Air France Flying Blue status match now open to Singapore residents

Air France Flying Blue has been offering a paid status match for some time now, which grants upfront Silver, Gold or Platinum status for 12 months. 

This match has historically not been available to members based in Singapore, but Loyalty Lobby has spotted that residents of Singapore and Thailand are now eligible.

It’s basically an opportunity to get Gold (SkyTeam Elite Plus) status for US$299, or even Platinum status for US$399 — and with it the opportunity to redeem Air France First Class with miles.

Air France-KLM Flying Blue Status Match

Status Match

Flying Blue is offering a status match for elite members from selected airline programmes, which allows them to bypass the usual qualification requirements and receive instant upfront status valid for 12 months. 

For residents of Singapore, an application fee of US$99 to US$399 applies, depending on which tier you’re matching to.

Flying Blue	Price
Silver SkyTeam Elite	US$99
Gold SkyTeam Elite Plus	US$299
Platinum SkyTeam Elite Plus	US$399

Status match requests will be processed within three business days, and upon approval, status will be updated within five business days.

Flying Blue will match status from a total of 25 airlines, including the following:

	Silver	Gold	Platinum
Air India	Silver	Gold	Platinum
British Airways	Bronze	Silver	Gold Gold Guest List Premier
Cathay Pacific	Silver	Gold	Diamond Diamond Plus Invitation
Emirates	Silver	Gold	IO Platinum
Etihad	Silver	Gold	Platinum
EVA Air	Silver	Gold	Diamond
Qatar Airways	Silver	Gold	Platinum
Singapore Airlines	Silver	Gold	PPS PPS Solitaire
Thai Airways	Silver	Gold	Platinum
Turkish Airlines	Classic Plus	Elite	Elite Plus
United Airlines	Premier Silver	Premier Gold	Global Services Premier 1K Premier Platinum

A KrisFlyer Elite Gold member can get matched to Flying Blue Gold, while PPS Club and Solitaire PPS Club members will be matched to Flying Blue Platinum (though they can also opt to match to Gold instead, and pay the lower fee).

To retain your status beyond the initial 12-month period, you must earn sufficient XPs according to the regular qualification rules, namely 100 XPs for Silver, 180 XPs for Gold and 300 XPs for Platinum.

✈️ Flying Blue Regular Qualification Requirements
Tier	XPs Required*
Silver SkyTeam Elite	100
Gold SkyTeam Elite Plus	180 (as a Silver)
Platinum SkyTeam Elite Plus	300 (as a Gold)
*If you are qualifying from scratch, you will need to earn 100 XPs for Silver. After that, you have a further 12 months to earn Gold with an additional 180 XPs. After that, you have a further 12 months to earn Platinum with an additional 300 XPs.

It’s worth noting that the status match helps skip the step of having to earn a cumulative 580 XPs to qualify for Platinum. Once you have Platinum status, requalification takes just 300 XPs in a membership year. 

The table below shows how many XPs you can expect to earn per segment on Air France-KLM or its SkyTeam partners (non-SkyTeam partners do not earn XPs).

XPs can also be earned for buying carbon offsets, sustainable aviation fuel, or donating to charity.

What are the benefits of Flying Blue elite status?

Flying Blue Silver offers basic benefits, such as:

• 6 Flying Blue miles per €1 spent
• SkyTeam Elite status
• Priority check-in and boarding
• One extra free checked bag on SkyTeam flights
• Free standard seat selection on Air France/KLM

Flying Blue Gold offers the benefits of Silver, plus:

• 7 Flying Blue miles per €1 spent
• SkyTeam Elite Plus status
• SkyTeam lounge access
• Priority baggage handling

Flying Blue Platinum offers the benefits of Gold, plus:

• 8 Flying Blue miles per €1 spent
• SkyTeam Elite Plus status
• Dedicated Platinum Service Line
• Waived fees for changing or refunding an award flight
• Two additional checked bags on Air France/KLM flights
• A “miles overdraft” on award tickets of up to 50,000 miles
• Extra Business Class award space
• The ability to redeem miles for Air France First Class awards

Gold and Platinum both offer SkyTeam Elite Plus, so what really separates them is the miles overdraft feature. This basically allows you to redeem an award ticket that requires up to 50,000 more miles than you currently have. You can earn the extra miles later (no time limit), and use the benefit again once you have a positive miles balance. 

Also, the only way to redeem miles for Air France First Class is if you have Flying Blue Platinum (or Ultimate) status. If this is on your bucket list, then this status match would be an opportunity to do so.

The comprehensive list of Flying Blue benefits can be found here.

What card should you use?

The status match in partnership with StatusMatch.com, and payments will code as MCC 7372 (Computer Programming, Data Processing and Integrated System Design Services).

Do note that even though the amount is billed in USD, the payment will be processed in Singapore. Therefore, you should avoid using BOC or UOB credit cards, as the earn rate will be based on local spending.

Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
Citi Rewards Card Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1K per s. month
DBS Woman’s World Card Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1K per c. month
DCS Imperium Card Apply	4 mpd	Min. S$4K FCY spend per c. month, otherwise 2.4 mpd
Maybank XL Rewards Apply	4 mpd	Min S$500 per c. month, cap of S$1K per c. month
StanChart Beyond Card Apply	3-4 mpd	3 mpd for regular, 3.5 mpd for PB, 4 mpd for PP. No cap
Maybank World Mastercard Apply	3.2 mpd	Min. S$4K per c. month, no cap. Earn 2.8 mpd with min. S$800 per c. month
Maybank Visa Infinite Apply	3.2 mpd	Min. S$4K per c. month, no cap, otherwise 2 mpd
StanChart Visa Infinite Apply	3 mpd	Min S$2K per s. month, no cap, otherwise 1 mpd
Maybank Horizon Visa Signature Apply	2.8 mpd	Min S$800 per c. month, no cap, otherwise 1.2 mpd
S. Month= Statement Month | C. Month= Calendar Month

Air France Flying Blue has opened its status match programme to residents of Singapore, allowing Singapore Airlines and other elite members to get instant Silver, Gold or Platinum status for 12 months.

I’ve found Flying Blue to be a useful backup programme, and while it does adopt dynamic pricing, you can find reasonably-priced awards like 85,000 miles for Singapore to Europe in Business Class, or 21,500 miles for Singapore to Bali in Business Class. That said, Flying Blue status tends to be more useful if you plan to fly in Economy or Premium Economy with SkyTeam members, or simply wish to try for Air France First Class awards. 

Will you do a Flying Blue status match?