How does the Flying Blue miles overdraft work for Platinum and Ultimate?

The miles overdraft is a Platinum and Ultimate benefit that lets you book an award ticket even when you're short on miles. Platinum members can borrow up to 50,000 miles, Ultimate members up to 100,000 miles. Your account simply goes negative, and you repay by earning miles on future flights or card spending.

Why it wasn't offered to you last time

According to Ben Lipsey, Director of the Flying Blue program at Air France-KLM, there are three conditions:

1. Active Platinum or Ultimate status (Platinum for Life also qualifies)
2. At least 300 XP earned in your current or previous qualification year. Lipsey confirmed this requirement exists to prevent inactive members from going into overdraft and never repaying.
3. A positive miles balance - even 1 mile is enough, but your balance cannot already be at zero or negative.

If you had to pay cash for the missing miles last time, you most likely didn't meet the 300 XP requirement in that period.

Some sources also mention an additional cap of 20% of the award ticket price (One Mile at a Time), though reports on this are not consistent.

How to use it

The overdraft is currently only available by phone. Call the Platinum Service Line and request an award ticket as usual. If you meet all conditions, the agent will offer the overdraft when you're short on miles. There's no separate activation needed. Lipsey has stated there are plans to bring this functionality online in the future.

Once you use it, your miles balance goes negative. You can use the overdraft again after you've earned enough miles to return to a positive balance.

Since the exact conditions can vary, your best bet is to call the Platinum Service Line directly and confirm your eligibility before planning a booking around it.