Award tickets on Air France and KLM are about to look much more like money tickets. Beginning September 8, 2026, Air France KLM Flying Blue will promote each award by itself flights in certainly one of three fares named Mild, Normal, and Flex.
The quick reply is that the value flooring survives. The most cost effective award merely turns into the Mild fare, with Normal and Flex stacked above it for extra miles.
The longer reply relies on whether or not you maintain elite standing. Elites preserve every little thing they’ve right this moment, whereas everybody else will discover the most affordable fare consists of lower than it used to.
How the Three New Award Fares Work
If you happen to’ve purchased a money ticket on Air France or KLM currently, you’ve got seen this menu earlier than. Flying Blue is borrowing the identical Mild, Normal, and Flex construction for its reward tickets, leaving out solely the Fundamental fare.
Promoting awards in bundles can be a part of a wider trade shift. Emirates Skywards has supplied Saver and Flex award fares for years, and Qantas layered Traditional Plus rewards onto its Traditional awards in 2024, so loyalty packages are steadily borrowing the merchandising playbook from the money facet of the enterprise.
The brand new setup covers each cabin besides La Première on flights operated and marketed by Air France or KLM. Associate awards aren’t altering in any respect, and a reserving that mixes Air France or KLM flights with a associate flight will solely provide the Normal fare.
Something ticketed earlier than September 8 retains its unique situations, even should you change the reserving later.
For members with out standing, the variations come right down to baggage and suppleness.
| Mild | Normal | Flex | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Checked baggage | None in economic system and Premium; one in enterprise | One in economic system; two in Premium and enterprise | One in economic system; two in Premium and enterprise |
| Modifications | Not permitted | €70 price | Free |
| Refunds | Not permitted | €70 price | Free |
| Advance seat choice | Further value | Further value | Included |
| Lounge entry | Further value | Included in enterprise solely | Included in enterprise solely |
Checked baggage are 23 kg every in economic system and Premium, and 32 kg in enterprise class. Enterprise Mild comes with one bag as a substitute of two, and it solely exhibits up within the O and Z fare courses.
Refunds on Normal and Flex require cancelling earlier than the primary flight of your journey, with miles redeposited totally free on Flex or for €70 on Normal. Something a fare leaves out, like an additional bag or a seat, can nonetheless be added for a price.
Another quirk is price noting. Fare manufacturers cannot be blended in a single reserving, aside from throughout cabins throughout the identical model, so an Economic system Mild can sit subsequent to a Enterprise Mild, however not subsequent to a Enterprise Flex.
The Lowest Award Will Include Much less
As we speak, a Flying Blue award comes a method, with one algorithm. Even with out standing, the lowest-priced economic system award features a 23 kg checked bag, and you’ll change or refund the ticket for €70.
From September 8, that very same value level turns into the Mild fare. Guide it with out standing, and the checked bag disappears together with any capacity to vary or cancel.
Getting right this moment’s situations again means stepping as much as Normal, which runs 3,000 miles extra on this route. That is the quiet value of this alteration. The value flooring holds, however it covers lower than earlier than.
What the New Fares Value
Nothing modifications with availability or the variety of award seats launched. Within the Berlin to Barcelona instance above, Mild costs at 10,000 miles, Normal at 13,000 miles, and Flex at 17,000 miles, every with US$70 in taxes and costs.
The gaps widen on long-haul flights. As we speak, a Paris to New York enterprise class award books as a single fare at 60,000 miles, with two 32 kg checked baggage included and €70 modifications and refunds.
From September 8, that award splits 3 ways, and the identical pricing applies from Canada.
Flex stands out right here. It prices 50,000 extra miles than Mild, but its money portion is about US$306 decrease.
That is a primary for Flying Blue. On Flex fares, a part of the provider surcharges convert into miles, so the ticket attracts extra out of your steadiness and fewer out of your pockets. The taxes that stay should legally be paid in money.
Run the numbers with our valuation of two.0 cents (CAD) per Flying Blue mile, and the ladder will get clearer. Normal’s additional 15,000 miles carry about $300 (CAD) in worth, which buys the second checked bag and the choice to vary or refund for €70.
Flex is a more durable promote on math alone. Its additional 35,000 miles over Normal are price roughly $700 (CAD) towards a money saving of about US$306, so that you’re successfully spending miles at beneath 1 US cent every to shed the surcharges, properly beneath what we expect they’re price. The improve earns its preserve provided that you are wealthy in miles and quick on money, or if free modifications and refunds carry actual weight on your plans.
If you happen to’re sitting on an enormous steadiness, our information to one of the best methods to redeem 60,000 or extra Flying Blue miles exhibits the place they stretch furthest.
Elite Standing Is About to Get Extra Helpful
Standing is the protect on this system. No matter fare you ebook, your elite advantages comply with you and override its restrictions.
In follow, every tier retains what it already has, irrespective of how low cost the fare.
- Platinum and Final: nothing modifications. Even a Mild fare comes with baggage, free modifications, and free refunds.
- Gold: most advantages keep in place on a Mild fare.
- Silver: the checked baggage allowance stays.
SkyTeam standing from different airways counts too. Flying Blue treats SkyTeam Elite Plus, the extent tied to its personal Gold tier, on the Gold customary, so an Elite Plus member from Delta, Kenya Airways, or Vietnam Airways Lotusmiles retains most advantages on any award fare flown on Air France or KLM. SkyTeam Elite strains up with Silver and preserves the checked bag.
Full immunity from the fare guidelines begins at Flying Blue’s personal Platinum tier, and you’ll see how the tiers ladder up in our Flying Blue elite standing information.
That layering is deliberate. Flying Blue’s personal announcement describes the brand new construction as a strategy to additional differentiate the worth of standing advantages, and the smoothest journey belongs to its personal Platinum and Final members, one step above what associate elites can attain.
Co-brand bank card perks survive as properly. A card that comes with a checked bag allowance retains that bag on a Mild fare.
Change and refund charges are a part of the identical story, and Platinum and Final members are imagined to have them waived outright, making Mild and Normal functionally equivalent on the high tiers. The screenshot above nonetheless exhibits a €70 price on Normal even within the Final view, and we have requested Flying Blue to make clear whether or not that is a show error. We’ll replace this text as soon as we hear again.
What Flying Blue Is Actually Doing Right here
Members with standing land on the correct facet of this alteration. If something, elites come out barely forward, and Flying Blue clearly constructed the construction round defending them.
For everybody else, one thing actual does go away. The headline value did not transfer, however recreating right this moment’s situations means paying up for Normal, a niche of three,000 miles on our Berlin instance and one that can differ by route. Evaluate that with the North American behavior of merely repricing awards upward, and it lands gently.
It will’ve been simple to reply rising prices the way in which a number of North American packages did, by going absolutely dynamic. Flying Blue went the opposite approach, conserving a broadcast flooring and the award charts it introduced again a number of years in the past.
The context is a program serving two very completely different markets. Flying Blue’s core clients are in Europe, the place salaries run decrease, playing cards earn much less, and miles construct way more slowly than they do on this facet of the Atlantic.
Most of its members merely cannot earn miles at something near the tempo of the North Individuals who fill its planes within the different course.
Splitting the fares is how these two markets coexist. Travellers who need the extras pays for them in miles, whereas the entry value stays put for members who rely each mile. North Individuals arriving with deep transferable factors balances should purchase as much as Normal or Flex, and no one else is pressured to comply with them.
It additionally explains the place Flying Blue stands subsequent to its American friends. This system has proven no urge for food for the pricing arms race enjoying out in North America, and this construction reads like its approach of opting out.
For Canadians, American Categorical Membership Rewards stays the one switch route into Flying Blue, after the improve to a 1:1 switch fee in January 2026. Every fare might be weighed straight towards the MR factors it takes, and the month-to-month Promo Rewards can even transfer into the branded fare construction. I cowl these offers each month, and the Mild value will keep the quantity to look at.
There’s another excuse this lands softly in Canada. We have usually beneficial reserving associate airways with Flying Blue miles quite than Air France and KLM’s personal flights, since surcharges on their steel usually run a number of hundred {dollars} whereas most companions keep beneath $100 (CAD). Associate awards don’t get branded fares, in order that playbook would not change.
If you happen to do fly Air France or KLM recurrently, the calculus shifts towards incomes standing. SkyTeam Elite Plus from any member airline unlocks the Gold-level protections right here, and the Kenya Airways standing match and Vietnam Airways Lotusmiles match are two shortcuts we have coated for getting there with out flying your approach up.
