Flying Club, or Flying Blue?

[pc5]

I will be flying KLM longhaul very frequently for the next few years (a mix of econ and business, connecting through AMS from London) and had assumed to credit the flights to a hitherto neglected Flying Blue account.

I expect to pick up FB Silver status very quickly, and probably Gold soon after, so would have the improved miles earning rate and lounge access at AMS. I value the latter quite highly as there could be some painful layovers.

But the finalisation of Virgin Atlantic joining Skyteam has made me rethink – would it be worth crediting all these flights to a Flying Club account instead? Predominantly so I can capitalise on the perks attached to the VA Reward+ card, given Skyteam don’t have any other products in the UK market,

I really can’t work out the various permutations or considerations. What I really don’t understand is: (a) whether flying KLM would earn me status with VFC as quickly as FB; and (b) would that status then entitle me to the same perks (mainly lounge access) if I’m on a KLM econ ticket?

Thanks for any advice / thoughts.

[phantomchickenz]

I was looking in to half of this (crediting KLM to VS) last night. Virgin Gold will give you SkyTeam Elite Plus, which comes with lounge access.

I was also in the Crown Lounge (52) at the weekend and it was very pleasant. Sleep pods can be hired for the long layovers. Keep in mind FB also has an additional level (Platinum) where you can bring in a guest to the lounge.

VS Tier point earning on KLM can be found under the partner airline section of the Flying Club webpage. Flying Blue XP seems more… complicated.

FB gold comes with free standard seat selection, platinum with free any seat selection. I don’t think FC gold has that when flying on KLM.

[TJones]

If you’re going to fly KL (or AF) frequently, the best benefit of Flying Blue platinum is the platinum service line. It makes life so much easier in case of IRROPS. The novelty of the Crown Lounges soon wears off, and they can get very crowded. Unfortunately the Schiphol Privium scheme is not open to new members at the moment, and I’m not sure if UK passport holders will be accepted post-Brexit when/if it reopens.

[AL]

Honestly, I’d throw the points in VSFC. VS Gold will give you SkyTeam Elite Plus, which equates to – at least – Flying Blue Gold, if not Platinum.

You need 1000 TPs to get to Gold with VS. “Frequently” isn’t easily defined, but let’s do some quick sums:

– Each LHR-AMS leg is going to get between 10 and 40 TPs, depending on whether you’re in Economy or Business and on a Discounted or Flexible ticket.

– Each AMS-XXX leg is going to get between 10 and 200 TPs, depending again on whether you’re in Economy or Business and on a Discounted or Flexible ticket.

If we assume that each trip has LHR-AMS-XXX-AMS-LHR, then the minimum you’ll earn per trip in Economy is 70 TPs. If you purely flew KL Economy, after 15 trips a year, you’d be VS Gold. The minimum you’ll earn in Business is 220 TPs, meaning Gold in five trips.

This makes an assumption that you’re flying on a KL code. It’s ever so slightly different on AF, but not by much. It can be better off for you to book on VS-marketed/KL-operated flights because you can double TPs on top-end Economy buckets.

As a long-time VS Gold, I’ve used the KL Platinum Service Line and all of the other KL perks at AMS for rebooking etc. in the past without issue – they didn’t bat an eyelid that I wasn’t a KL member.