Air France/KLM Flying Blue Slashes Fuel Surcharges On Delta Award Tickets!

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Related: Getting To Israel Using Starwood Starpoints!

You can now fly to/from the US and Israel without fuel surcharges for just 20,000 Starpoints each way!

Background info:
With flexible currencies like Starwood Starpoints (SPG), American Express Membership Rewards points (MR), and Chase Ultimate Rewards points (UR) you have the option of dozens of different airlines to transfer to.

With 3 major alliances (Skyteam, Oneworld, and Star Alliance) there are even more options to travel on partner airlines.Ā  If you want to travel on Continental/United you can transfer your UR points directly to Continental, you can transfer MR points to Air Canada, ANA, Singapore, or Virgin Atlantic and they’ll book you on Continental, or you can transfer SPG points to Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana, Lufthansa, Thai, USAirways, or Virgin Atlantic, all of whom can book you on Continental.

-Each of those airlines have their own set of redemption rates, so you have to check which of them makes the most sense for the flight you want to book.

-Once you transfer it to one of those airlines itā€™s pretty much stuck in that airline and canā€™t be transferred again.Ā  It’s usually best to wait until you’re ready to book a flight before transferring points.Ā  Be sure to remember though that while MR and UR points transfer instantly, SPG points can take anywhere from a couple days to a week or 2.Ā  MR and UR points typically transfer 1:1 while SPG points typically transfer 1:1.25 with 20K increments.Ā  MR charges a tax for transfers to US based airlines while SPG and UR never charge a tax for transfers.

-A key thing to keep in mind are fuel surcharges. Many foreign carriers add fuel surcharges to award tickets, making them worthless in many cases if you redeem for coach tickets.Ā  Generally US carriers donā€™t charge these fuel surcharges.Ā  Continental/United never charge them.Ā  AA only charges them if you fly on BA.Ā  Delta only charges them if you originate in certain regions (like Europe) or fly on select partner airlines.Ā  USAirways charges a minor award processing fee, but doesnā€™t collect a fuel surcharge.Ā  Air Canada only charges a fuel surcharge if you fly on Air Canada, so you are free to fly on any other Star Alliance carrier without surcharges.Ā  Most other programs charge massive fuel surcharges.
ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”———————–
Back to the subject at hand.

Flying Blue is the mileage program of Air France and KLM.Ā  They are both Skyteam alliance members, as is Delta.

Flying Blue is known for low mileage rates but high fuel surcharges. If you can find availability, they have promo awards for as little as 25,000 miles round trip. But finding that availability is tough and fuel surcharges are sky-high, $600-$700!

Until now.Ā  From a cursory look at booking some Delta flights from the Air France website it seems like they are not charging the massive surcharges any more as long as you stick to Delta flights.

Another nice thing about the program is they allow one-way redemptions, something that Delta does not allow.

A major caveat is that Flying Blue can only book you on Delta’s “Low” availability.Ā  The best way to search for that is to search for your award ticket on Delta.com, then click on “View Award Calendar” on the left-hand side of the page.Ā  Once on the calendar be sure to click on coach or business and then locate dates in green.Ā  Click on the green dates to make sure that flights are available on Delta.Ā  Once you have dates that work go to the Air France Flying Blue site and type in those same dates and you should see the Delta flights.

While Delta charges 80,000 miles to Israel in coach and 120,000 miles in business (if you find low tier availability) if you book on Flying Blue itā€™s only 50,000 in coach and 100,000 in business on Delta.Ā  Previously this entailed paying up to $700 in additional fuel surcharges, but now they are only collecting a total of $77 for a round-trip flight! By transferring to Flying Blue for Delta flights to Israel you will save 30,000 miles on coach tickets and 20,000 miles on business tickets.Ā  Plus you can now book one-way tickets without surcharges, something that wasn’t possible before.

Delta flies nonstop between JFK and Tel Aviv.

So how many points do you need to transfer to Flying Blue to fly on Delta?
-20K SPG or 25K MR gets you 25,000 Flying Blue miles, enough for a one-way coach ticket.
-40K SPG or 50K MR gets you 50,000 Flying Blue miles, enough for a one-way business ticket or round-trip coach ticket.
-80K SPG or 100K MR gets you 100,000 Flying Blue miles, enough for a round-trip business ticket.

Here are the rates I found:

-JFK-TLV, departing on 11/22, returning on 12/05.Ā  When selecting the nonstop Delta flights the cost in coach is just 50,000 miles+$77.45.
-JFK-TLV, departing on 01/15, returning on 01/22.Ā  When selecting the nonstop Delta flights the cost in business is just 100,000 miles+$77.45.

ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”———————–

Credit cards that will get you SPG or MR points to transfer to Flying Blue:

Starwood American Express Consumer Card, 10K bonus for spending $1, plus 15K bonus for spending $5K in 6 months.

Starwood American Express Business Card. 10K bonus for spending $1, plus 15K bonus for spending $5K in 6 months.

American Express Consumer Platinum Card, 25K bonus for spending $1K in 3 months.

American Express Consumer Premier Rewards Gold Card 15K bonus for spending $1K in 3 months.

American Express Consumer Gold Rewards Card 10K bonus for spending $1K in 3 months.

American Express Business Gold Rewards Card 50K bonus for spending $10K in 5 months.

Having problems seeing card offers? Getting a ā€œcard not availableā€ or other error message? Read this!
1. Try using another browser (IE, Firefox, or Chrome) to see the offer.
2. You can try deleting your browserā€™s cache and cookies to see the offers. To do so just hold down the Ctrl, Shift, and Delete buttons on your keyboard and then delete your cache and cookies.
3. You can also try browsing ā€œincognitoā€ or ā€œin-privateā€ to see the offers. In IE and Firefox you can access this mode by holding down Ctrl, Shift, and P buttons on your keyboard. In Chrome you can access this mode by holding down Ctrl, Shift, and N. Then just return to DansDeals.com and click on the card offer you want.

-Just fill out the standard application. Donā€™t click for the shorter existing cardmember application or you will not get the best offer.

HT: Chaikel, via the DansDeals Forums

Leave a Reply

14 Comments On "Air France/KLM Flying Blue Slashes Fuel Surcharges On Delta Award Tickets!"

All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions arenā€™t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.

MosheS

My wife and I are trying to use miles to get to South Africa. We have 210K BA miles. Plenty but BA wants $961 fuel/tax per ticket! We have 150K Delta miles and 25K SPG. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Yehuda

This article got me very excited because I am trying to book a ticket to Israel in May. However, between now and September there are only 16 possible days to book a “low miles” outgoing ticket from NYC-TLV and all are November-February. Very limiting. Oh well, Thanks anyway!

Dan

@MosheS:
BA miles are best used within the US where there are no surcharges.
The Delta miles should get you there though.

@Yehuda:
Plus 20 days in business šŸ˜‰

Delta is notoriously stingy with “low miles.” Hence the name “Skypesos” That’s the main reason that AA or Continental/United or USAir miles are much better for Israel.

However Delta does release more “low miles” seats as it gets closer to the date of departure. Just keep checking daily and the odds are that seats will open up. The only question is if they’ll open up 3 months beforehand or 3 days beforehand…

They probably won’t open up low seats for May until next February or March.

danfan

do i need an account to check availability with flying blue for delta or can i do it over the phone?

Dan

@danfan:
You do not need a Delta account to check availability on delta.com
You do need a Flying Blue account to check availability on airfrance.com, but if Delta.com shows it available at the low/green level then it should be bookable via Flying Blue.

Yehuda

Dan,

Even if delta does release more low mile flights I have no idea if KLM/ Air France will have the gas fee back..

Dan

@Yehuda:
Of course. Therefore keep the points in your MR or SPG account until they release “low” seats for your dates and you are ready to book.

Momofboys

I find this a little impossible bec even when they do have available by the time spgs transfer ur taking a chance

Meir

It takes about 10 days to transfer from SPG to KLM/ Air France/Flying blue by the time the miles are available the low mile availability will be gone

joseph

If I have my miles in Delta, any way to book the flight via KLM/Air France at the cheaper mileage?

Arch

Dan! You Da Man! I just booked a round trip to Israel. ElAl via aamiles there (135k), and delta via flying blue back! Awesome!!!!!! Thank You !!!!

Josh

Taxes for round trip only cost me $46.42 – I booked with the Australian department as the US office was closed- maybe its cheaper.

Gabbai

The AF / KLM awards on Delta are cheaper if you compare the miles needed but as I have a stack of Delta miles that I got with the 50% bonus transferring from MR, using those Delta miles for a Delta ticket is still actually cheaper. Also, and I know it is only $30, but Delta charges $44.85 for an Israel ticket. I must be very lucky because I have got Business awards on the exact dates I wanted them several months in advance three times. The Delta flight times NY to Israel and back are also very convenient, at least for me.

MJ

Are you sure this works for the 50% periodic promos? I thought you had to fly on FB metal to get the 50% off mileage rates.

http://www.flyingbluenews.com/promotions/spendingmiles/promoawards.html

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