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Match your British Airways status to KLM / Air France’s Flying Blue (SkyTeam)

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Flying Blue, the Air France / KLM loyalty programme, has launched a status match specifically for UK residents.

You can use your British Airways Executive Club status to get a direct match into the Flying Blue programme. This includes giving Flying Blue Platinum status to British Airways Executive Club Gold members.

Your elite status would be valid across all 19 airlines in the SkyTeam alliance, including Virgin Atlantic, as well as Flying Blue’s own partners.

You can apply here.

There is a £99 administration fee.

Flying Blue British Airways status match

Back in 2023, when Delta Air Lines announced unwelcome changes to its frequent flyer programme, it is estimated that 100,000 elite members matched to five different airlines which launched campaigns.

Delta was eventually forced to roll back on its proposed changes, with American Express (Delta’s co-brand partner) rumoured to have got involved. Let’s see if this Flying Blue campaign is followed by any others.

What will I get for my British Airways status?

All three elite tiers are being matched:

  • Executive Club Bronze will get you Flying Blue Silver (SkyTeam Elite)
  • Executive Club Silver will get you Flying Blue Gold (SkyTeam Elite Plus)
  • Executive Club Gold will get you Flying Blue Platinum (SkyTeam Elite Plus)

What status benefits do I get with Flying Blue?

You can see the status benefits you get with each tier here when flying with Air France and KLM.

The benefits of Silver, which matches from BA Bronze and is equivalent in terms of what you get, are mainly around seat selection and additional checked baggage.

Gold is where it starts to get interesting, which is what a BA Silver member gets. At this level you get lounge access (with a guest) plus seating and baggage benefits.

Platinum members (matched from BA Gold) get additional priority, baggage and seating benefits. For example, you can select an ‘extra leg room’ seat, a seat at the front of the aircraft or a KLM ‘Economy Comfort’ seat for free at the time of booking, whilst a Gold can only book one 72 hours before departure if any remain.

There is a detailed matrix on this page which shows the full list of benefits by tier.

Flying Blue British Airways status match

A quick word about children

One key difference between Flying Blue Platinum and Flying Blue Gold is lounge access for children under 18.

A Flying Blue Platinum member can, as well as their standard one guest, bring children under 18 into an Air France or KLM lounge with them. This is a very generous policy by global standards.

A Gold member can only bring one guest in total.

A quick mention about La Premiere

As this is HfP, it would be remiss not to mention La Premiere, the exceptionally well regarded Air France First Class product. This includes what is generally accepted to be the best ‘ground’ experience in the world when travelling from Paris CdG.

You can only redeem Flying Blue miles for La Premiere if you hold Platinum status or above in Flying Blue. This status match could give you the status you need, and you could transfer in – say – American Express Membership Rewards points to pay for the redemption. Note that you will never see more than one redemption seat available per flight, but that’s not surprising given that it is only a four seat cabin.

Flying Blue British Airways status match

Which airlines can I get benefits on with my Flying Blue status?

Your status is valid across the entire SkyTeam alliance, which now comprises 19 airlines:

  • Aerolíneas Argentinas
  • Aeromexico
  • Air Europa
  • Air France
  • China Airlines
  • China Eastern
  • Delta Air Lines
  • Garuda Indonesia
  • ITA Airways
  • Kenya Airways
  • KLM
  • Korean Air
  • Middle East Airlines
  • SAS
  • SAUDIA
  • TAROM
  • Vietnam Airlines
  • Virgin Atlantic
  • Xiamen Air

In addition, Flying Blue Gold and Platinum members can access Air Mauritius, GOL and Qantas lounges when travelling on Air France or KLM codeshares operated by these carriers. No guests are allowed.

Flying Blue British Airways status match

I need to flag one thing about Virgin Atlantic. There is a carve out from SkyTeam rules for the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse in Heathrow Terminal 3:

  • if you have Platinum status with Flying Blue, you can only enter the Heathrow Clubhouse if flying in Premium Economy with Virgin Atlantic. If you are in Economy, you will be sent to another lounge in the terminal.
  • if you have Gold status with Flying Blue you will be sent to another lounge whether you are in Economy or Premium Economy

This rule does NOT apply to other Clubhouse lounges – only Heathrow Terminal 3. All other SkyTeam benefits apply – you can use the Virgin Atlantic Upper Class Wing to check-in if you are Flying Blue Gold or Platinum for example.

It is important to note that both Flying Blue Gold (from BA Silver) and Flying Blue Platinum (from BA Gold) match to SkyTeam’s top Elite Plus level. You get an identical level of alliance benefits.

How long does your matched status last?

12 months.

Your match should be approved within three business days (subject to requests for further ID or UK residency proof) and your account will be upgraded within the next five business days.

You will need to earn the standard number of XP (the Flying Blue tier points currency) within that time to retain your status.

Whilst Flying Blue usually operates a ‘soft landing’ policy, it does not apply to these matches. If you do not requalify you will drop straight back down to the base level.

Flying Blue British Airways status match

How do you apply for your status match?

Flying Blue and its processing partner, Loyalty Status Co, have set up an application website here.

There is an application fee of £99.

Conclusion

If you currently have British Airways Executive Club elite status, you will probably lose it in April 2026. You need to be realistic about this.

Maintaining Gold will require around £35,000 to £40,000 of spend on economy flights or £25,000 to £30,000 of premium cabin flights, to get to £20,000 of net spend. You are likely to need at least £10,000 of gross spend to get to £7,500 of net spend to keep Silver.

If you are thinking of switching to the world of Air France / KLM / Virgin Atlantic / SkyTeam, this is a good opportunity.

It should be especially interesting if you live outside the Heathrow catchment area, since KLM flies from 18 regional airports – including some you wouldn’t expect, such as Norwich and Humberside, with Exeter launching soon – to the world via Amsterdam. Air France also has a strong regional presence, although not quite as big.

It is also well worth a look if you have occasional Virgin Atlantic trips. Being able to use the Upper Class Wing is cool – and you can get that even as Flying Blue Gold – and you get seating and baggage benefits, even if the Clubhouse at Terminal 3 is restricted.

You can find out more, and apply, on the status match website here.

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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, SkyTeam alliance partners

Comments (286)

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

  • TomB says:
    15 Jan15 January 05:27

    Brilliant news especially as still unsure when the SAS status match expires. Quick question, if I’ve got a VA PE booking which I used the voucher to upgrade to UC, I’m guessing I can’t add my flying blue number to the booking for the tier points as a voucher has been involved? I’d still get Clubhouse access as its an UC ticket but might as well send the points to flying blue as not interested in status with VA.

  • johnny_c-l says:
    15 Jan15 January 05:40

    The pressure continues to mount on BA….

    A week and a half back in the office and they’re sticking to the plan, I wonder if they are hopeful or if it is just past the point of no return.

  • Tim W says:
    15 Jan15 January 05:40

    I am not sure if the single La Première redemption seat availability is still accurate as I flew out to Singapore earlier this week in La Première with player 2, both on redemption tickets. I have also sometimes seen up to 3 redemption seats available for a single flight.

    One thing to note is the massive La Première devaluation that recently took place, as part of a wider, less harsh, devaluation of other cabins. AMS-CDG-SIN previously was 205,000, now since Monday 317,500!

    • Barrel for Scraping says:
      15 Jan15 January 09:17

      I’ve also booked two redemption tickets on La Premiere when I still had platinum status. The other two seats were empty so no paying passengers on this flight.

      • Tim W says:
        15 Jan15 January 09:39

        We went out 4/4 so not sure of the logic with releasing redemption seats, but not complaining as a great product, especially on the ground including not very well advertised Schiphol VIP Centre when departing Schiphol. Very nice.

  • Shanghaiguizi says:
    15 Jan15 January 05:50

    Let’s go!!!!! Form an orderly line boys and girls 🤣

    • D says:
      15 Jan15 January 13:23

      It’s a queue, you’ll see one at a departure gate way before the gate opens, but orderly? I don’t think so.

  • Chris W says:
    15 Jan15 January 05:50

    As you say, this is of most use to people living outside London.

    Isn’t the LHR lounge for Skyteam elites a Priority Pass lounge??

  • Talay says:
    15 Jan15 January 06:08

    Not sure where the benefit is really.

    Surely if you wanted to fly Air Frog, you would already be flying Air Frog and have status there already ?

    Are we seriously suggesting swapping direct flights from the UK to indirect flights via the mess that is CDG ?

    • Shanghaiguizi says:
      15 Jan15 January 06:12

      It’s only direct if you live next door to Heathrow. You think BA are flying direct to Beijing from Manchester?

    • patrick C says:
      15 Jan15 January 06:20

      Actually CDG is often better organised then lhr

      • patrick C says:
        15 Jan15 January 06:24

        Also would add that go8ng indirect can shave off quite a bit if money from yhe ticket. So even for some londoners this can make sense. There is obviously the fact that AIR france has a much better business class (better service even if you get club suite) and flies to mote interesting destinations vs BA’s focus on boring US cities where theres nothing to see beyond wasted car land.
        So for the leisure traveller (who is really concerned by BA’s move) with aome business travel, this can be quite interesting.

    • Dominic says:
      15 Jan15 January 06:23

      Can fly Virgin for many, and then a lot of flights have stopovers anyway if long-distance (unless you fancy the premium for direct for a 12hr flight.. often not worth it)

    • Throwawayname says:
      15 Jan15 January 06:38

      CDG is absolutely fine nowadays, I actually prefer it over AMS let alone LHR.

      • GM says:
        15 Jan15 January 09:39

        This is good to hear. I’ve tended to choose AMS over CDG for connections after seeing too many stories about the difficulty of it. Might be a bit more flexible.

    • Giboo says:
      15 Jan15 January 06:38

      Ughhh talay – why the use of such a derogatory word?

      Absolutely no need for it. You should apologise.

    • Dave says:
      15 Jan15 January 06:46

      “Air frog”

      How old are you? 12?!

    • CJD says:
      15 Jan15 January 08:27

      There’s millions of us outside London who’ll be delighted to avoid connecting through Heathrow.

    • patrick says:
      15 Jan15 January 12:36

      You invalidated your opinion early on with childish racism.

    • Lee says:
      15 Jan15 January 18:41

      Sorry: I have used CDG over the last few months. It is great – compare to LHR and LGW. The French have helpful people everywhere and great logistics!

  • Nick says:
    15 Jan15 January 06:15

    Bye, bye, BA! Any loyalty I had left, after prioritising BA over the past 35 years or so, has now gone. All my flying on business has been in Club/First in that time, and, sure, not big, but consistent & long term, but you get most of the benefits anyway, and I’ve never bought a fully flexible ticket yet, which I’d now require to maintain silver/gold staus. Good luck! Big mistake BA, IMHO!

    • Chris W says:
      15 Jan15 January 06:26

      You don’t think BA run the numbers before announcing these changes? Of course they didn’t think the public reaction would be great but they have been planning this for years.

      • Nick says:
        15 Jan15 January 07:30

        Of course they have been Chris, but that doesn’t mean that their ‘bean counters’ have got it right. I’d suggest that their timing is likely to be very poor indeed, as we face a global downturn, with the UK market especially exposed to recession, resulting in a likely large cut back in travel in large corporations over, at least, this year. As I believe, a big mistake.

        • Shanghaiguizi says:
          15 Jan15 January 07:41

          Patiently waiting for JDB to finish his morning coffee and Grace us with his presence and the usual ‘BA are awesome and you’re all making a mountain out of a molehill and customers leaving are nothing more than a rounding error to BA’ 😆

          • Catalan says:
            15 Jan15 January 10:20

            But seeing something from a different perspective is refreshing, no?

          • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
            15 Jan15 January 12:35

            At least JDB makes an effort to add to the debate. You on the otherhand just make snide comments and personal attacks.

  • Andrew Hague says:
    15 Jan15 January 06:24

    I have Silver status with both BA and Virgin, is it worth it / necessary to get AF status

    • Rob says:
      15 Jan15 January 07:22

      No

      • yonasl says:
        15 Jan15 January 12:24

        Or yes if the VS status will expire soon. You get AF/KLM Gold status for 12 months for just £99.

    • Throwawayname says:
      15 Jan15 January 07:24

      BA Silver converts to FB Gold, so you’ll get lounge access which VS Silver won’t offer.

      • David Dodd says:
        2 Feb2 February 12:24

        I converted to Gold with AF/KLM but no access to the Virgin UC lounge only Aspire which in T3 is grimy and disgustingly dirty.

        • Rob says:
          2 Feb2 February 12:28

          Aspire is closing in a few weeks for good, they’ve probably given up.

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

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