Photo: Michael Derrer Fuchs | Shutterstock
The frequent flyer program of KLM, Air France, and Transavia is one of several offering a discount on redeeming miles for minors. The Flying Blue
loyalty program has just been recognized by Point.me as the best program for customers in a large independent study. One of the features that helped it stand out was excellent availability for redeeming frequent flyer miles on flights, with children receiving an extra discount.
How to save on children’s flights
The frequent flyer program offers several benefits for families. Most notable is free family pooling, a feature not yet available on many US airlines. Children can hold individual accounts with the program, and miles do not expire before the child turns 18. Members of the Flying Blue loyalty program are entitled to a discount of 25% when redeeming miles on flights for children aged 2-11. While infants under 2 are not entirely free, tickets are “deeply discounted for infants and children traveling in your lap.
The real savings come for children under 12. To book a child award ticket, one must go to the Air France
or KLM website and select child underneath ‘add passenger” when choosing to book with miles. Sample routes and dates analyzed by Simple Flying found good availability and the reductions as promised, with a direct flight from Raleigh Durham International Airport (RDU) in North Carolina to the City of Lights coming in at 35,000 miles plus taxes and fees. 20,000 miles were charged for the adult and 15,000 for the child, in addition to fees of roughly $50 one-way.
A connecting ticket from New York to Nice via Paris on KLM
came to just under 40,000 miles, with the adult fare reaching 22,500 and the youth fare discounted accordingly. Sadly, the offer cannot be combined with the rewards promotions, and the child must be traveling with an adult to get the discount.
More value with Miles & More, and more
Flying Blue is far from the only carrier offering discounts for children on award redemption flights. European rivals Miles & More
, the frequent flyer program of Lufthansa Group carriers, also offers a 25% discount on award ticket redemptions for children under 12 on Air Dolomiti, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Croatia Airlines, Discover Airlines, Eurowings, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Lufthansa City, Luxair, and SWISS flights.
Members of the SAS EuroBonus
program can find even bigger discounts for children. Simple Flying analyzed sample itineraries and found that child tickets cost as little as half the points required for an adult ticket on the same booking. There is also a cash discount of up to 25%, depending on the destination, price, and booking class for children traveling with an adult over 16 on a regular ticket.
Photo: Michael Derrer Fuchs | Shutterstock
In the United States, Frontier Airlines offers free child fares to members of its Discount Den program, which is a paid promotion above and beyond its standard Frontier Miles loyalty program.