

One of the features I like most about the FB program is the Ways of obtaining status. We have devoted several articles to explaining how XP points work and how they accumulate. The rollover functionality allows a user, who for some reason in a given period travels a lot, even more than the points needed to obtain/renew status, not to lose the excess points, but to keep them for the following year(s).

On the contrary, if one year, for whatever reason, you don't fly at all, you won't suddenly lose your level by starting from scratch, but you will go down one step a year. In practice, a Platinum user has the option of using all his excess XP points, and then in the event of non-accumulation drop down to Gold the following year, whereas almost all other programs reset the card and force the traveler to start from scratch.

#5 So many partners on the Italian territory to accumulate free points

Of course you can accumulate points by flying, but there are dozens of other ways to accumulate points for free such as: stays at Accor hotels, shopping at outlets, renting cars with Avis and Budget, and using chauffeur-driven car services such as Limolane.

All of these modes are free of charge to the traveler, that is, they allow you to accumulate extra points by simply linking your FB profile or entering your loyalty card on the relevant account.

#6 New cabins on board both carriers.

A restyling and a major upgrade of Air France and KLM cabins.. Both companies are installing new business class cabins, real suites. KLM has also begun to install premium economy on board its aircraft and , After trying it, we can say that for the first time it is worth the price of the ticket.

Dulcis in fundo, also the Cabin of La Premiere soon to be renovated To bring back the one that is undoubtedly The best First Class experience aboard an airplane in the world.

#+1 Two credit cards to accumulate FB points every day

The FB program is one of the few in Italy that has two credit cards that allow you to accumulate points with everyday spending.

The most popular are the American Express credit cards: every euro spent allows you to accumulate Membership Rewards points, points that in turn can be sent free and unlimited toward your FB account.

The second card is called Mooncard and is dedicated exclusively to VAT holders. This card is the one that allows the most generous accumulation of points per euro spent. If Amex turns 1 euro into 0.66 FB points, with Mooncard you can accumulate up to 1.5 Fb miles for every euro spent, more than twice as much as with Amex.

In conclusion

If you are considering which Skyteam loyalty program to focus on, it is undoubtedly a smart choice to focus on Flying Blue and if you were still not convinced I invite you to watch the video where I explain how I flew to NY in premium economy with KLM With only 22,500 FB points.

• Flying Blue