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As Air France’s new tiered awards begin today, it’s time to look at alternative ways to book Air France and KLM business class using points. In practice, Flying Blue is the easiest option because it offers more award availability than its partners, and you can easily accumulate Flying Blue miles through 1:1 transfers from Amex Membership Rewards (MR).
But now that the same business-class award with all its perks costs 75,000 miles instead of 60,000 miles, it’s worth looking at other programs we can use instead. After all, booking Air France or KLM business class through a partner still provides all the usual business class benefits, like two checked bags and lounge access; no “light” fares here.
Do note that Flying Blue Elite and SkyTeam Elite Plus members retain use of their status benefits on Light awards, making the downgrade less consequential. Flying Blue Platinum and Ultimate members in particular can book Light fares with minimal repercussions.
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Booking Air France or KLM business class flights through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is the best option if you can find availability. Virgin charges 48,500 or 58,500 points one-way depending on whether it’s peak season.
Virgin Atlantic miles are hard to earn for Canadians with the only transfer partner being Marriott Bonvoy. On the U.S. side, you can transfer Amex MR, Capital One, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Bilt Rewards.
Taxes and fees used to be on the high end using Virgin points, but it’s now the same as redeeming with Flying Blue since Air France/KLM increased the cash portion quite significantly on business class awards earlier this year.
Redeem Virgin Atlantic points instead of Flying Blue for AF/KLM business class
You can see that booking through Flying Blue costs a minimum of 11,500 more miles (assuming you book “Light”) even with the identical $453 in taxes/fees.
If you have access to Virgin Atlantic points, this is definitely the better way to book because you get lounge access and the flexibility to change/cancel (for a fee, but still better than Flying Blue “Light”, which allows no changes or cancellations). The same flight on Flying Blue, with all the usual inclusions, costs 75,000 miles (unless you’re an Elite member).
Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
Japan Airlines Mileage Bank is actually the best way to book Air France business class, offering the best prices and very low fuel surcharges. Admittedly, the difficulty of acquiring these miles takes some of the excitement away, with no transfer partners in Canada and only Capital One and Rove in the United States.
Still, if you can get your hands on them (probably through Rove), a one-way transatlantic business class flight costs just 42,000 miles. From Canada and the U.S., no fuel surcharges are levied ($5.60 are levied), while flights departing Europe carry a ~$150 USD fuel surcharge. Still, Japan Airlines Mileage Bank offers by far the lowest cost in both miles and cash among these programs.
Redeem JMB miles on Air France for the best rates
Another fun quirk of Japan Airlines Mileage Bank is that it prices multi-city awards, including regular roundtrips, based on the cumulative distance. As a result, Toronto–Paris–Toronto costs 80,000 miles instead of the 84,000 miles you’d pay when booking two one-way trips. You do have to call in to book Air France awards.
Other Programs
There are other programs you can use, such as Korean Air SKYPASS and Delta SkyMiles, but neither are ideal for Air France/KLM business class. Korean Air has no transfer partners in North America and Delta has a dynamic pricing model.
The same award above I found for 48,500 Flying Blue costs 495,000 (!) Delta SkyMiles.
Using SkyMiles for Air France business class is not a good deal
Takeaway
Unfortunately for Canadians, Flying Blue remains the most practical way to book Air France and KLM business class simply because it’s the only one of these programs that’s easy for us to earn. The new 75,000-mile Standard price isn’t particularly appealing, but having easy 1:1 transfers from Amex MR and access to more award space than partners still matters.
If you have access to U.S. credit cards, Virgin Atlantic is the obvious alternative when partner award space appears, with lower pricing than Flying Blue, but still the usual business class benefits. Japan Airlines Mileage Bank is even cheaper, but those miles are much harder to acquire, and you might be saving them for a Japan Airlines business class redemption instead.
