Flying Blue — the frequent flyer program of KLM and Air France — runs monthly specials discounting certain routes or destinations up to 50%. Most months, the offers aren’t too noteworthy for US-based travelers, but this month’s Promo Awards list includes discounts from seven US cities to Europe.
For flights booked from November 1 to 30, you can save 25% off economy award flights between these cities and Europe for flights in January and/or February. For these city options, you can redeem miles for a one-way flight to Europe for 18,750 miles or 37,500 miles round-trip:
Boston-Europe — flights in January or February
Chicago-Europe — flights in January or February
Houston-Europe — flights in January or February
San Francisco-Europe — flights in January or February
New York’s JFK-Europe — flights in January or February, but only if routing through Paris Orly (ORY)
New York’s JFK-Europe — flights in February
Detroit-Europe — flights in February
Washington, D.C.-Europe — flights in February
Note that you must depart out of — or arrive into — the city listed above in order to get the promo award price. You’re going to have to book any positioning flights separately to get to/from one of these cities. While that’s a bummer, one positive of the Flying Blue program is that it includes
Israel in the Europe region. This means you can fly from San Francisco (SFO) to Tel Aviv (TLV) for just 18,750 miles one-way.
Considering all of the flight deals to Europe recently, taking advantage of this promotion might not make sense if you’re doing a simple round-trip to an often-discounted destination. But, if you need a one-way flight to/from Europe, this promo could come in handy.
For example, say you’ve got the miles to book a one-way business or first-class award flight. You can use just 18,750 miles to get the other direction. Or, maybe you want to fly into one city (i.e., Paris) and return from another city (i.e., Rome). This can easily be done with these awards, but might cost a lot more to book these as revenue flights.
f you don’t have any Flying Blue miles, don’t despair. You can transfer points to Flying Blue from any of the major transferable currencies: American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Points and Starwood Preferred Guest Starpoints.
Make sure you note the transfer times (linked above) and make sure that there is award availability before transferring. If availability is tight, you can call Flying Blue to hold an award flight while the transfer is completed.
https://thepointsguy.com/2016/10/25-percent-off-flying-blue-awards-europe-winter/