Do award bookings count as a flight?

 

This is why FB is one of the worst programes out there

 

Not to keep your miles alive. The flight made has to earn level miles (i.e. Skyteam coded and operated or an AF/KL coded flight operated by partners - all in a miles earning booking class).

 

Frankly...FB has many defaults but I don't consider miles expiry as one, even if it's true that miles don't expire in some other programs. FB is a frequent flyer program, so if you don't fly a single time a Skyteam flight in 20 months, then you don't need a Skyteam FFP membership.

 

If your award booking is a flight, then it's a flight.

But what does that have to do with the current topic? Award flights do not earn FB status miles. Booking a redemption flight will have no more effect on your mileage lifetime than would booking a flight on Lufthansa.

You must earn status miles at least once every 20 months to prevent your miles from expiring. This means paying for, and flying, at least one status mileage-earning Skyteam flight

 

Yes.
And always "share and fly" by American express in case of deadline with no earning flight.
I used it yesterday for my daughter who just fly awards last 20 months. Debit/credit is instantaneous

 

Sorry, could you explain what that means? Thanks.

Another thread suggests that we may all be able to transfer miles soon (if not already), but the Amex thing is limited in scope to those having an FB Amex, no? In which case the miles would not be subject to the expiry rules in the first place?

 

In french, this link explains the rule.
http://www.nouveauxavantages.fr/land...ly-silver.html
I have an AFKLM Amex and, after registration with Flying blue to precise the counts shared, we can transfer all your miles (or part of it) in the two directions.
The other partner must have a free additional card AFKLM Amex on your own account.

If your additional card holder attached to your card account AIR FRANCE KLM-AMERICAN EXPRESS is a member of Flying Blue Miles and his personal account coming soon expire, you can actually extend their validity. For this, he/she may request the transfer of its Award Miles Flying Blue account to your Flying Blue account; then you must make a purchase with one of your two-KLM AIR FRANCE AMERICAN EXPRESS. This will extend to 20 months the validity of all of your respective Miles.

You are right: in case of a normal (independant) AFKLM card, your miles never expiry.

 

Not forgetting of course, for those new to the game, that if you have any form of status (Silver, Gold or Platinum) then your miles do not expire. Silver status can be reached with as few as 15 qualifying (paid) flight sectors.

 

However, if you do not fly once in the 20 months, you clearly didn't renew status, and you also don't get a soft landing, so you quickly become Ivory and soon thereafter, if not immediately, you lose all your miles.

Status does not really extend your mileage lifetime at all. To retain any form of status, you are clearly taking at least one status-mile earning flight every calendar year, ie once every 12 months (which is the minimum required to obtain a soft landing. To maintain status, you are clearly taking at least 15 status-mileage earning flights each year!).

So the behaviour that keeps/maintains/soft-lands status is also, naturally, extending your lifetime because you are meeting the requirement of taking at least one status mileage earning flight every 20 months. It's not that status members are exempted from this rule! By keeping/maintaining/soft-landing your status, it just means that you are also continually observing the "one flight every 20 months rule". As soon as you stop following that rule, you lose your status, and all your miles.

[The above does not apply to FB Credit Card holders but applies to all other FB members]

 

If you have not flown for the past 20 months, it is hard to have status.
Status soft landing requires to have flown at least once.

 

I wasn't aware of this. That's actually quite generous. I had assumed that the transfer of miles could only be outwards from the FB-AMEX card holder's account; I didn't realise it was possible to transfer from a "regular" FB account to this person (I can't find any link in my FB account for doing so - perhaps this is all initiated on the side of the FB-AMEX card holder).

Additionally, the fact that "Share and Fly" miles being deposited from an FB-AMEX card holder's account into an ordinary, Ivory card account and extending the lifetime of the entire existing balance is incredibly surprising. This means that my mantra of "the only mile that extends your balance is a status mile" is no longer accurate! This requires knowing a French or Dutch FB-AMEX card holder, though - so again, it may be of limited or no use to the vast majority of FB Ivory members.

 

Remember that the additional card is attached to your amex account, so expenses will be debited from your bank account. Not a risk that you would take with a lot of people.

 

Indeed. This "feature" will be of no use to the vast majority of people seeking last-minute ways to extend their lifetime. It doesn't apply to "regular" FB accounts at all.

I'm surprised so many people suddenly seem to care enough to want to preserve their FB miles right at the end of their lifetime, but don't apparently care enough to want to actually take a Skyteam flight, and further, seem to find this requirement onerous! Kind of bizarre, if you ask me

 

Indeed, a typical cognitive bias. You do not value some item and never use it, but when you lose it you feel a great sense of deprivation.