Flying Blue and Accor Launch Enhanced Loyalty Program Partnership
Quick summary
Here at TPG, we love when two loyalty programs join up to offer enhanced rewards for members, and today we have a new one to add to the list. Air France and Accor announced this morning (June 20) that they would be expanding the partnership between their respective loyalty programs — Flying Blue and Le Club AccorHotels — to allow travelers to earn miles and points simultaneously when traveling with both companies. They're calling the program Miles+Points, and it's now live.
Here's how it works.
To take advantage of the new partnership, you'll first need to link your Flying Blue and Le Club AccorHotels accounts, which you can do online at either program's website (try this link to access the Flying Blue registration page directly, though it should also be on your Flying Blue account dashboard). After registering, you will automatically earn Flying Blue Miles and Le Club AccorHotels Reward Points when flying with Air France and KLM or staying in a Le Club AccorHotels participating hotel.
Here are the new crossover earning rates, according to a chart provided to TPG:
- On Air France/KLM flights: 0.5 Accor points per € spent (in addition to the normal flight miles)
- On Accor stays: 1 Flying Blue mile per € spent (in addition to normal points accrual)
Based on TPG's most recent valuations (and using today's exchange rates), that's an additional return of roughly 0.9% on your flights and roughly 1% on your Accor stays. Neither of these amounts are mind-blowing, but it's nice to enjoy the bonuses automatically.
Another aspect of the expanded partnership allows you to convert your Flying Blue miles to Accor points (and vice versa). You can transfer 4,000 Flying Blue miles to 1,000 Accor reward points and 2,000 Accor points to 1,000 Flying Blue miles.
Finally, after linking your accounts, you can earn 5 Experience Points (or XP, Flying Blue's elite status qualification metric) and 1 night towards Accor status when you take your first flight and another 5 XP and 1 status night when you complete your first stay.
"Meeting and exceeding customer expectations is our goal," Air France-KLM CEO Benjamin Smith said in a statement. "Adding more options to earn and redeem Flying Blue Miles was a key driver for the development of Miles+Points, and we are glad we could develop this together with our partner Accor, for the benefit of our joint customers. We aim to position Flying Blue as a leading airline loyalty program by continuing to enrich the customer journey at every step."
Of course, one of the big outstanding questions is what Le Club AccorHotels will look like in the future. Back in February, it announced a rebrand of its loyalty program to ALL, which stands for Accor Live Limitless. However, there's no indication what that means, and we haven't been provided any additional details, though it is expected to be live by the end of 2019.
Of course, there are many other ways to boost your Flying Blue account balance, as it's a currency that's rather easy to earn. The program is a 1:1 transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards, and you can also transfer Marriott Bonvoy points at a 3:1 ratio plus a 5,000-mile bonus for every 60,000 points transferred. It also partners with Capital One; while miles usually transfer to Flying Blue at a 2:1.5 ratio, there's currently a 20% bonus on these transfers that runs through June 30, boosting the rate to 2:1.8.
That's not the only promotion with these two programs. Right now, Le Club AccorHotels loyalty members can also receive 4x points at select new hotels worldwide, including Novotel Miami Brickell, Novotel Hyderabad Convention Center and Raffles Maldives Meradhoo Resort. You have until July 27 to book the offer and until Sept. 15 to stay at a participating Accor property to take advantage of the deal.
It's always nice to see enhanced partnerships like this, and while neither Flying Blue nor Accor is the most useful to US readers, you might as well link your accounts to boost your earning potential before your next flight or stay.