Air France and KLM returning to Heathrow Terminal 4 with virtually no notice

Air France and KLM are moving from Heathrow Terminal 3, and will return to their original home in Terminal 4 at the start of the Summer timetable on 26th March.

This begs far more questions than it answers:

• Why is this happening with virtually no notice?

• Why has this not been announced to the public? As of last night, the Heathrow website still showed the airlines in Terminal 3 for April flights and there is nothing on the airline websites.

• What will happen about a lounge, given that the SkyTeam lounge was closed down?

• What happens to passengers who have a tight connection to/from a Virgin Atlantic or Delta flight in Terminal 3 and were expecting a quick transfer rather than the long trip from Terminal 4?

• What say did Air France and KLM have in this move, given that the only winner seems to be British Airways? BA will undoubtedly increase its share of transfer traffic when passengers realise they won’t need a terminal change.

The only upside is that the front desk staff at the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse will no longer have to turn away a steady stream of Air France and KLM elites each day who want access before their short haul flight.

With Air France and KLM moving back to Terminal 4, it would make sense to re-open the ‘permanently’ closed SkyTeam lounge, although clearly this depends on whether it was stripped out or not. SkyTeam has recently opened a new alliance-branded lounge in Sao Paolo so it has clearly not given up on the concept of alliance-branded facilities.

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How to earn Flying Blue miles from UK credit cards (March 2023)

Air France and KLM do not have a UK Flying Blue credit card.  However, you can earn Flying Blue miles by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards.

These cards earn Membership Rewards points:

• American Express Preferred Rewards Gold (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 20,000 Flying Blue miles. This card is FREE for your first year and also comes with four free airport lounge passes.

• The Platinum Card from American Express (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 30,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 30,000 Flying Blue miles

• American Express Rewards credit card (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 10,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 10,000 Flying Blue miles. This card is FREE for life.

Membership Rewards points convert at 1:1 into Flying Blue miles which is an attractive rate.  The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, which converts to 1 Flying Blue mile. The Gold card earns double points (2 per £1) on all flights you charge to it.