Big news from Flying Blue

Good morning and happy Monday from gloomy Toronto…

I’m getting packed up to leave this gloomy hell in a couple of days, but let me update you on some of the goings on in the travel world:

• 😭 Flying Blue devalues awards… with a silver lining

• ✈️ United MilePlay offers are back

• 🇦🇪 How to visit Dubai using points and miles

😭 Flying Blue devalues awards… with a silver lining

Alright, let’s get the bad news out of the way first…

As you know, Flying Blue (the points program for Air France and KLM) offers some of the BEST award rates to Europe.

Specifically, they offer monthly Promo Rewards that allow us to fly between the U.S. and Europe at a nice discount.

They also have long offered one of the best business-class sweet spots at just 50,000 miles from the U.S. to Europe.

Well, my friends, those days are GONE.

As of a few days ago, Flying Blue has increased award rates for all classes of service (economy, premium economy, business) for flights on KLM and Air France.

Specifically, here is what the new lowest rates are (though flights are dynamically priced, so they can always be higher):

• Economy - 25,000 miles (previously 20,000)

• Premium - 40,000 miles (previously 35,000)

• Business - 60,000 miles (previously 50,000)

So yeah… not fun. Especially with no notice…

At the end of the day, should you change your entire plans to fly internationally because of 5,000 or 10,000 points?

Probably not… But now, it’s no longer an AMAZING deal. It’s pretty much on par with a lot of other programs.

But here’s one quick silver lining:

Some partner airlines are still pricing out super cheap… I found a number of SAS business-class flights from right around 50,000 miles one-way - which is proof that there are still great deals to be had:

But here’s the bigger silver lining I mentioned earlier…

Flying Blue is claiming that because award rates are higher, availability is going to be better. If this is true, it would be a huge win.

Here’s why:

Finding Flying Blue Promo Rewards and business-class availability is really hard right now… so while the rates are excellent, it means nothing if there are no flights available.

If, as they claim, finding seats will be easier, I’d happily pay 5,000-10,000 miles more to fly business class without needing to hunt for deals and change my plans around flights.

Time will tell just how much better availability will be.

The other good news is that partner awards also got devalued, but not nearly as badly as with KLM and Air France.

For example, this domestic Delta flight from Detroit to Atlanta previously cost 8,500 Flying Blue miles.

Now, they’ve increased the same route to 9,000 miles, which is fairly negligible.

The other good news is that every bank transfers to Flying Blue, and there are frequent transfer bonuses.

So when there’s a good transfer bonus, those increased rates will be even less significant.

Anyway… let’s hope that availability opens up as promised!! 🤞

✈️ United MilePlay offers are back

United is back with their semi-regular “Mile Play” offers.

If this is your first time hearing about it, it’s basically a series of targeted offers that give you bonus miles for completing tasks like flying on United a certain number of times.

So, what’s on offer this time around?

Well for me, I got a big fat nothing burger… and I cried a little bit. When I’m in North America, United is actually my go-to airline in the U.S., so I was a little bummed.

Anyway, last time around (about three months ago), this is the offer that I got, which was to earn 7,700 miles for taking two trips in a certain time period.

These two trips can even be individual one-way flights, which made it quite easy to achieve.

This time around, many people are seeing even better offers like this one to earn 14,000 bonus United miles for taking three trips.

This specific offer also has an excellent four-month timeframe, which makes it feasible for many people.

You’ll want to make sure you read the fine print if you’ve been offered something.

In the past, each unique offer has had a minimum spend for what qualifies as a “trip.” For one person, a single trip might have a minimum cost of $100, while for others, it might be $200.

Additionally, taxes and fees don’t count toward that minimum… so be very careful.

Anyway, just click this link, enter your United frequent flier number, and see what you’ve got on offer!

🇦🇪 How to visit Dubai using points and miles

Dubai is one of my favorite cities in the world.

Sure, it gets hot… but it’s a really unique, futuristic hub of business and culture in the geographic center of the world, and it’s always fun to pass through.

Thankfully, there are ENDLESS ways to get there (and stay there) using points and miles.

And in this week’s Daily Drop YouTube video, we show you exactly how to do that.

Check it out 👇

That’s all for today, my friends! I hope you enjoyed this Monday’s edition of Daily Drop.

Make sure you tune in tomorrow, where I’ll fill you in on my personal credit card strategy for 2025.

See you next time 👋🏼

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