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BA Gold Guest List? Here’s some very interesting news ….

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Yesterday we covered a new status match launched by Flying Blue, the loyalty scheme for Air France and KLM.

For a £99 fee, Flying Blue is matching all three British Airways Executive Club tiers to their Flying Blue equivalents. This is an excellent way to try out the competition if you have realised that you have no chance of retaining BA status beyond April 2026.

If you have British Airways Gold Guest List status (see here for what it takes to earn Gold Guest List) there is some very interesting news.

EDIT: Saturday 18th – it seems that the cap for Ultimate memberships has been reached. If you are Gold Guest List and apply now it is likely that you will ‘only’ receive Platinum status.

Flying Blue Ultimate card

Based on feedback in our comments and on Flyertalk, Flying Blue is quietly matching British Airways Gold Guest List members to Flying Blue Ultimate.

This is the Flying Blue equivalent of Gold Guest List and comes with some very strong benefits.

To put Ultimate in perspective, it requires 3x the flying that Platinum, the ‘normal’ top tier, requires. It also requires all of this flying to be on Air France or KLM – partner flights are not counted. It’s a fairly exclusive club.

(To put the maths into context, you’d need to fly nine return First Class cash flights or 15 return long haul Business Class cash flights, all on Air France or KLM, to achieve it. If your flights are under 3,500 miles you need to fly more, if they are over 5,000 miles you can do a bit less. Unless you are living on a plane you can forget about achieving it via short haul economy!)

What do you get with Flying Blue Ultimate status?

These are the standard benefits of Ultimate, as taken from this page of the Flying Blue website:

  • Receive four complimentary cabin upgrade vouchers per membership year, valid on cash or reward flights
  • One Flying Blue Platinum card for a travel companion
  • A blocked adjacent seat where possible
  • Earn 9 miles for every €1 spent
  • Access Air France and KLM lounges with up to EIGHT travel companions
  • Enjoy SkyPriority services for you and your travel companions
  • Bring one free checked bag on SkyTeam flights or two free additional checked bags on Air France and KLM flights
  • 24/7 support from Ultimate Assistant
  • Hertz Platinum status
  • Free same day flight changes
  • Exclusive check-in facilities in some airports
  • Exclusive areas in some lounges
  • Pre-boarding ‘on demand’
  • Fast track immigration (where allowed by law)
  • An overdraft facility of up to 100,000 Flying Blue miles – book a reward now, earn back the points later
Flying Blue status match

I believe that the cabin upgrade vouchers can be used in pairs to jump by two cabins, eg from Economy to Business on long haul, bypassing Premium Economy.

It’s a decent package, although – unlike Lufthansa’s HON Circle and BA’s Gold Guest List – you don’t get to access First Class lounges. That said, KLM does not have First Class and Air France’s La Premiere is a very niche luxury product with only four seats per aircraft and lounges to match.

For clarity, it isn’t clear if matched Ultimate members receive all of these benefits. We won’t know for a while if people are receiving the upgrade vouchers or the ‘Platinum status for a friend’ perks.

Just to be clear ….

Flying Blue has not said publicly that it is matching British Airways Gold Guest List members to Ultimate. It just so happens that everyone who has done a match so far has been given it ….

(The confirmation email you will receive after doing a match shows that you are getting Platinum, as expected, but your match is processed into Ultimate.)

I suspect there will be a hard cap on the number of GGL members given Ultimate. Please be very aware that if you are Gold Guest List and do NOT get Ultimate you won’t be getting a refund of your £99 status match fee, because it wasn’t a published benefit in the first place.

You can find out more about the status match, and how to apply, in this article from yesterday.

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How to earn Flying Blue miles from UK credit cards

How to earn Flying Blue miles from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

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 American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card earns double points (2 per £1) on all flights you charge to it, not just with Air France and KLM but with any airline.

Category

Air France KLM and Flying Blue, British Airways and Avios

Comments (77)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Nick P says:
    16 Jan16 January 09:19

    Flying Blue match won’t really hurt; but it should be a wake-up call for BA.

    If LH were to follow suit, and there was a cost-effective way of moving Avios then that would really hurt.

  • Angelamc11 says:
    16 Jan16 January 10:58

    So I am right in thinking to maintain status I would need 20 x SH business flights at 15 XP, providing its international travel? This seems too easy.

    • NicktheGreek says:
      16 Jan16 January 11:11

      Indeed. And it’s 15 per segment, so UK-AMS-EU return would be 60 XP.

      • Angelamc11 says:
        16 Jan16 January 12:28

        I’m not London based so my BA loyalty meant always taking 4 segments for return travel. This will suit me perfectly and accounts for only half my travel. I will miss the FW and CCR, but excited now for new possibilities. My Barclay card may be for the chop though, and I’ll put all spend through Amex for the points.

        • BSI1978 says:
          16 Jan16 January 14:59

          That’s an interesting and pertinent point. I hadn’t considered the possible impact on the Barclaycards.

    • Throwawayname says:
      16 Jan16 January 16:57

      They’re not very cheap though, most of the time they seem to be about £600 for a return ticket- the equivalent Lufthansa fares being around £400.

  • Simon Castleman says:
    16 Jan16 January 11:53

    Any ideas how long this status match programme is going to run for? It seems to me that as I have all my flights for 2025 booked, other than a few short hops into Europe, and I will probably retain my BA Silver status until April 26, I’d be better waiting until later in 2025 when I start thinking about my travel plans for next year, but clearly don’t want to miss this opportunity.

    • Neverhide says:
      16 Jan16 January 12:03

      My BA Gold is good until April 26 and I’m collecting circa 3k TPs per year but I’m jumping ship. The only thing in OW I’ll miss is the ‘first class treatment’ of everything (check in, lounge (for JL & CX), boarding and baggage) with Emerald. But I find it hard to justify their on average 20-30% higher fares compared to KL/AF in J.

    • Rob says:
      16 Jan16 January 12:10

      I suggest holding off for 12 months – I’m sure similar offers will be back.

      • The Original Nick. says:
        16 Jan16 January 13:16

        It won’t be long before BAC are status matching people back if they lose all these members. 😁

  • BAGGL says:
    16 Jan16 January 12:00

    Hi – sadly I got confirmaiton to Platinum only despite being a GGL.

  • Dominic Barrington says:
    16 Jan16 January 12:25

    Does anyone have an opinion as to whether Flying Blue Plat or Ultra is more useful to a UK-based traveller than VS Gold? I’m very tempted by the FB status match, but VS feels more realistic given the ability to acquire points with the Mastercard, and I already have 170K Virgin points.

    • Rob says:
      16 Jan16 January 12:35

      Tricky. FB has really good partners for extra redemption options outside SkyTeam. Downside as you say is loss of VS credit card voucher and the ability to redeem for VS seats apart from Saver ones (which is all FB offers) – although this works in reverse too. Obviously wider SkyTeam benefits are the same and Ultimate benefits are only useful flying AF/KLM.

      • JCC says:
        16 Jan16 January 13:11

        My wife is BA Gold and I’m BA Silver (moved some to QR since end Dec.) till Apr. 26. We enjoyed CX First Lounge in HKG. However, this offer is very attractive as we can make Platinum with our travel. Same question as Simon Castleman, any idea how long this offer might be around?

        • Rob says:
          16 Jan16 January 14:17

          Not long – but I also think it will return in 12 months as people face the status cliff on 30 April 2026.

    • CJD says:
      16 Jan16 January 20:27

      Surely it depends on where in the UK you’re based?

      I feel like Flying Blue is probably better for me personally being Glasgow based, I’ve got about 10 flights per day on Air France or KLM to their hubs, Virgin offer me next to nothing really.

    • Throwawayname says:
      16 Jan16 January 21:39

      Flying Blue is better than VS for status benefits but not as good value for redemptions. I think that only VS Gold benefit beyond the standard E+ ones is Clubhouse access when flying with them.

  • John says:
    16 Jan16 January 13:02

    GGL here and it says platinum. Mistake on ultimate?

    • John says:
      16 Jan16 January 13:34

      Apparently you see Platinum now and then it is uplifted to Ultimate after. I would like to see more evidence of this though – i.e. they are still doing it for GGL. Can anyone on here confirm that have applied recently, i.e. today?

    • Rob says:
      16 Jan16 January 14:17

      See what turns up in a few days.

  • Mark says:
    16 Jan16 January 14:38

    I am pleased it worked for some. Me, £99 and no match despite being GGLfL

    • Rob says:
      16 Jan16 January 14:39

      How do you know it hasn’t worked? Yesterday people were getting emails saying Platinum but it later upgraded to Ultimate. Has your FB account actually updated?

  • Aron says:
    16 Jan16 January 14:54

    My understanding from the team at statusmatch is that there is a strict limit on how many GGL they provide ULTI status to … and it’s a one-off that likely won’t be repeated.

    • Rob says:
      16 Jan16 January 15:23

      Correct. But there is no stratification beyond that – no-one is looking at your GGL statement and weeding out low value ones. It’s first come first served.

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