Flying Blue also pampers top tiers on Transavia: lounge, fast track and "premium line" (while Avios world cuts)
Flying Blue is making it clear that Platinum and Ultimate are customers to be retained at all costs, even if the operative changes its skin.
SkyTeam
There is an interesting sign coming from the Flying Blue household: while there has been an air of "disappearing benefits" in the Vueling/Avios orbit in recent months (devaluations, more money to put on the table, harsher conditions), the opposite happens here: the bar of reception is raised even when flying low cost.
In this article:
The news concerns Transavia (Air France-KLM group) and applies to customers Platinum and Ultimate: from the March 29, 2026 come "network carrier" advantages on some key routes and airports, with an obvious focus on Paris-Orly Airport.
What changes for Platinum and Ultimate when you fly Transavia
Free lounges (yes, lounges) on selected airports
From March 29, 2026 the Platinum and Ultimate will have free access to partner lounges In:
- Nice Côte d'Azur Airport
- Toulouse-Blagnac Airport
- Marseille Provence Airport
- Montpellier-Méditerranée Airport
And then there is the "popcorn" piece: Transavia will open its first dedicated lounge at Orly (indicated for the spring 2026) with free access For Platinum and Ultimate.
Also from the March 29, 2026, for Platinum and Ultimate: dedicated check-in and baggage drop area + fast track at security checkpoints (the part that, in the real world, changes your day).
In case of operational irregularities, comes a higher priority in reprotection and a dedicated telephone line ("Premium line") to handle rebooking and problems, with extended hours.
An extra for Ultimate
The Ultimate, in addition, also get priority boarding e a free cabin bag (as reported in communications and news summaries).
Put lounge + fast track + dedicated lanes inside a low-cost model seems counterintuitive. But the point here is not to turn Transavia into a business airline: it is protect Flying Blue's "high" clientele while some French domestic and point-to-point routes are operated from Orly under the low-cost brand.
Translated into Barbone: if you move my flight to a low-cost one, at least don't take away the quality of the experience on the ground. And indeed the direction is very clear: you don't lose status experience just because the number on the queue is Transavia.
The comparison that makes noise: Vueling/Avios/IAG tightens, Flying Blue widens
In the British Airways world (which is one of the Avios pillars) we have seen the opposite in recent months:
- Increased costs in Avios e higher cash charges On reward tickets, with changes taking effect from the December 15, 2025.
- A rethinking (as early as April 2025) of the program-renamed "The British Airways Club"-with a more "spend-based" logic that, for many, means most expensive status And less "attainable by flying well."
- Recently we have also seen changing the rules for avios accumulations with flights of Vueling
This is the point of the confrontation: While Avios/IAG gives the impression of increasingly monetizing loyalty, Flying Blue is doing something that seems trivial But it is not: Putting concrete benefits where it hurts the most today, that is, in the part of the trip that was in danger of becoming "low cost even for top tier people."
In conclusion
This news about Transavia is a strong signal: Flying Blue chooses to improve reception of its top tiers even on a low-cost carrier, with benefits that really impact (lounge, fast track, rebooking). And in the current landscape-where in the Avios world the most frequent word is "increase" and not "advantage"-it makes even more noise.
Whether then the Orly lounge will be "no-frills" or a pleasant surprise we will soon find out. But the direction, for once, is the right one: less cuts, more care.
