When you’re booking your next vacation, I would bet a good chunk of my hard-earned points and miles on you only looking to fly to one place. I don’t blame you – you head to your favorite airline’s website, an award search tool like seats.aero, or Google Flights, type in your destination of choice and you get on your way.
What if you can visit 2 or more locations on one itinerary? What if you can even visit the additional destination for free? With Flying Blue Stopover Awards, that’s exactly what you can do!
I was recently intrigued about this perk of the Air France/KLM Flying Blue program and went on a deep dive to better understand the Flying Blue stopover benefit so you don’t have to have to do your own research! Read on for all the details you need to know.
What is a Stopover?
First, the basics. Unlike a layover where you stop briefly at a connecting airport to catch a flight to your final destination, you can think of a stopover as an extra destination on your itinerary for over a day on the same ticketed itinerary. In even simpler terms, you get off the plane, leave the airport, do some exploring and traveling, and then come back to the airport for your next flight on the same itinerary toward your final destination.
Different airlines have different policies on what they allow for a stopover. For example, Air Canada Aeroplan allows a single stopover on a one-way itinerary for an additional 5,000 Aeroplan points.
Flying Blue offers the most generous stopover program in the industry, allowing you to add an unlimited number of stopovers (on the same carrier) to an itinerary within a year. This means that on a single ticket, you can stay a week in Amsterdam before moving on to your final destination at no additional cost.
How do Flying Blue Stopovers Work?
Flying Blue allows you to book an unlimited amount of stopovers (on the same carrier) on a one-way ticket for free. The entire itinerary must be completed within 365 days, which means you can, theoretically, hop around the globe on a single itinerary (more on the theoretically later).
This opens up amazing value for our Flying Blue miles as we can visit more than one destination but only pay the cost of a one-way ticket.
These stopovers can be booked with Flying Blue miles on Air France, KLM, or any of the Flying Blue airline partners.
When the program was initially introduced, it limited the free stopovers to France and the Netherlands. Now, stopovers can be at any airport around the world, opening up many possibilities for our next adventure. However, there is one major limitation to this program that requires us to tame our excitement and imagination.
Stopovers Are Free Only When On The Same Carrier
One of the major limitations to us hopping around the globe on one itinerary is that stopovers are only free if all of the flight segments are on the same carrier.
For example, an itinerary where I am traveling from Toronto-Pearson to Amsterdam (with a stopover in Amsterdam) to Madrid, all on KLM, would equal the cost of a one-way ticket from Toronto to Madrid.
However, if I were to add Madrid as a stopover and head to Sydney on Qantas, the cost of my itinerary would equal the cost of Toronto-Madrid and Madrid-Sydney because the last leg of my flight was on a different airline. Thus, if we’re looking to maximize value, it only really makes sense to add stopovers if they are on the same airline all the way through.
How to Book a Stopover on a Flying Blue Award Ticket
Unfortunately, there is no way to self-serve when booking a stopover award. You must call Flying Blue customer service at 1-800-375-8723, speak to a customer service representative, and let them know you want to book a stopover award.
There is a bit of homework that you need to do before you call in to maximize the chances of the booking going smoothly. You have to look up the full itinerary and each segment individually on Flying Blue’s website to make sure that they are all available to book via Flying Blue miles. You also need to make sure that the stopover segment costs the same, or lower, amount of points than the full itinerary.
Let’s take a look at our Toronto-Amsterdam-Madrid example.
Toronto to Madrid is available to book entirely on KLM in November 2025 for a cost of 22,000 Flying Blue miles in economy class:
Now we have to look for the individual segments on KLM to determine how they are priced:
The first thing we need to make sure of regarding the individual segments is that the redemption price of the Amsterdam to Madrid segment is equal to or lower than Toronto to Madrid. Otherwise, the stopover won’t be free. It’s currently unclear whether they will charge you a fee for the stopover or charge you the cost of the most expensive segment.
A good tip to follow is that if you see the green “Lowest Fare” indicator, there is a great chance that it qualifies for a free stopover. You’ll see here that the itinerary of Toronto to Madrid is actually cheaper than breaking out the itinerary into two segments of Toronto to Amsterdam and Amsterdam to Madrid.
On Flying Blue’s website, it states “A stopover can only be booked for the entry price if the lowest booking class is available on all flights.” My interpretation of this is that this trip will cost the 22,000 Flying Blue miles listed for the Toronto-Madrid flight, however, the agent that you speak with will be able to provide specific pricing details as there isn’t much available documentation on how the stopover benefit works.
If possible, look far in advance from when you want to book a Flying Blue stopover to ensure that there is plenty of availability and you are not affected by Flying Blue’s dynamic pricing.
Once you call in and describe the segments you want to take, the agent will check on their end if the booking is available. If they quote you a price that is more than what you were expecting, we recommend you try to ask them to give you a reason (like our Toronto-Amsterdam-Madrid example). Sometimes agents see something different than we do so as always YMMV when booking a Flying Blue stopover.
The Best Way to Earn Flying Blue Miles
In order to book one of these stopovers, we’re going to have to accrue some Flying Blue miles. There are a handful of ways for us to earn Flying Blue miles in both Canada and the US. Plus, while you are earning Flying Blue miles, don’t forget about the Flying Blue Family Account if you are earning and redeeming as a household!
Brim Flying Blue Co-Branded Credit Card
In Canada, the Brim Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard will earn you miles with spending to bump up your Flying Blue mile stores. Interestingly, this credit card historically does not come with a welcome bonus of Flying Blue miles. Instead, it provides XP points that go towards earning elite status with Flying Blue.
The Brim Financial Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard offers Flying Blue Miles on purchases that can be used for flights around the world, along with a way to increase your status with Flying Blue.
Check out our Brim Financial Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard review for more details.
0 Flying Blue Miles
$0
$-132+
$132
Yes
–
With this credit card, you can earn Flying Blue Miles through spending in the following categories:
- Up to 30 Flying Blue Miles per dollar spent with Brim’s merchant partners.
- 2 Flying Blue miles per dollar spent at restaurants.
- 1 Flying Blue mile per dollar spent everywhere else.
As you can see, it would take quite a bit of spending on the Brim Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard to get enough points for a flight, so you may want to consider other options. Check out our review of the Brim Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard to get more information to determine if this card is right for your spending and travel habits!
Transfer Partners
American Express Membership Rewards Canada is the only Canadian transfer partner for Flying Blue, but unfortunately, does not have the strongest transfer rate at 4:3.
However, there is still a strong argument to be made for the American Express Cobalt card to be the best Flying Blue miles-earning card in Canada. By earning 5 points per dollar spent on groceries, restaurants, and drinks, we effectively earn 3.75 Flying Blue miles per dollar spent in this category.
The American Express Cobalt card earns Membership Rewards points and gives cardholders the opportunity to earn 5x Membership Rewards on eligible restaurant, food delivery, and grocery store purchases.
In 2024, we selected this card to receive the award Best Credit Card for Grocery Purchases.
Check out our American Express Cobalt card review for more details.
15,000 Membership Rewards
$9,000
$174+
$156
Yes
–
As it often does, the US credit card market reigns supreme when transferring to Flying Blue, with most major bank programs offering a 1:1 transfer rate. Check out our Miles and Points Transfer Partner Tool for a comprehensive list of all transfer partners and the most up-to-date transfer rates.
Conclusion
If you look far enough in advance and do your homework, free Flying Blue stopovers can allow you to make the most of your hard-earned Flying Blue miles and visit multiple destinations on one itinerary! While there isn’t a lot of information out there on how to best utilize this benefit, it never hurts to get on the phone with a Flying Blue agent to help price out your desired itineraries.
If you aren’t able to make a Flying Blue stopover work, you should consider booking a Flying Blue Promo Reward, which offers monthly deals on flights with Air France and KLM at a 25% discount!
Quentin Tsang
Latest posts by Quentin Tsang (see all)
- Flying Blue Stopovers: Everything You Need to Know - Jan 6, 2025
- Definitive Guide: Flying with Sports Equipment - Dec 13, 2024
- Best Credit Cards for Gas Purchases in Canada (2025) - Nov 1, 2024
- Air Canada Regional Bus Service to Toronto Pearson International (YYZ) - Sep 27, 2024
- How to Use Gift Cards to Meet Minimum Spending Requirements - Aug 19, 2024
