A little while ago I posted about the fact that I had been able to attain Flying Blue Gold status, the mid-tier status in Air France-KLM’s loyalty program. At he time I also wondered out loud how worthwhile the investment might be. After all, I don’t fly so often that I would get status just by flying on flights that I would have anyway flown. So instead I had to invest extra to ‘buy’ my way to status, to some degree, or I would try to fly Air France-KLM even if cheaper tickets on other airlines would have been available.

Therefor, I thought it would be helpful to report on a recent flight I booked, where I can actually quantify how much Gold status is saving me.

1. What is Flying Blue, and how did I get Flying Blue Gold status?
2. The Experiment: A good opportunity to test the value of loyalty
3. Results: Flying Blue Gold Benefits in Action
   1. Fare types and prices for these flights
   2. Running through the process without adding my Flying Blue member number
   3. Do that again: now with my Flying Blue member number
4. Final Tally: Serious Savings
   1. Slight tangent: the comparative value of Flying Blue Gold perks to Economy Flex and Premium Economy
5. Summary

What is Flying Blue, and how did I get Flying Blue Gold status?

Flying Blue is the loyalty program of the Air France-KLM airlines group, which includes Air France, KLM, Transavia, and soon perhaps Scandinavian Airlines. It has four published elite tiers, being Explorer (basic member), Silver (lowest elite tier), Gold (mid-tier) and Platinum (highest tier).

With every tier you get additional perks. For example, Silver gives you free basic seat selection, a free checked bag and priority boarding, while Gold also gives you free preferred and extra-space seat selection, lounge access and SkyPriority access, which allows priority check-in and baggage handling. For most, Gold is the sweet spot, because it gives you a ‘business class’ ground experience and free preferred seats while paying for a basic economy ticket.

You then attain these tiers by accumulating experience points, or ‘XP’. You get this by flying, buying sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and donating miles. You need 100XP to get to Silver – the counter than resets to 0XP and you have a year to gain the 180XP needed to get to Gold. Then the counter resets again and you have a year to gain the 300XP needed to get to Platinum. So in total, you need 580XP in 3 years to get to Platinum.

Here is briefly how I attained Gold status:

• I reached Silver status by opening an Air France-KLM credit card that provided 100XP (the needed threshold for Silver) after spending $3000 in 3 months.
• Then, I combined flying with buying SAF for those flights to get an additional 179XP, and I donated 2000 miles for the final 1XP to get to 180XP, which is the needed threshold to get to Gold.

For the full details on how I did all this, have a look at my explanation, here.

The Experiment: A good opportunity to test the value of loyalty

A few days ago, I noticed that fares with Scandinavian Airlines had suddenly plummeted for flights over the winter holidays. Where a return flight on SAS to Stockholm had hovered around $900-1000 a few weeks ago, now I could get a return flight for $660. I jumped on that opportunity.

What’s nice is that SAS recently became a SkyTeam member, which means that my Flying Blue Gold status could potentially give me some benefits. Specifically, I may be able to book a basic economy ticket and come out flying as if I’d purchased an economy flex ticket. Of course it’d be same economy seat and I wouldn’t have the refundability of the flex fare, but I’d get the free checked bag, priority access, lounge access, and free seat selection. All of that would otherwise be paid extras on a basic economy ticket. How much money could I be saving?

So I conducted a little experiment while I was booking my flights: I ran through the process without adding my Flying Blue member number, and then with adding my Flying Blue member number, and looked at the kind of options and fees I was presented with. Here I now present the results.

Results: Flying Blue Gold Benefits in Action

After some searching I settled on the following itinerary:

• The the outbound, SAS flight SK904 from Newark EWR to Stockholm Arlanda ARN, departing 17:40PM and arriving 7:30AM the next day.
• On the return, I will first fly on SAS flight SK401 from Stockholm Arlanda ARN to Copenhagen CPH, departing at 8:00AM and arriving at 9:10PM, where I will have a layover of 3:45 hours. I will then board SAS flight SK909 from Copenhagen CPH to Newark EWR, departing 12:55PM and arriving 15:40PM.

Let’s first have a look at the fare types and prices. I’m looking strictly at economy here, since business class would include all the benefits of Flying Blue Gold anyway, so there really wouldn’t be much incremental value in the status.

Fare types and prices for these flights

On SAS, much like most airlines these days, there are three ‘regular’ economy fares: basic (called light), standard and flex, as you can see below. Then, there’s also Premium Economy, which is the ‘Premium’ option that is listed, but I wouldn’t sort that into the typical economy fare bucket.

As you can see, the Light fare (basic economy) clocks in at $187. For an extra $50, at $222, you get a checked bag, and if you want some flexibility, you’ll pay $492, which is a substantial upsell from the standard fare but does provide you ‘Fast trac’ access, which is essentially a priority security line. Interestingly, Premium Economy is cheaper than Economy Flex, at $372. While not refundable, you get a more comfortable seat, an elevated dining experience, 2 checked bags, and priority boarding.

For the return flight, the light fare is quite a bit more expensive at $475.11. The standard fare is again only $50 more, while flex clocks in at $650.11 and premium economy is clearly a lot more expensive now, at $855.11. So all in all, a return trip costs the following with the following fare types:

• In Economy Light, a total of $662.11.
• In Economy Standard, a total of $747.11.
• In Economy Flex, a total of $1142.11.
• And just for comparison purposes, Premium Economy totals $1227.11.

As such, from Light to Premium is about double. So, having selected the Light fare, how does my status factor into all this? Let’s have a look.

Running through the process without adding my Flying Blue member number

The next step is to enter passenger details, and this is where’d you normally add your frequent flyer information as well. You can join SAS’s EuroBonus program, or you can click the ‘Add frequently flyer program’ link, and add your details. I purposefully did not do this, just to see what options I’d get in the following pages.

The next screen over is seating assignment. I could be wrong, but I don’t think anybody actually gets a free seat. I did a dummy booking with the standard economy fare, and noticed that seat assignment was still paid. This is unlike many other airlines, that do provide a free seat assignment with standard economy bookings.

As you can see, for the transatlantic flights you’d pay $19 for a standard seat, $45 for a preferred seat (which is typically a seat forward in the cabin), and $69 for an extra legroom seat. These are typically exit rows and bulkhead seats. Meanwhile, for the intra-Europe segment you’d pay $6 for a standard seat, and $10 for a preferred (forward cabin) seat. As such, for the return flight, you could pay up to $148 for seat assignments.

The next screen was specifically dedicated to bags. Light fares don’t come with any checked bags, but they do provide an underseat bag (personal item) and a carry-on, which honestly is just fine for a 4-day getaway. However, if you do want a checked bag, that will cost you $75 per leg, for a total of $150 for the return flight.

So there you have it. If I were to select extra space seats and take a checked bag I’d have to spend and extra $298 on all those extras. Of course, the bag would come at something of a discount if you simply select the Standard economy fare: at $50 per leg extra ($25 ‘discount’), you get a checked bag, but would still need to pay for the seats for a total markup of $248 from light to standard economy, plus extra space seats.

Do that again: now with my Flying Blue member number

Now let’s go all the way back and add my Flying Blue membership. I hit that blue link, select KLM, and add my membership number. Now let’s have a look what happens.

Score! Now all seats have turned green, meaning that every single economy seat (save for those that are already taken) are now available for assignment. That includes the preferred and extra space seats, in rows 30 and 40 in the A330 of the transatlantic legs. So, I went ahead and assigned myself seat 30A for EWR-ARN, 9A for ARN-CPH and 30A again for CPH-EWR.

For the next screen, I wasn’t presented with the ‘bag screen’, as I had been before. That is, I was presented with a much more general screen showing all sorts of options, from bags, to meals to lounges. I suspected that this probably meant that I was getting a checked bag included with the fare, although there wasn’t explicit mention of that. Same for the lounges: I was expecting to receive this perk, but didn’t see it mentioned. I decided not to add anything further and simply pay for the flights and then check the details afterwards in ‘Manage my trip.’

After payment, I scrolled down to see what the policy on checked bags was. In the passages marked yellow, you’ll see that ‘the extra baggage benefit doesn’t apply to those traveling in SAS Go Light fares. However: notice how it also says Star Gold Passengers? It means this passage is from before SAS joined Skyteam and the policy may have changed. There was still hope!

So I elected to got to ‘Manage my trip’ on the SAS website, and here there was a very clearly delineated list of all the perks that I could expect. Unlike KLM, Air France, Delta, Virgin or even AeroMexico, there was no obvious mention of my SkyPriority benefits that Flying Blue would afford me, however on inspecting the detailed itinerary, I noticed a few things:

• I was able to bring 1 checked bag with me ($75 value for the return trip).
• I would receive lounge access at EWR and CPH ($110 for the return trip).
• I would receive Fast Track, which is priority access at security.

Based on this, though, I’m not sure I would receive priority boarding or check-in, but I would assume that I probably do. I’ll be sure to report back after my trip…

You may wonder whether the SAS lounges are something to get excited about. I had the opportunity to visit both SAS lounges on a previous trip, and found both lounges to be pleasant. The decor is Scandinavian in that they are simple and minimalistic, but practical and comfortable. The CPH lounge is nicer and ahs more food options than the lounge in EWR, bit I’m thankful for the lounge access at EWR regardless: In EWR specifically, the SAS lounge is a welcome reprieve from the rather terrible Terminal B that SAS flights depart from. It’s a rather old and haggard building that hopefully will see a major redevelopment later on.

Final Tally: Serious Savings

What is the total value of everything that my Flying Blue Gold status is giving me, that I’d otherwise have to spend extra on? See here:

• Free extra space and preferred seat selection worth $148. If I didn’t get this perk, I may have indeed splurged on the extra-space seat.
• Free 1 checked bag, worth $100. Note: not $150, since I’d have simply upgraded to the standard economy fare, which includes 1 checked bag for $50 per leg. But, given the short duration of my trip, I would have simply used a backpack and a carry-on only.
• Free Fast Track, which costs $19 at airports that have it, but it seems like I may not get it at Stockholm, and reportedly SAS doesn’t operate this service at Newark.
• Free Lounge access at EWR and CPH, worth $110. Note: I probably won’t get lounge access at ARN. SkyTeam rules usually only allow access before the international (not intra-Europe) leg of the itinerary, hence I don’t get access at ARN (and it costs $55 to buy access).

So, all in all, that’s $358 in free perks that I’m getting on account of Flying Blue Gold status. Not too shabby! Is it enough to offset the monetary investment that I made to get here? By itself, it is not. However, if I’d have 3 flights like this per year, then I’d say yes, it probably would.

Slight tangent: the comparative value of Flying Blue Gold perks to Economy Flex and Premium Economy

The main attraction of airline status is that you can in theory buy the cheapest fare type and still get an elevated travel experience over ‘standard’ economy. However, as much as I’d like to then extend the comparison to the various other fare types, due to the unique mix of perks I’m getting for free, it’s difficult to do that.

For example, Economy Flex gives you the option to refund your booking to the form of payment, while not giving you lounge access. Meanwhile Premium Economy gets you a more spacious seat and elevated meals, that I don’t have free access to through Flying Blue Gold. Those differences are hard to quantify and can be rather subjective.

For me, the unique mix of perks that Flying Blue Gold affords is kind of perfect: I found that economy with an extra space seat is a pretty nice experience, actually, and I highly value the free checked bag. Fast Track and lounge access are also perks I enjoy. Together, these perks bring the experience close enough to a more premium (elevated) travel experience that I wouldn’t upgrade to Premium Economy, let alone Business Class, for this relatively short, transatlantic flight. So in that light, you could perhaps go even further and say that I didn’t save ‘just ‘ $358 – I may have saved $565: the fare difference between Economy Light and Premium Economy.

Summary

I present a booking experience for a flight on Scandinavian Airlines, SkyTeam’s newest partner, and I make a one-to-one comparison of the perks and their value that I receive thanks to my Flying Blue Gold status. I’m happy to say that the real, quantifiable value of my status comes down to $358, since that is the total amount in perks that I receive for free thanks to my status. This includes free extra-space and preferred seats, lounge access, a checked bag, and Fast Track through the airport.