Flying Blue, the loyalty program of Air France, KLM, and Transavia, has introduced a new feature called “Subscribe to Miles.” The idea behind it is to allow members to purchase miles on a monthly basis, with the pricing dependent on the quantity of miles bought.
While some members may find value in this new offer, it’s important to carefully consider the pros and cons before committing to a subscription.
Air France KLM Flying Blue Launches Subscribe to Miles Feature
Air France KLM Flying Blue has introduced a new “Subscribe to Miles” feature which is a monthly paid subscription service for purchasing miles at various levels.
Think of it along the lines of a “travel fund” which you contribute to monthly and then withdraw from when you need miles to book a flight.
How it works is quite simple:
- Choose your subscription package
- Miles will be credited to your account on a monthly basis
- Redeem miles for a trip
Here’s a look at the four monthly subscription options members can choose from, including how much each costs (all figures in USD) and the amount of miles you’ll get:
- Starter: 2,000 miles per month for $34.20 (1.71 cents per mile)
- Smart: 5,000 miles per month for $79.00 (1.58 cents per mile)
- Advanced: 10,000 miles per month for $146.00 (1.46 cents per mile)
- Complete: 17,000 miles per month for $227.00 (1.34 cents per mile)
In the past year, the best offer to buy Flying Blue miles during a sale has been 1.53 cents per mile. Therefore, both the Advanced and Complete packages offer a lower price than what we’ve seen in the program’s frequent sale events.
Once you sign up for the monthly subscription and continue to contribute, your miles will never expire. If you choose to cancel at any time, you’ll have 24 months to use your miles up before they expire.
It’s worth noting that the feature is powered by Points.com, which is a company based in Canada. This means that you’ll have to pay Canadian taxes on your purchase if you have a Canadian billing address, which further increases the price.
Therefore, if you are considering opting into the monthly subscription, we recommend using a US billing address (and possibly a US credit card) to avoid the extra cost (if these options are available to you).
Is Flying Blue Subscribe to Miles a Good Deal?
Generally speaking, we don’t recommend buying points or miles speculatively without a specific use in mind. This is especially true for programs with dynamic pricing such as Flying Blue, as the cost for flight redemptions can vary significantly.
However, it’s also easy to see how the monthly subscription could benefit you.
For example, purchasing the “Complete” subscription for $227 will put 17,000 Flying Blue Miles in your account each month. A one-way flight in economy from North America to Europe starts at 20,000 Flying Blue miles, which means you could almost grab a flight on these routes every four weeks for under $250 (plus taxes and fees for the flight).
While that’s a good deal, it’s important to keep in mind that you might also find the same flight available for double or triple (or even more) miles.
If you’re flexible with dates, it’s often fairly easy to find flights at the lowest price level; however, not everyone has that kind of flexibility.
Another thing to consider is Flying Blue miles are relatively easy to earn through other means and often at a much lower cost.
For example, in Canada, you can earn Flying Blue miles with the Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard®, or by transferring American Express Membership Rewards at a rate of 1:0.75.
In the US, you can earn them directly with the Bank of America Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard, or by transferring American Express US Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou Rewards at a rate of 1:1.
Given the ease of earning Flying Blue miles, you likely shouldn’t need to pay to acquire them. Instead, just keep an eye out for sales if you need to top up your account, or leverage transferable points currencies.
Flying Blue is a great program overall, and it’s nice to see it adding more features for members; however, the opportunity to find outsized value in this service is limited to specific uses, and we’d suggest earning Flying Blue miles in other ways to keep costs down.
Conclusion
Air France KLM Flying Blue has introduced a new “Subscribe to Miles” feature which is a monthly paid subscription service for purchasing miles at various levels.
The program gives members four options to choose from ranging in price from $34 per month for 2,000 miles up to $227 per month for 17,000 miles.
While it could be a good opportunity to sock away some miles for a flight, keep in mind that Flying Blue uses dynamic pricing. With flight prices fluctuating, it could mean those monthly miles you’ve saved up may not end up going as far as you’d like.
