This topic was previously highlighted in my weekly recap newsletter here
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Air France/KLM Flying Blue now charging seat selection fees…
…for business class award flights between Europe and the US. This change occurred sometime in mid-to-late June 2026 and AF/KLM now wants $170+ to pick a seat each way. The Flying Blue program has already been charging for business class seat selection back in April 2023 except for flights that touched the US back in April 2023.
Is the Air France/KLM Flying Blue loyalty program still worth it?
Looking back at 2023, this was probably one of the best programs to fly between the US and Europe in business class. With some flexibility, and watching out for my award alerts, you could find business class seats for 55k points and $250-500 in tax/fees each way. The points cost hasn’t changed much since and is now a still very favorable 60k points. But availability appears to have become more scarce.
Even worse, if you do find availability, Air France/KLM will hit you with ever-increasing surcharges to book that award. Now, it costs anywhere from $340-600 in tax/fees each way to book that flight. The cherry on top? Earlier in June 2026, AF/KLM is now charging seat selection fees – even in business class. This is another $170+ per person in fees if you do want to pick your seat, and just another trend of airlines fragmenting their business class product for additional revenue. British Airways has long done this, and so has Ryanair. United Airlines also recently joined the trend and has started to fragment out their Polaris business class product with “Base” Polaris where you don’t get Polaris Lounge access and have to pay to pick your seat!
The “cheapest” AF/KLM saver business class award is quite expensive
With the increased taxes and fees to book an award flight coupled with the new seat selection fees, it’s becoming quite expensive to book a “saver” business class flight through Air France/KLM with “saver” being the 60k points cost each way. Looking at a round-trip flight on AF/KLM in “saver” business class, you’d be paying 120k points + ~$950 in tax/fees + ~$340 in seat selection fees for a total of 120k points + ~$1,300 in taxes/fees per person for a round-trip flight. Of course, you don’t have to pick a seat or could be able to pick one for free depending if you have status or wait until check-in.
How to pick seats for free now?
With these changes, there aren’t any real ways to avoid paying for a seat unless you:
- Have Air France/KLM Flying Blue status (just need Silver status)
- Potentially able to pick for free with SkyTeam Elite Status, like Delta Gold (DP from Flyertalk)
- Wait until online check-in, which is 30 hours before the flight, unlike US airlines usually 24 hours
Full list of ways to get complimentary status below.
So is Flying Blue still worth it?
The new seat selection fees obviously suck, and the general trend of airlines continuing to fragment out their premium products for more money continues to march forward. However, there is still value in the Flying Blue program. If you just need a one-way award flight, it’s a great option to have to get you to where you want to go. There are also Flying Blue promos where you can even get discounted flights in economy, premium economy, or even business class. The July 2026 promo has a 25% discount on NYC-Europe flights in business class, making the flight only 45k points. Combine it with a transfer bonus to AF/KLM, and you can potentially book a flight for under 40k points each way.
The fees take a big bite out of “value”, but you can think of it as paying ~$1,000-1,200 per person each way to fly business class each way across the Atlantic. Not terrible when put in that perspective.
Interested in more award flight deals and related tips & tricks? Make sure to subscribe below or visit newsletter.findflightsfor.me to get deals directly to your inbox.
