It is extremely difficult to obtain business or first class seats with Air France with Flying Blue frequent flyer miles, however, there is great availability when using double points. For example, first class to Paris from Los Angeles is 100,000 points. This is virtually impossible to get but for 200,000 points, there is not problem. Using Starwood points, 160,000 points will provide 200,000 points as they give a bonus of 5,000 points when Starwood points are converted to frequent flyer miles. Thanks to First Class Flyer for the tip. I would also recommend making reservations on the internet as the Air France reservations may not be as accommodating.

The problem with the Air France First Class on the 747 is that it is equivalent in space to Business Class on United.

I am in the process of booking first class JFK to CDG using the AMEX two for one program, getting the first class ticket price down to around 6500$. MZankel is totally right, the flights that are now only two class use the 747 and it is the 777's that carry the first class plus the other two. What I am most curious to know, and do not know how to find out, is if on the 777's the first class IS commensurate with larger amounts of space, flat beds, and sheets and blankets?

I have been Platinium with Klm and now Klm/AirFrance Flying Blue for over ten years and have to say that availablity to almost anywhere at any time is a serious problem. Flying Blue,unlike American will not try to mix and match within their Skyteam partners to get you what you need.

Make a short trip to Mexico City or Santo Domingo and the availability is great from there! I work in Haiti for the UN and use this all the time.

I am going to Europe next year one way and returning to by ship. Are there any oneway frequent flyers miles program for one way travelers? I don't want to use the r/t miles. This is Business Class.

JJ Flying Blue does offer the option of one way milage flights at no premium milage so if available that would do it.

I wrote the comment about flying on Air France using the double miles. The aircraft that I am on is a 777 with 180 degree lie flat seats. I bleieve it is worth 160,000 Starpoints converted to Fly Blue.

As an addendum, anyone who wishes to check out the type of seats on an aircraft should go to Seatguru.com. Go to Air France, type in the type of aircraft and you will find the seating chart. If you are not sure what type of aircraft it is, ask Air France how many rows there are in first class and how many seats across. From this information, you can figure out the seating.

I have mileage in Delta and Northwest, also a member of American Express. My spouse and I want to travel to Bangkok perhaps in Dec or Jan. Really need business or first. Any tips?

I have just found out that you cannot use Amex two-for-one program in Air France's first class, only business class. And the WORST thing is that even using two-for-one in business, it is still cheaper by 1000$ each ticket to buy a restricted business class ticket!

to DErdman- Rather than sweating the lack of 2 for 1 with FC on AF, you can purchase 400,000 miles from AMEX for $10,000 and get two FC seats whenever you want. There's more than one way to skin a cat! If you're lucky enough to get the tickets far enough in the future so that they're only 100,000 miles each, you win big time. Good luck.

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Air France new policy is not to allow double point reward travel on First or Business to "Ivory" Flying Blue Members. So, If you plan on moving AMEX miles to Air France program, they will not allow the double point upgrade with the lowest level of Flying Blue Membership.

I was just able to get flights from Salt Lake City to Europe in domestic First and international Business for flights in late September using my Delta FF miles. I asked specifically for Air France as the international carrier. I fly to Rome via PHL and CDG and then back from Florence via CDG and IAD. I was surprised that the agent I worked with found all the flights and only had to use 90,000 of my miles. I was thinking I'd have to pay for a coach fare and use miles to upgrade. It pays to look at a search engine first to find a variety of flights on different airlines, then hope you find a good agent to work with you to find those seats. I was truly happy to get FF seats only 2 months out.

What is the double point reward travel on First or Bussiness.? I am ready to transfer 200.000 points from Amex to Flying Blue, where I am Ivory and I don't want to put them in a "death" program.

The double mileage awards on Flying Blue are available when the standard award is not. For double mileage, you can get seats not otherwise available. Problem for AMEX mile transfers is your status with Flying Blue is probably Ivory and Ivory members cannot use the double mile option for First or Business class, only tourist!

Flying Blue is a pretty decent program, but the fact is that their customer service hours are very reduced for people that live on the west coast. Also the ungodly fuel surcharge is the only one I have seen charged on the european routes from the US. Continental, Delta and Northwest don't charge this "surcharge", neither does Aeromexico when you book on partner airlines. I find it very easy to use Continental one pass service center to find availability and to talk to people who actually are physically in the US and that you can actually understand them without a harsh foreign accent.

When converting Starwood points to frequent flyer programs, the transfer can be expedited with certain airlines at a cost of 3,500 points. Can anyone provide further information about the purchaes of 100,000 American Express award points for the price of $400 as reported in the recent Frequent Flyer publication?

To tranfer AMEX points to Airfrance,KLM or Delta for firstclass ticket is almost impossible, I made many atemps,there is never space 6 month ahead. All airlines have different stories.

I am trying to purchase two First or Business Class tickets from CDG to Athens at the end of February 2008. I have more than enough miles on Continental (who partners with KLM, Al Italia and Air France) and tons of Membership Rewards miles that I am prepared to move to any participating airlines. The problem I am encountering is that apparently only Air France, Aegean and Olympic fly direct. I have heard some scary things about the Greek airlines, and I can't find that they partner with anyone anyway. Air France is saying there is no availability on any of the days (within a one week spread) for Business Class travel. Any advice?

Response to KCastro: I had a similar problem with Air France when I spoke to them on the phone, however, when I made the reservations on the internet, I had no problem redeeming points for a first class ticket. You might want to try this.

Hi--I'm a student running the Florence Marathon for charity, and wonder if anyone has any ideas that can help a two runners do better than our economy-plus seats on United? Our route is LAX-SFO-Frankfart-Florence in late November, and then back again in early December.

Thanks for the advice, but I didn't have any luck with Air France. I ended up booking on American using 90,000 pts for each ticket. The route is a little all over the place, but not to bad ... MIA direct to CDG, after a five day "stopover" CDG to ATH (via LON) on British Airways, theen back seven days later ATH to MIA (via MAD and Boston) on Iberia and Boston to MIA on American. Another interesting note ... I am a Platinum AMEX member and received an email last week that American is now allowing Platinum card holders to access their lounges when traveling on their airline. Maybe one day, American will start allowing us to transfer points!

Regarding Air France's Flying Blue program, I'm an AmEx Platinum member and tried to book 2 business class tix to Europe using my AmEx miles. AF had availability when I called but wouldn't hold the reservation so that I could transfer miles from AmEx into my FB account. Since they said it can take anywhere from 1 hour to 60 days to get the miles transferred, I chose to book another carrier instead of run the risk of putting 200,000 miles into the FB account then not being able to use them. Has anyone made this transfer b/w AmEx and Air France yet and if so, how long did it take to transfer? Any other tips for overcoming this issue?

What web sites offer the best business class ticket prices from Boston to cities in India ?

I have 92.000.00 points on American Express and want to go from Boston to either Paris or Amsterdam. I like to fly AF but is it the wisest and easiest way to go? How long does it take to transfer the points? Does anyone know?

My wife needs to fly to Paris from New York around the end of March, then to Bergen Norway and back to NY on April 6th. She doesn't need to go Business but she wants 'economy extra'. That's a bigger (more pitch) seat but in coach for the NY to Paris and Bergen, Norway back to NY. Anybody have any suggestions on how to accomplish this modern miracle? Thanks

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