If you want to travel to Europe comfortably this summer, France-klm Flying Blue will provide an excellent bonus space in Delta One Business Class, starting with just 55,000 Flying Blue miles.
Plus, if you have Citi thanks for your reward points, this deal is even better. Citi is currently offering a 20% transfer bonus to Flying Blue, which means you only need to transfer 46,000 Citi points to book a Lie-Flat commercial-grade seat, a fantastic deal for peak summer trips.
The deal was first a mile report.
Here’s what you need to know about booking this great offer.
Related: Mobile, Delta: Why France – KLM’s Flying Blue Program has become my favorite Skyteam Loyalty Program
How to find a space for awards in Delta
Although we like the seats. The platform does have a Delta One Finder tool that theoretically shows the seats Delta One can book with partner Miles (rather than paying over 300,000 miles per flight through Delta’s own Skymiles program).
However, the tool displays partner seats only through one show Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. While the Flying Club offers high reward rates, the seats can accommodate between 47,500 and 77,500 points, depending on the length of the flight, but it can pay huge fees, taxes and surcharges, with an additional fee of more than $1,000 per method. So, in addition to the Virgin points required for flights to Europe, you can also expect to pay more than $2,000 for Delta One flights.
If you don’t want to pay a high surcharge on your Delta One flight, try booking through Air France-KLM’s Flying Blue plan, as it has both attractive mileage rates and significantly reduces taxes and fees. However, it is often difficult to find usability.
You can use the seat. In theory, if the seat with a virgin point, should Flying blue miles (Copay with lower cash) is also available.
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Unfortunately, we haven’t seen a consistency between seats offered through the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and those available through the blue, meaning many of the Delta Air Lines seats offered through the Virgin Atlantic cannot be offered through France or KLM.
If you have a specific route, you may want to try searching for it directly on French and KLM sites in hopes of getting affordable seats. For best results, look for uninterrupted flights running from the Delta Hub.
Some of the Deltas we found a commercial-grade option available for booking via Flight Blue, which includes:
- Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) heads to Dublin Airport (DUB) in July to fly blue miles for 55,000 (or 46,000 Citi points) and $33 in taxes and fees
- Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) heads to Paris-Charles Charles Charles Charles Charles Gaulle Airport (CDG) in July, with 73,500 flights of blue miles (or 62,000 Citi) plus $33 in taxes and fees
- Kennedy International Airport (MXP) will fly blue miles (or 63,000 Citi points) in August plus $33 in taxes and fees
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) heads to Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-el Prat Airport (BCN) in August, with 85,500 flights of blue miles (or 72,000 Citigroup) plus $33 in taxes and fees
- John Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York travels to Geneva Airport (GVA) in September, with a blue mileage of 72,000 flights (or 60,000 Citigroup) plus $33 in taxes and fees
- BOS went to Edinburgh Airport (EDI) in Scotland in October, with 57,000 blue miles (or 48,000 Citi points) plus $33 in taxes and fees
Related: 9 European summer destinations beat calories
How to book a reward seat for Delta
Once you find availability on the Flying Blue website, click the Payment Screen to make sure the seats are available and you should be able to book.
Fly at a 1:1 rate with blue partners in all major credit card currencies:
You can also transfer the Marriott’s dot to blue at a 3:1 speed and earn an additional 5,000 flying blue miles per 60,000 Bonvoy points.
By July 19, Citi Thanks for your reward members to transfer points to blue with a 20% bonus, which means you need 20% less points than other credit card currencies to book the Delta One award. Transfers must be performed in increments of 1,000 points and can earn up to 500,000 thank you reward points per minute transmitted thank you point.
The transfer from Citi to Fly Blue should be instant, but remember that they cannot be reversed, so we recommend that you find the reward space on the Fly Blue website first and transfer your mileage and book immediately after finding the flight you are interested in.
Transfers from other currencies may also be instant, although transfers from American Express and Marriott may take more than 24 hours to complete.
Related: How (and Why) You Should Earn Transferable Credit Card Points
Bottom line
While it’s hard to find usability, it’s worth spending time searching for flying blue sites to see if you can score a lot on your preferred route, even if you need to be flexible on your date. Delta is having a hard time booking at a good price when considering the amount of points or mileage required and the extra cash charge.
Even if these seats are hard to find, they won’t last for these prices, but if you want to travel to Europe in style this summer, book now.
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