Has anyone else had problems with Flying Blue’s mileage crediting?
A reader emailed me for help yesterday saying that Flying Blue were incorrectly crediting mileage or none at all on a few flights, but perhaps more annoyingly weren't responsive or forthcoming when trying she tried to ask them to amend it. The issues were:
1) An Amsterdam to Minneapolis (AMS-MSP) flight in early April 2013 which was booked as a KL-marketed, DL operated flight. It was booked at Y fare bucket but was credited at Q bucket. The difference is that Y is meant to give 100% mileage, whereas she and her travelling partner were only credited 50%. (Here is the table which shows the earning structure)
2) An Amsterdam to Bangkok (AMS-BKK) KL-marketed, KL-operated flight in late December 2012 booked into B bucket. Once again it should have been a 100% accrual, but was told it was ineligible for any miles at all.
3) In mid-March 2013, upon showing their Flying Blue cards for flights purchased at Edinburgh Airport to Paris (EDI-CDG), and with the correct numbers showing on their boarding passes, there has been no mileage credited to their accounts. Even when retroactively claiming, there has still been no response.
I've never had any problems with KLM crediting mileage to me, so I'm having to rely on others' anecdotes, but since I like to view miles and points as an open community, I hope you can share your experiences. I'd like to ask if anyone else has had experience with Flying Blue:
- crediting mileage incorrectly?
- taking their sweet time when asking for retroactive crediting?
- had incorrect credits working in their favour?
Flew LAX-TXL RT a few weeks ago with a combination of DL and KL operated flights. Booked tickets logged into KLM account but called Medallion line to help un-check me in and replace with Skymiles accrual not Flying Blue. All segments credited to DL except for one, AMS-TXL, which credited to KL. Was dreading calling cause figured it’d take forever for one measly segment. Called DL a few days ago to see what happened and they explained a long tedious process which included asking KLM to remove flight credit from my Flying Blue account and sending me email proof of it to show Delta. This also required sending KLM ID proof, which they didn’t even bother to check. Delta, in order to grant me miles, required me to fax KLM’s letter along with my boarding passes amd ID. Seemed like a long process but a quick phone to KLM resulted in immediate removal of the segment along with an email documenting it on their end. I don’t have a fax machine and was too lazy to hunt one down so I triedy luck amd emailed my situation on the comments/complaints section on delta.com stating I needed special handling and asking where I can send my supporting materials. A quick reply on their end telling me it’s already been done without need of all the other hoops and crap I had to go through. Quick and painless, awaiting miles/segment to post within the next few days.
hi i know this comment was a long time ago but I’m having the exact same issue. when I call in, FlyingBlue insists they can’t remove the miles over the phone and I have to use the contact form on the website- is this true? I used the contact form 9 days ago but still haven’t heard back.
Have you heard any further since you posted? I would demand speaking to a supervisor because it’s a bit of a weak response from Flying Blue in my opinion!
It is Dec 2019, and I am having a similar problem! Hopeless.
I have had so much trouble with credits – Flying Blue – that I have given up on them. It took me a YEAR to get ca rental credits for a promotion they had. I sent 37 faxes, more emails and wasted maybe 10 hours on the phone. In the end I was still shorted credit.
The customer service has gone to ….. and FB loyalty to long time flyers finished me when I called about 8 years ago requesting a seat at a Platinum and they told me I didn’t pay enough for my ticket.
Prior to the AF/KLM merger I was top tier in both. Since their merger again as seems to happen they take the worst of both programs.
I’m Lifetime FB Plat and zero problems with flight credits.
I’ve had the same problems and more – the retrocredit page on the FB website does not work. E-mails are either not replied to or it takes forever. When I called the Service Centre, they told me to keep trying (on the website). Finally, I got an e-mail back requesting that I sent them the boarding passes by e-mail, but the message bounces back. A real desaster!
Thanks for your feedback folks! I’ve sent KLM some messages via their social media outlets to try a different tactic. They are usually fairly quick to respond on that.
I’ll see what happens next…
KLM have just responded, impressively within 1 hour, to say that if you should try contacting them if you’re having troubles. I won’t guarantee it’ll work, but you’ll stand a far better chance I think!
My wife and I have just joined FB and already have problems getting credits for the first flights we have taken. It’s seems typically French I.e, no one cares !
Hi, I wrote to you a few months ago about difficulties getting Flying Blue miles credited. You referred me to their social media rep who was helpful. However, he apparently has now left that job. Now there is another person who is simply referring me back to Flying Blue which is utterly unhelpful. My problem this time concerns an AF flight I took in mid-July from CDG to Detroit. I provided my Flying Blue number at the time of booking, and the number was printed on my boarding pass. However, the flight was not credited. I filed a retroactive claim on the AF website, they replied saying it would be credited within 8 days. However, that was not done, and they have not replied to subsequent emails. Truly it is shameful.
Goodness me, I’m sorry to hear of the woes Carol! There’s a reason why I call Flying Blue “Flying Poo”. If you need my help again don’t hesitate to email me: info [at] pointstobemade.com
An update on the Flying Blue missing miles situation … No, it was not my imagination, there really IS a problem here. In addition problems reported in earlier posts, I’ve had two more recent trips (Paris-Stockholm and Paris-Toulouse), on which miles were not credited, although I had presented my Flying Blue card at check-in and the account details were printed on the boarding pass.
Here’s the response I got from Amber Groothuis of Flying Blue (I always contact them via KLM because the Air France side is totally hopeless!) …
“Dear Carol, we understand that it is inconvenient that Miles are not credited automatically. However, when you present your Flying Blue details at time of check-in, the system sometimes isn’t able to process the information anymore. Lately, we did receive more complaints about Miles not being credited and we are doing our utmost best to solve this as we understand that loyal members like you, do not want to have to check their summary after every flight.”
So, fingers crossed they will get this fixed!
Really disgraceful that their systems don’t work, but it’s already a big step for them to admit to the problems! I might run a post to warn people not to present their cards at check in if you don’t mind?
Yes, it’s fine to alert other FB members about this ! Thanks !
Once again I am missing miles from Flying Blue … this time for a flight I took a few days ago from Detroit to CDG. As usual, I had provided my FB details at the time of booking, which was done on Air France’s own website … and my FB Silver account number was displayed on the boarding pass. All to no avail. (Strangely, a connecting flight to Detroit from within the US on Delta WAS credited, but not the Air France flight!) It is beyond belief that, in 2013, one of the world’s largest airlines is unable to perform this simple service for members of its loyalty program.
I’m having problems with Flying Blue for over a year now. I fly from Amsterdam to Madrid every other week with Air Europa (a Flying Blue member). When I fly KLM there are no problems, I always have my miles in a few days. This is not the case when flying Air Europa. After every flight I have to claim my miles (for nearly five years now). Now the website is not working and I can’t claim my miles. I’ve sent an email and suddenly I get a strange response that one of my flights had de “P” code and that was a cheap flight. This is strange, I paid in total Euro 200 for this ticket. Which is not cheap at all for a flight from Amsterdam to Madrid and back.
I will continue writing them, I want my miles.
Flying Blue really has a very bad website which is not working at all.
My partner and I use KLM. I’ve travelled on every flight she has plus some by myself. However she has more miles! Logging in to see your history doesn’t help as it doesn’t go back far enough. And I see you can only claim missing miles within 6 months.
Very poor system. Considering these systems are supposed to create customer loyalty?
Horrible service and inaccurate or miles not appearing. Customer No service.
Hustling run around of endless american style bureaucracy and shyster games. Flying Poo
We took several the flights with KQ since Jan out of 8, we only one that we got miles credit upon the check-in. even though all of our tickets has the membership number printed on them. and recently as a family of 3 we flaw the same flights. My husband was credit more miles then us and try to find the reason why…no response