As part of the new Flying Blue Reinvented programme, it is now possible to pay part of an Award ticket with cash. This option is called Miles & Cash and will be available on all Air France, KLM, HOP! and Joon flights as well as flights on other Skyteam and Flying Blue partner airlines. As has been covered earlier, the price for a Reward Ticket is from now on more dependent on the origin and destination and the flight date, instead of being based on award zones. The new fares can be consulted online in the booking engine.

Flying Blue Miles & Cash

Members will now have three options when booking a Reward ticket:

• 100% paid with miles
• 87.5% paid with miles and the remaining 12.5% with cash
• 75% paid with miles and the remaining 25% with cash

It seems the number of miles is rounded to 50. The costs for paying the difference in miles varies. A number of examples will follow. It is not possible to earn miles on the cash co-pay. Also Miles & Cash is not available on Promo Awards

Examples

Flying Blue provides the following examples for a one-way Reward ticket:

Amsterdam – Rome in Economy

• 7500 miles (starting price)
• 6550 miles + €9,50
• 5650 miles + €18,50

Cost per mile (CPM) for the co-pay of €0.01

Depending on the destination within Europe, the starting price may have been reduced to 6000 miles from June 1st.

Amsterdam – New York in Economy

• 22.000 miles (starting price)
• 19.300 miles + €27
• 16.500 miles + €55

CPM of €0.01

Paris – New York in Premium Economy

• 45.500 miles (starting price)
• 39.800 miles + €136.80
• 34.100 miles + €273.60

CPM of about €0.012

Amsterdam – New York in Business Class

• 57.500 miles (starting price)
• 50.300 miles + €108
• 43.100 miles + €216

CPM of about €0.015

Paris – New York in La Première (First Class)

• 200.000 (starting price)
• 175.000 miles + €687.50
• 150.000 miles + €1375

CPM of about 0.0275

As can be seen, the price per miles for the co-pay increases for a higher class of travel. The above fares are also excluding taxes and surcharges. One has to do the calculations with the all-in Reward ticket price and the revenue fares to see if Miles & Cash is a cheaper option, especially in Economy. The price for Reward tickets may vary depending on the originating airport. For instance, departing from Düsseldorf instead of Amsterdam may be cheaper.

Bottom line

This new option may be worth considering for Flying Blue members who do not have sufficient miles for a regular Reward ticket. The standard price for buying miles is €55 per 2000 miles. Using Miles & Cash is, with exception of the La Première example, cheaper than buying miles outright, although the latter is almost never a sensible choice, including during promotions. It is a shame it is only possible to select from three levels of miles, instead of offering for instance a slider where you can use any amount in your account.