Twice Burned By Air France-KLM’s Flying Blue

Frequent flyers of one airline understand the value of large “piles” of loyalty points. I understand not just the monetary implications, but also the fact that the points are worth tens or hundreds of flight hours. Also, in order to stay true to a particular group of airlines and pursue more points, we may incur some inconvenience and additional costs in terms of itinerary and flight selection. So when it comes time to actually redeem those points, you’ll want a smooth experience as a reward for your loyalty. Unfortunately this was not my experience with Flying Blue.

Background: What is Flying Blue?

Flying Blue (FB) is the loyalty program of Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. It is also used by Transavia, Aircalin and Tarom. Kenya Airways also previously participated in this programme, but has since created its own in-house programme. While “XP points” for earning flight award status are primarily based on distance and travel class, the program’s redeemable award points (“miles”) are spend-based, meaning “per euro spent x mile”.

I was relatively active in the program in 2018 and 2019, but my activity declined significantly in the years that followed. In exchange for a more permanent residency for a digital nomad life, I knew my mileage life was over and the time would come when I would use up all my hard-earned miles before they expired.

Story #1: Redeem miles for flights

I currently live in a city or country not served by Air France or KLM. airBaltic serves my city, but redeeming Flying Blue miles for flights on this airline seems to be more work than a similar process with other participating airlines. In fact, if you want to redeem your FB miles for an Air France or KLM flight, it’s easy to do online and the different options and their costs are clearly displayed.

I ended up redeeming my FB miles for a one-way multi-segment itinerary from Vancouver, Canada via Amsterdam to Vilnius, Lithuania. This itinerary takes place in November 2022. I redeemed my miles and booked flights around the country. In August, I waited patiently for the day to board that plane.

By chance, I decided to check my Flying Blue account and itinerary a few weeks later. Oddly enough, the flight from Amsterdam to Vilnius (operated by AirBaltic) had completely disappeared. I had no choice but to call Flying Blue customer service and inquire about the situation.

Photo: AirBaltic

It turned out that the loyalty program had deducted my points and even issued a booking code. However, no actual e-ticket was issued for him. Flying Blue customer service was unable to explain how the error happened, nor was it possible to rectify the situation to keep the same booking. In the end, the points were refunded and I was instructed to rebook the flight ticket from the beginning. We were incredibly lucky that the error was discovered well before our flight.Of course, if I did not Before I knew it, the airport on the day of departure might have been in a really chaotic situation.

Story #2: Redeem Miles at the Flying Blue Store

Many frequent users know that “buying” products is the worst use of miles. However, knowing that I traveled very little and the points would naturally depreciate in value over time anyway, I decided to spend my miles wherever I could.

I logged into my Flying Blue account and headed over to their ‘e-store’. Depending on your loyalty status and earning rate, your item will be either significantly more expensive or slightly more expensive. Nevertheless, I started searching to find a way to burn about 30,000 miles. I ended up taking some small gadgets, a passport cover, and a tray for my apartment.

Photo: Flying Blue

3 of the 4 items arrived in a fairly short time. In fact, I was impressed with how quickly these items were delivered! The item (shown) was as advertised. Unfortunately, the digital luggage scale I ordered came with batteries, but they were dead. This in itself isn’t a big deal, but just adds to the poor experience in dealing with Flying Blues.

Did Flying Blue just steal my points?

The most frustrating part was figuring out why the 4th item, the Bromstray, hadn’t arrived. Flying Blue basically tells customers that once they’ve completed an order for an item, it’s no longer their problem and they need to work directly with the fulfillment partner responsible for delivering each specific item. .

Photo: Flying Blue

So, with this in mind, I contacted the fulfillment partner responsible for shipping this item, a company named . 1 concept. A representative from the company responded to my inquiry immediately. “Unfortunately, as we are only one of Flying Blue’s suppliers and not store managers, we are unable to accommodate this request.” I was then redirected to contact Flying Blue customer service.

I wanted to make sure it was returned to Flying Blue for good reason, so I contacted 1concepts again for more clarification and confirmation on my order. Again promptly responding, the representative said:

Photo: 1concepts.de

Therefore, I contacted Flying Blue’s customer service as it became clear that this company had not received the order from the Flying Blue store. It was a month after the first order. At this point, it started to feel like nearly 9,000 miles had gone with the wind.

Thankfully, a Flying Blue representative responded a few days later, informing me that my inquiry had been “escalated” to their internal department. I haven’t heard from you for a month. When I checked in again, I got a reply again a few days later, and it was still “a reminder to the department in charge”.

After 8 days, over 3 months after placing the order, I received an email informing me that my order had been canceled and miles had been credited to my account. Therefore, I need to find a way to use these miles again before they expire. I hope this her third experience will be better.

Bottom line: Flying Blue needs fixing

I don’t understand the whole internal process of handling reward points and mileage redemption. But it seems that at some point in the process, a human sees and processes the online order, such as issuing an electronic ticket for a flight or contacting a fulfillment partner to have the item shipped.

Based on at least two experiences over the past year, it seems that this part of the process needs to be fixed in Flying Blue. While this issue may be specific to certain partners, it is not an issue for members redeeming miles.

To the program’s credit, both cases were eventually resolved. 1 concept Appreciated excellent customer service despite not being directly involved in the situation. However, both situations required customer action, and if not discovered prior to the travel date, ticket redemption could have more serious consequences.

Photo: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines

So while I’m pretty happy with the actual flights and benefits of being an Air France KLM Flying Blue elite member, redeeming my hard-earned miles was an even more frustrating process.

If you’re a Flying Blue member, what’s your experience like? Leave a comment and share!