Air France KLM Flying Blue is one of our favourite frequent flyer program in Canada because it’s super valuable for international travel.
You can transfer American Express® Membership Rewards® points to Flying Blue at a 1 to 1 ratio.
Whether you’re after an Economy seat or a lie-flat Business Class, you have plenty of ways to redeem your Flying Blue Award miles.
Business class flights to Europe and Asia are most lucrative, but seats are more limited. That’s when teh full calendar trick and tools like PointsYeah and Seats.aero come in super handy.
You can also let us do all the work of finding award seats with points for your next flight.
Here’s my guide to finding the best Flying Blue award flights.
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How to Earn Flying Blue Miles
It’s easy to earn plenty of Flying Blue miles in Canada by transferring points from many American Express® Membership Rewards® cards.
These personal and business cards come with generous welcome bonuses and strong earning rates on dining, groceries, and transportation, like the Amex® Cobalt.
Some cards. like the Amex® Platinum, and Amex® Business Platinum include great travel benefits like lounge access and hotel status. All of which make it easier to earn points while getting more value from your travel.
Amex Membership Rewards points now transfer to Flying Blue at a 1 to 1 ratio. Plus, Amex often offers transfer bonuses that make it even more worthwhile.
Transfers are fast and flexible, so you can move points whenever you’re ready to book a trip.
Best American Express® Membership Rewards® Cards
⚠ Disclaimer: The information in this content may become outdated over time. For the most accurate and up-to-date details, please visit the Apply Now link provided.
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Let us find your award seats: You’ve earned your points, now let us do the work of finding your next flight.
We’ll take care of finding the best available seats, saving you time and maximizing your Aeroplan® points value so you can just get to your trip.
Check out our Award Booking Service and let’s make your dream trip a reality.
Search Tools
Before you go to the Flying Blue website to redeem your points, start with a search tool like PointsYeah or Seats.aero.
These tools are for anyone who doesn’t have the time to click through the Flying Blue calendar.
They save you hours of manual work by showing you availability across dozens of airlines at once.
Once you find availability on PointsYeah or Seats.aero, make sure to check for availability directly on Flying Blue before transferring any points from your Amex® cards.
PointsYeah For Beginners
PointsYeah is an excellent option if you are just starting out. The interface works like a traditional travel site and results are in real time.
PointsYeah supports multiple airline loyalty programs, and you can filter results for Flying Blue.
The Day View is great because it shows you four days at once. You’ll see right away if flying a day earlier or later saves you points which is super valuable if you have some flexibility.
As an added bonus, you can also search for Marriott and Hilton hotel stays with points.
With the free version of PointsYeah, you get unlimited live searches within a four-day window. You also get four flight alerts to track seat availability or price drops via email. These features are usually enough for most beginners
If you need more, the Premium version of PointsYeah offers an 8-day search window, 32 flight alerts, and a Travel Radar tool to monitor routes for a full year.

Seats.aero for Power Users
Seats.aero is the best choice once you are comfortable with award searching and want to see a lot more information at once.
The interface allows you to search for entire regions and countries at once, as well as multiple airports. Its super habdy for finding hard to get partner flights in busienss class, like Japan Airlines to Tokyo.
The Seats.aero Explore tool is great because it shows you availability across an entire continent on a single page. You’ll see right away if repositioning to a different city saves you points, which is super valuable if you are willing to be flexible.
Results are fast because the tool uses cached data, so you alsways double-check availability on the Flying Blue site before transferring points.
With the free version of Seats.aero, you get searches for flights departing within a 60 window. You’ll also get access to the routes tool and unlimited email alerts to track specific flights. These features are usually enough for most last-minute travellers.
I highly recommend Seats.aero Pro if you want to maximize your points and find trips quickly.
The Pro version of Seats.aero lets you search for a full year ahead, which is a huge benefit when searching for business class seats. This is super valuable for finding busienss class availability a year out on Japan Airline, and as soon as they open up.
You can also search for multiple seats at once, which is super valuable for families travelling together.
With the Seats.aero Pro version, you can also use advanced filters like direct flights only, selected cabin and filter out by fees.
You also get 32 flight alerts, and SMS notifications for faster snagging of rare seats.



Look for One-Way Flights
When you’re paying cash, round-trip tickets are more affordable than one-way.
That’s not the case with award flights, like Flying Blue. One-way flights are half the points of a round-trip.
You’ll find the best seats by searching and redeeming for one-way flights.
Most airlines release their space 355 days out. Booking one-way means you can book your flight as soon as it’s available without waiting for the return dates to open and risk losing your award seat.
You can also mix and match different loyalty programs and cabin classes for each direction.
We sometimes redeem for a lie-flat Business Class seat on the overnight flight to get some sleep, then fly back in Premium Economy to save points on the way home.
Plus, if you ever need to change just one part of your trip later, it’s way easier to do it for one way only.
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If you don’t see a reward flight on your exact travel date, you can unlock the full monthly calendar by leaving the dates blank in your search.



Consider Adjacent Airports
You can expand your search and get way more options by not sticking to just one airport. You’ll find a lot more seats when you check nearby airports for both your departure and arrival.
With Flying Blue, you can search some metropolises like Tokyo all at once by selecting “TYO”.

Sweet Spots
You’re going to get the best value when you redeem your Flying Blue miles for standard awards with Air France and KLM versus dynamic pricing, and partner flights when available.
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Kids aged 2 to 11 also get 25% off award tickets on Air France and KLM award tickets, making it easier for families to save together for bigger international trips.
The Bottom Line
You’ll get the most from your Flying Blue miles when you search for one-way flight redemptions on tools like PointsYeah and Seats.aero. They let you find wider Flying Blue award space easily.
By keeping your departure cities flexible, it is even easier to find more availability.
Stanrd rewards, monthly promotions and partner ailines will help you get the most value of your Flying Blue miles.
Plus, Kids aged 2 to 11 also get 25% off award tickets on Air France and KLM award tickets, making it easier for families to save together for bigger international trips.
Ready to book your flight? Check out our Flying Blue redemption guide.












