Less than 20k Points Roundtrip to Europe from IAH & IAD this Fall

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Flying Blue’s latest Promo Awards, stacked with the current 30% Citi ThankYou Point to Flying Blue transfer bonus, can get you between Houston or Washington, D.C. and Europe this September or October for as little as 18k ThankYou points roundtrip. The current Promo Awards must be booked by July 29, 2018, to qualify for the discount.

Flying Blue Promo Awards

Flying Blue is the loyalty program of Air France/KLM, Air Europa, Kenya Airways, and TAROM Romanian. Promo Awards let you fly from select North American cities to anywhere in Europe or big discounts. 

Through July 29, 2018, you can book awards between Houston or Washington, D.C. and Europe in economy for half off, as long as the travel dates are between August 31 and October 30, 2018. Remember that Flying Blue changed their award pricing in June. They no longer have award charts and instead base pricing on origin, destination, and travel date. So how much it will cost you to get from Houston or D.C. to Europe is going to depend on where you go exactly, but the prices I see are between 23k and 27.5k roundtrip.

You are not required to book Promo Awards roundtrip. You could book just one way in economy for half off.

Example Promo Awards

Washington, D.C. (IAD) to Prague on Air France, October 5, for 11,500 Flying Blue miles

Washington, D.C. (IAD) to Rome on KLM, October 17, for 11,500 Flying Blue miles

Houston to Amsterdam on KLM, September 14, for 12,250 Flying Blue miles.

Washington, D.C. (IAD) to Paris on Air France, October 12, for 13,750 Flying Blue miles

Award Searching

Flying Blue made a very annoying change to their website in June. You can no longer search award space a month at a time, and not even a week at a time. You must search day-by-day, so patience is required.

There was a trick that was working for a time: Login to airfrance.com, search for a cash ticket–which gives you a week of different cash prices–and an option to display those prices in miles would pop up so you could at least search a week at a time. As far as I can tell, there is no more pop up option to do so.

Once you find the award space though, you can book online.

Don’t forget to check viable options you could book in cash.

Cash flights to Europe in economy can be cheap as the competition is stiff with so many low-cost carriers. You should always be checking the cash price of tickets before using yoru rewards, but it’s especially important to compare on routes that can be cheap. Make sure it’s worth it to use your points/miles!

Citi ThankYou Points > Flying Blue Transfer Bonus

Transfers between Citi ThankYou Points earned by the Citi Prestige, Premier, or Chairman Card and Flying Blue, made before 11:59 pm ET August 29, 2018, will earn 30% bonus miles.

You must transfer ThankYou Points in 1,000 point increments. So 1,000 ThankYou points = 1,300 Flying Blue miles.

That makes all of the above options much cheaper…

• Washington, D.C. to Prague on Air France, for 11,500 Flying Blue miles would require just 9,000 ThankYou Points with the 30% bonus (or 18k for the roundtrip)
• Washington, D.C. to Rome on KLM, October 14, for 11,500 Flying Blue miles
• would require just 9,000 ThankYou Points with the 30% bonus (or 18k for the roundtrip)
• Houston to Amsterdam on KLM, September 14, for 12,250 Flying Blue miles would require just 10,000 ThankYou Points with the 30% bonus (or 19k for the roundtrip)
• Washington, D.C. to Paris, October 12, for 13,750 Flying Blue miles would require just 11,000 ThankYou Points with the 30% bonus (or 22k for the roundtrip)

Transfers between ThankYou Points and Flying Blue are instantaneous so you don’t have to worry about losing award space. Find award space first, then transfer, then book online at airfrance.com.

Bottom Line

Flying Blue’s July Promo Awards, bookable only through July 29, allow you to fly between Houston or Washington, D.C. and Europe for around 25k Flying Blue miles roundtrip in either Air France or KLM economy.

Stack that with the 30% ThankYou Point transfer bonus (lasts through August 29) to Flying Blue miles, and you’ve got yourself a dirt cheap roundtrip to Europe for ~19k ThankYou points. How cheap? Saver level awards with MileagePlus and AAdvantage cost 60k and SkyMiles cost 65k roundtrip in September and October. You’re going to pay fuel surcharges for a Flying Blue award you wouldn’t pay with an American loyalty program, but depending on where you fly, out-of-pocket cost (including unavoidable taxes) shouldn’t get higher than ~$300 (and often will be more like $200).

Want Flying Blue miles to book future Promo Awards?

The Citi ThankYou Premier card is offering 50,000 ThankYou Points for spending $4,000 in three months. ThankYou Points transfer 1:1 to Flying Blue, unless there is transfer bonus like the one right now that garners 30% more miles for your points. The ThankYou Premier also has awesome category bonuses for a card with a $95 annual (that’s waived the first year): 3 ThankYou Points per dollar spent on travel and gas purchases and 2 ThankYou Points per dollar spent on dining purchases.