Air France/KLM Flying Blue Adds Free Stopovers

Last fall, it was announced that Air France/KLM Flying Blue members would soon be able to add a free stopover on reward bookings. The program has made it official, and you can now add a stopover of up to one year for free on a Flying Blue reward booking.

Few loyalty programs offer such a benefit, and in the recent past, more programs have taken this feature away rather than add it. In fact, Flying Blue now has one of the most generous stopover policies, allowing members to stay for up to a year at no extra cost!

Free Stopovers on Air France/KLM Flying Blue Redemptions

While the initial announcement about stopovers was made on a webinar, there is now an official news release on the Flying Blue website that outlines the policy.

You can book a stopover of between 24 hours and a year on reward bookings made with Flying Blue miles. There is no additional cost in miles or cash to add a stopover, which is a great deal.

For the time being, all stopovers must be booked over the phone with the call centre, but hopefully the ability to book online will be rolled out in the future. 

Last fall, when the initial announcement about stopovers was revealed, it was suggested that the feature would only be available on flights operated by Air France or KLM. However, in the FAQ section the news release, it states that stopovers may be added with Air France, KLM, or partner airlines, which seems to suggest that any partner airline of Flying Blue should be eligible.

With this development, Flying Blue joins the ranks of other major loyalty programs that offer stopovers on reward bookings, including Air Canada Aeroplan, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, and Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer.

For North Americans, this means that the natural stopover points will be Paris and Amsterdam, the two hub cities for the airlines. However, stopovers will also be possible on the airlines’ “fifth freedom” routes.

For example, if you’re planning a trip to Europe, you can fly from Washington to Amsterdam, stay for up to a year, and then continue onward to another destination in Europe, such as Prague, at no additional cost. In economy class, this could cost as few as 12,750 Flying Blue miles, which is an incredible deal.

With Air France, you could fly from New York to Paris, stopover for a while, and then continue onward to Budapest for as few…