Month: January 2025

Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers.

When booking discounted travel, numerous opportunities are available — from paid ticket sales to redemption promotions. One of the most reliable deals is the monthly Promo Rewards Air France-KLM Flying Blue offers.

These monthly exclusive discounts are on the Flying Blue website. They apply to flights to and from specific cities or regions, and they are available for booking until the end of each month. They also apply to a specified travel window.

This month, there are enticing offers for one-way economy flights to various European cities starting at just 15,000 miles. This represents a significant discount compared to what other loyalty programs typically charge for similar award tickets. If you’re planning a trip to or from one of those cities, this could be an exceptional deal worth considering.

What is Flying Blue’s January award promotion?

Airlines: Air France and KLM
Routes: Economy award fares are available on short- and medium-haul flights between various European cities as well as on long-haul flights between Europe and North American cities like Atlanta, Miami and Phoenix. Premium economy seats are also available from Chicago and New York to Europe.
Cost: Short- and medium-haul economy awards start at 5,625 miles; long-haul economy awards start at 15,000 miles; long-haul premium economy awards start at 26,250 miles.
Travel dates: Through June 30
Book by: Jan. 31

Promo Rewards between North America and Europe

Right now, you can snag a one-way economy ticket from O’Hare International Airport (ORD) to Scotland’s Edinburgh Airport (EDI) for just 20,000 miles. Remember our tip to easily search prices month by month.

Keep in mind that Flying Blue lets you add a free stopover on your connection(s). For example, you could fly from the U.S. to Edinburgh, spend a few days in Amsterdam and then travel to your final destination for no additional miles. To book a ticket with a stopover, you’ll need to call Flying Blue at 800-375-8723.

Related: The best ways to travel to Europe using points and miles

How to book Flying Blue Promo Rewards flights

Book Promo Rewards tickets on the Air France or KLM website. Log into your account and click the “Book with Miles” button on the home screen. Then enter your desired itinerary before clicking “Search flights.”

Now select the flight you’d like to book and follow the on-screen prompts to complete your reservation.

If you plan to transfer credit card points or miles to book this award, you should find award space first. Then place your ticket on hold and transfer your points or miles. You never want to transfer points or miles without having concrete dates in mind.

How to earn Flying Blue miles

Boosting your Flying Blue balance is easy, because the program partners with all major transferable points and miles programs.

You can transfer points or miles at a 1:1 ratio from American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Wells Fargo Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards. You can also transfer Marriott Bonvoy points at a 3:1 ratio, with a 5,000-mile bonus for every 60,000 points you transfer.

Based on our tests, Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase and Citi transfers should post almost instantly. However, that wasn’t the case with our test transfer from Marriott, which took three days to arrive in our Flying Blue account. Because of this, credit card points and miles are your best bet if you hope to book right away; Flying Blue generally allows three-day holds on award tickets when you call, though.

Related: When does it make sense to transfer Marriott points to airlines?

Maximize your purchase

Use a card that earns additional points on airfare purchases to pay the taxes and fees on your award ticket.

Some of the best cards include:

• The Platinum Card® from American Express: 5 points per dollar spent on airfare booked directly with the airline or through American Express Travel (on up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year, then 1 point per dollar)
• Chase Sapphire Reserve®: 5 points per dollar spent on flights purchased through Chase Travel℠ and 3 points per dollar spent on other travel
• American Express® Gold Card: 3 points per dollar spent on airfare when booked directly with the airline or through amextravel.com
• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: 5 points per dollar spent on travel purchased through Chase Travel and 2 points per dollar spent on other travel purchases
• Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Card (see rates and fees): 5 points per dollar spent on hotels, 4 points per dollar spent on airline purchases and 3 points per dollar spent on other travel

Bottom line

Few sales are as reliable as the Promo Rewards we see each month from Air France-KLM Flying Blue. Boosting your Flying Blue balance is easy since the program partners with all major transferable points and miles programs. Since you can reserve these tickets on either the Air France or KLM website, they’re simple for anyone to book.

Related reading:

• Key travel tips you need to know — whether you’re a first-time or frequent traveler
• Best travel credit cards
• 6 real-life strategies you can use when your flight is canceled or delayed
• 8 of the best credit cards for general travel purchases
• 13 must-have items the TPG team can’t travel without

What was the most on-time airline — and airport — in the world in 2024?

New numbers released to kick off the new year offer some answers.

Aeromexico proved to be the global winner, according to data released Thursday by aviation analytics firm Cirium.

In 2024, nearly 87% of the Mexico City-based carrier’s flights arrived at their destination on time.

Closely following Aeromexico, two spots back in third place, was Delta Air Lines, the top U.S. carrier for on-time performance last year, Cirium said.

Here’s a quick rundown of the top-performing airlines, as well as large airports that saw the highest on-time rates — featuring one of the most popular U.S. cities for vacationers.

Most on-time airlines in 2024

To calculate the highest-performing airlines in the world, Cirium held to a widely recognized industry standard: the percentage of flights that arrived at their destination within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival time.

Here’s how global airlines stacked up:

1. Aeromexico (86.7%)
2. Saudia (86.3%)
3. Delta (83.5%)

It’s worth noting that Panama City-based Copa Airlines actually outperformed Aeromexico, with 88% of its flights arriving on time. However, Copa doesn’t technically meet Cirium’s global network criteria for that ranking — though the Star Alliance airline did take the crown among Latin American carriers.

Most on-time airlines in the US

The top U.S. airlines for on-time performance in 2024 included:

1. Delta
2. United Airlines (80.9%)
3. Alaska Airlines (79.3%)

Delta’s top ranking among U.S. airlines came despite a mid-July meltdown in the wake of a global technology outage at CrowdStrike, which saw the Atlanta-based carrier cancel thousands of flights over a five-day period.

Yet, its full-year performance still ranked ahead of its closest U.S. competitors, Cirium said.

“Their recovery was superb, because the month after that whole issue occurred, they were at 91% [on-time flights] in August,” said Mike Malik, Cirium chief marketing officer.

Delta was the top-performing carrier in TPG’s Best U.S. Airlines in 2024 report released last spring. We’ll ultimately have to see how Delta stacks up when we crunch the numbers again this year.

Other regions of the world

Iberia Express, a regional subsidiary of Madrid-based Iberia, ranked first among European airlines in 2024 on-time performance, Cirium announced.

The mainline Spanish flag carrier ranked second, followed by Scandinavian Airlines, which in 2024 became the newest member of the SkyTeam alliance following years of financial turmoil.

“SAS is making huge strides and investment into I.T. and technology, and also fleet, as well,” Malik noted.

Japan Airlines was the top performer in the Asia Pacific region, narrowly topping Japanese competitor All Nippon Airways.

Read more: Japan Airlines’ A350-1000 inaugural from New York to Tokyo: Same great service, fabulous new seats

South Africa-based Safair led the rankings in the Middle East/Africa region.

Top airports in the world for on-time performance

Cirium also compiled rankings for the world’s best airports for on-time departures.

Among large hubs, here’s how the top three shook out in 2024:

1. King Khalid International Airport (RUH) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2. Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) in Honolulu
3. Jorge Chavez International Airport (LIM) in Lima, Peru

Honolulu’s airport is the biggest airport in Hawaii, serving as a vital connection for interisland flights in the state and also as a gateway to Asia. It’s also a new global hub for the newly merged airline comprising the Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines brands.

Panama City’s Tocumen International Airport (PTY) was the best medium-size airport in the world for on-time flights, Cirium said, with Guayaquil, Ecuador’s Jose Joaquin de Olmedo International Airport (GYE) leading among small airports.

Related reading:

• When is the best time to book flights for the cheapest airfare?
• The best airline credit cards
• What exactly are airline miles, anyway?
• 6 real-life strategies you can use when your flight is canceled or delayed
• Maximize your airfare: The best credit cards for booking flights
• The best credit cards to reach elite status
• What are points and miles worth? TPG’s monthly valuations

Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers.  

‘Tis the season for gifts — and that includes gift cards. Unfortunately, you may have received some gift cards for the holidays that you aren’t very excited about. If that’s the case, we have some good news: You can turn those unwanted gift cards into United MileagePlus miles through United’s MileagePlus Gift Card Exchange. Here’s how it works.

Related: What credit cards should you use to purchase gift cards?

Which gift cards are eligible for United miles?

On the MileagePlus Gift Card Exchange landing page, there’s a link to a “Gift card retailer list” at the bottom. This list currently includes over 30 retailers, such as Best Buy, Sears, Starbucks and Walmart.

However, note that some merchants on this list may not actually be available for exchange on the website. There are also some merchants available for exchange that aren’t on the list, including The North Face and HP.

Related: Flights, credit cards and more: How to earn miles with the United MileagePlus program

Is it worth exchanging gift cards?

United has a chart listing the “Minimum award miles awarded,” which would make you think that some options offer more miles than these rates. But we checked dozens of different merchants, and the mileage offer was the same for each one.

Despite the chart, you’re not limited to $25, $50 and $100 gift cards. According to the homepage, you can exchange gift cards with at least a $15 minimum balance. However, there are higher minimum balances for some merchants, like $50 at The North Face. If your balance is too low, a red box with the minimum will pop up when you click “Get Mileage offer.”

From what we’ve gathered, the number of miles offered is the gift card value times 26.6, rounded up to the nearest 10 miles. This comes out to between 3.70 and 3.76 cents per mile, depending on how many you’re trading in. For example:

• $15 gift cards equal 400 United miles (3.75 cents per mile)
• $20 gift cards equal 540 United miles (3.70 cents per mile)
• $25 gift cards equal 670 United miles (3.73 cents per mile)
• $30 gift cards equal 800 United miles (3.75 cents per mile)
• $40 gift cards equal 1,070 United miles (3.74 cents per mile)
• $50 gift cards equal 1,330 United miles (3.76 cents per mile)
• $100 gift cards equal 2,660 United miles (3.76 cents per mile)

This rate is much higher than TPG’s December 2024 valuation of 1.35 cents per United mile, meaning you’re not getting good value from your gift cards. Still, if you’d rather have the miles than the gift card, this could be a useful way to offload them.

Also, at least United is being consistent. When United isn’t running a buy miles promotion, you can buy United miles at a rate of $35 per 1,000 United miles. After taxes and fees, this comes out to 3.76 cents per mile.

Related: The best credit cards for buying points and miles

Limitations to the Gift Card Exchange

To sell gift cards through the MileagePlus Gift Card Exchange, your MileagePlus account must have been open for at least 90 days and have a positive account balance. This means you can’t exchange your gift cards for miles if there are no miles in your account.

But if your account is empty, don’t worry: There are several easy ways to earn United miles without flying, such as through the MileagePlus shopping portal or the MileagePlus Dining program.

Although the site may give you a quote for $10 gift cards at some merchants, the terms and conditions state that “gift cards accepted must have a $15 minimum balance on the card and may have a maximum imposed.” It also appears that the exchange will only accept gift cards up to $100.

If you decide to sell a gift card through the MileagePlus Gift Card Exchange, the miles should arrive in your United account within five business days.

Related: How to use points and miles to give gifts with zero out-of-pocket cost

Bottom line

While you’re not going to get the best value from exchanging gift cards for United miles, it’s nice to have the option to swap an unwanted gift card for something more useful. The MileagePlus Gift Card Exchange could come in handy if you need United miles for an upcoming redemption, have tapped out your Bilt Rewards Points and Chase Ultimate Rewards points, and are holding a qualifying gift card. If your only other option is to buy United miles, you might as well liquidate the gift card — especially if it’s one you wouldn’t use soon anyway.

On the other hand, if you don’t have a United redemption in mind, it might be worth checking online for another gift card exchange program (such as CardCash) that may give you a better rate.