If you’re planning to book award tickets for your family to Europe, the Flying Blue program is an excellent option to consider. Known for its beginner-friendly approach and some of the lowest award rates among loyalty programs, Flying Blue makes it easier than ever to take your entire family to Europe. In this post, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know to book these flights using points, so you can start planning your next family adventure.

Flying Blue is the loyalty program for Air France and KLM. You can book other partner airlines through it such as Delta and WestJet.

Flying Blue is a top choice for family travel due to its generous perks:

• Free stopovers to extend your journey.

• Discounted award tickets for kids (25% off 11 and under)

• One-way redemptions start at just 15,000 points each way.

Learn more about booking a free stopover HERE. In this blog post, we explain exactly how to search for a free layover and book it.

How to Book Air France with Points

First, set up a free loyalty account with Flying Blue here. Flying Blue is the award program for Air France and KLM. Many airline alliances such as Delta can be booked through Flying Blue as well. Once you create a login, you can sign in through the KLM website or Air France. I prefer the Air France site and app.

You’ll also want to download the AirFrance app, so you can check on award flights frequently. However, searching on a desktop by calendar is the best way to find the lowest-priced tickets. To do this, you’ll want to leave the departure dates blank. You will also want to search by one-way routes for one person.

Flight Discounts for Kids!

One of the greatest benefits of booking with Air France or KLM is that they offer children 11 and under a 25% discount on award fares. So if the fare is 20,000 points, you’ll pay just 15,000 for children under 11! You really can’t beat that price. Remember you will pay taxes around $200 for a round-trip, so keep that in mind.

Promo Awards

Another thing to note about Flying Blue is that they offer promo rewards each month! Promo rewards are lowered award prices on certain routes. At the beginning of each month, you can head to the Air France website and see which routes are discounted.

Tip for booking

If you’re new to searching for award tickets, you’ll want to have an idea of flight routes. If you live in a small town, you will most likely need to position to a larger airport to book a flight on Air France or KLM. It is possible to find flights on Delta bookable with Flying Blue, however, they will be priced significantly higher.

Transfer Bonuses

Keep your eye out for transfer bonuses! If you haven’t heard of a transfer bonus, it’s when any of the major banks offer a bonus for transferring to a partner. For instance, if a bank is running a transfer bonus of 25% to Flying Blue, that means if you transfer just 16,000 points to Flying Blue, you’ll get a bonus of 4,000 points. Your one-way flight will be just 16,000 points! This is why it’s so important to earn flexible points, so you can take advantage of these bonuses!

Best Cards to earn points for Flying Blue

The good news is that all major banks transfer to Flying Blue, so it’s easy to earn points:

• Chase Ultimate Rewards®, the best card to start with is the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

• American Express Membership Rewards®

• Capital One Venture Miles®, the best card to start with is the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card or Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

• Citi ThankYou® Points

If you can get business cards (most people can with a small side hustle), the best card to open for earning flexible points is the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card.

Reach out if you need a card recommendation! Hope this helps you book a cheap flight to Europe!

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Editorial Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author's alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.