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

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.

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

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 (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:

• 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.

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.

• The Platinum Card from American Express (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 50,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 50,000 Flying Blue miles

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.

• 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 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.