What is Flying Blue Soft Landing?

Good that you are looking into this, because Soft Landing is one of the most valuable safety nets within Flying Blue.

What is Soft Landing?

Soft Landing means that when you do not requalify, you only drop one level instead of losing everything:

• Platinum members who do not requalify drop to Gold
• Gold members who do not requalify drop to Silver
• Silver members drop back to Explorer

This is a big difference from many other loyalty programs, where not requalifying means dropping straight back to the base level.

How much XP do you need per level?

The thresholds to reach and maintain your status:

• Silver - 100 XP
• Gold - 180 XP
• Platinum - 300 XP
• Ultimate - 900 UXP (separate system, only AF/KL flights)

Important: when you qualify for a level, the required XP is subtracted from your balance. You start over again.

How Soft Landing works exactly

Suppose you are Platinum and your qualification year ends. If you do not have enough XP to keep Platinum (300 XP), you drop via Soft Landing to Gold. The system then checks if you have enough XP for Gold (180 XP). If so, 180 XP is subtracted and you start as a Gold member on a new cycle.

If the following year you again do not collect enough, you drop from Gold to Silver (if you do not requalify for Silver either). This way your status decreases step by step, not all at once.

XP Rollover helps

Excess XP (up to a maximum of 300) rolls over to your next qualification year. If as a Platinum member you earn 400 XP, 300 XP is subtracted and 100 XP rolls over. That gives you a head start in your next cycle.

My advice

If you notice you might not reach Platinum (300 XP), focus on collecting at least 180 XP (Gold). That way you keep Gold regardless. Use the SkyStatus Calculator to calculate how much XP you still need.

A Flying Blue Amex Platinum (60 XP/year) can make the difference when you are close to a status threshold.