Is Flying Blue Miles & Cash worth it?

Miles & Cash is usually not a good deal

I understand the appeal: you do not have enough miles for a full award ticket, so Miles & Cash seems like the perfect solution. Unfortunately the reality is less rosy. In most cases with Miles & Cash you pay too much for the cash portion.

Why is it often a bad deal?

With Miles & Cash you pay part in miles and part in euros. The problem is in how Flying Blue calculates the price:

• The cash portion is often based on a high mile value of 2-3 eurocent per mile that you are not using
• Effectively you "buy" the missing miles at a rate much higher than Subscribe to Miles
• The more cash you pay (and fewer miles you use), the worse the deal becomes

A calculation example

Suppose: a return in Economy costs 30,000 miles or 400 euros cash. With Miles & Cash you pay for example 15,000 miles + 250 euros. You are then effectively "buying" 15,000 miles for 250 euros, or 1.67 eurocent per mile. That is more expensive than Subscribe to Miles (1.1-1.3 cent) and the value you get for those miles in Economy (0.8-1.2 cent) is lower than what you pay for them.

When can it work out?

There are a few exceptions where Miles & Cash can be acceptable:

• During Promo Rewards: if the miles price is already 25-50% lower, the Miles & Cash variant can be reasonably priced
• For expensive Business Class tickets: if the cash ticket costs 3,000+ euros, the cash top-up with Miles & Cash can be relatively reasonable
• If you almost have enough miles: if you only need to top up a small amount (say 50-100 euros), the loss is limited

Better alternatives

Instead of Miles & Cash I recommend the following:

1. Save more miles via your credit card or Subscribe to Miles until you have enough for the full award ticket
2. Book a cheaper cash ticket if the miles price is not favorable
3. Wait for Promo Rewards for a lower miles price to your destination
4. Check alternative dates - sometimes the miles price differs significantly per day

My rule of thumb: always calculate what you are effectively paying per mile for the cash portion. If it comes above 1.5 eurocent, it is better to choose another option.

Want more miles structurally? With a Flying Blue American Express (up to 1.5 miles per euro) you need to resort to Miles & Cash less often, because you accumulate enough miles for a full award ticket faster.