When to Use Flying Blue

• Flying to Paris, Amsterdam, or KLM/Air France hubs: Flying Blue is unbeatable on its home carriers, especially during Promo Award months.
• Economy transatlantic: Promo Awards at 19,000 miles OW are often the lowest available rate — particularly for AMS, CDG, and connecting cities.
• You hold Citi ThankYou points: Citi transfers to Flying Blue but not Aeroplan — if you're primarily a Citi ThankYou earner, Flying Blue is your best transatlantic option.
• Delta flights: As a SkyTeam member, Flying Blue can sometimes access Delta partner award space — useful for US-originating itineraries.

When to Use Aeroplan

• Lufthansa or SWISS flights: Aeroplan has lower carrier surcharges than Miles & More on Lufthansa/SWISS metal. For MUC, FRA, ZRH routes, Aeroplan usually wins on total cost.
• Stopovers: Aeroplan allows free stopovers on round-trip awards — book a flight via Toronto with a multi-day YYZ stop at no extra miles cost.
• You hold Chase Ultimate Rewards: Chase transfers to Aeroplan but not Flying Blue. Chase Sapphire users should strongly consider Aeroplan for European travel.
• Turkish Airlines: Aeroplan can book Turkish Airlines (Istanbul hub) at excellent rates — a great option for Middle East or Central Asia onward connections.
• Business class on Star Alliance: For Lufthansa first class (the famous First Class Terminal in FRA), Aeroplan is often the best program with reasonable fees.

Frequently Asked Questions

Building a Two-Program Transatlantic Strategy

The most effective transatlantic award strategy for most US cardholders isn't choosing between Flying Blue and Aeroplan — it's running both in parallel. The programs have complementary transfer partnerships: Citi ThankYou transfers to Flying Blue but not Aeroplan; Chase Ultimate Rewards transfers to Aeroplan but not Flying Blue. Amex Membership Rewards and Capital One Miles transfer to both. This means you can naturally separate your earning by issuer: Citi card spending feeds Flying Blue for Air France and KLM Promo Awards; Chase card spending feeds Aeroplan for Lufthansa and SWISS business class. The result is two independent mile balances pointing at two different alliance networks, using different credit card ecosystems that don't compete with each other.

Timing is critical for both programs. Flying Blue Promo Awards release on the first Tuesday of each month and sell out for popular routes (Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona) within 48 hours. Aeroplan partner awards — especially Lufthansa business class — are best found either 11 months out on the day seats are released, or within 14 days of departure when unsold inventory returns. If you wait for Aeroplan's last-minute window, you need miles already in your account, not in Chase's queue — bank transfer can take 2–5 days, which too often misses the availability window on time-sensitive releases.

One specific arbitrage worth noting: Flying Blue can book Delta SkyTeam partners including Korean Air and Air France, while Aeroplan books Star Alliance partners like Singapore, ANA, and Turkish. A two-program traveler can cover both alliances simultaneously without committing to a single program's pricing. The total cost of maintaining both balances is just the mental effort of watching two programs — and the payoff is flexibility to use whichever program has better availability and pricing for any given trip.