Deal has expired, view July’s discounted flights here.
The Offer
- Every month Flying Blue (AirFrance & KLM) offer discounted award flights. This month they are offering 50% off economy flights from Chicago O’hare or 25% off from San Francisco
The Fine Print
- Valid on flights from August 1st until September 30th, 2018
- Must book by June 30th, 2018
Our Verdict
Flying Blue just moved award from an award chart to a more complicated system. It looks like Israel and Morocco no longer price as part of Europe, so that loophole is now gone.  You can transfer points into the Flying Blue program from:
- Chase Ultimate Rewards
- American Express Membership Rewards (25% transfer bonus currently)
- SPG Points
- Citi ThankYou Points
- Diners Club
Flights from ORD to Europe start at 21,500 one way without this promo, with it they drop to 10,750. Flights from SFO aren’t quite as good with only the 25% discount but still useful. The main issue is the taxes & fees you’ll be charged (like $230 round trip).
Hat tip to TPG
Only discount is in economy right? :/
I see many flight to Israel for 29k, still amazing redemption, it’s up 4K only
Yeah, the problem is more that TLV no longer counts as Europe for these 50% off sales.
Does the 50% off apply after the initial amount? So if I see 25k is that what I’m paying, or is the 50% off applied after? (won’t let me go ahead without miles in my bank, don’t want to transfer from UR before I know what I’m redeeming for). ..
Not 100% sure sorry
I see lots of flight to TLV from ORD and Mia for 29k, still not bad, used to be 25k economy.
How can you tell if you are getting a promo flight? I searched for ord-cun and economy shows 30,500, while biz shows 36,000. I don’t know what the normal cost is.
I am going strictly by memory here, but in the past, I think it indicated ‘promo award’. (It is possible I am imagining this and simply knew what the award costs were, but I do not think so.) This time, either I found no promo awards or it no longer indicates them (I am guessing the latter based on experience and the fact that they seem to have gone Skypeso-style in how much awards ever cost…).
Unless it’s a temporary disruption, they appear to have removed the possibility to search by range of dates (which makes any flexible award search much more annoying). Further, I searched a range of dates/ locations from Chicago, and (a) they don’t appear to advertise which are promo fares, and (b) nothing approached 10,750 miles for ORD to Europe (I found one 1-way for 29K… best I found). In other words, good luck! If you’re like me, as with Delta, you’ll still check your options, but I would not invest too much hope in Flying Blue from here on out. (I admit that I never did have any luck finding true promo fares that remotely worked for me, but with the changes, it is bound to be ridiculous now.)
I’m in the same boat.. can’t check calendar, has to be 1 day at a time which is extremely annoying since most of the time it shows no availability.