Now that these two have hooked up, new domestic and international values are within reach

Air France’s Flying Blue mileage program has joined the American Express Membership Rewards (points-to airline-miles transfer) program. This is easily one of 2006’s most important developments in frequent flyer credit card partnerships. It gives Flying Blue members the chance to purchase up to 500,000 Membership Rewards points per calendar year at a cost of $25 per 1,000 points; and it gives Membership Rewards members many new (often better) flight options.

Air France is a SkyTeam alliance member, with US partners Continental, Delta, and Northwest. Flying Blue came about in 2005 when Air France and KLM combined their loyalty programs. Anyone can join Flying Blue in five minutes over the phone at (800) 375-8723.

Ten reasons why this is the hottest ticket in town:

It offers less expensive domestic First Class award travel It takes only 40,000 Membership Rewards points, transferred to Flying Blue miles, to net a free First Class domestic ticket with Air France partners Continental, Delta, or Northwest. All three of these US-based airlines charge 45,000 miles for First Class travel in the Continental US. What’s even better about Flying Blue is that it doesn’t charge double this amount for itineraries that do not include a Saturday-night stay, as Continental and Northwest do.

It’s the only way to net international First Class travel on SkyTeam carriers You can’t get First Class on international flights with SkyTeam US members Continental, Delta, and Northwest because they don’t offer that class of service. And you can’t use these carriers’ miles to book First Class on one of their foreign partners. Why not? Because these three don’t have a First Class seat to offer in return; therefore the SkyTeam partners offering three classes of service (Air France and Korean Air) pulled First Class award redemption for these three US carriers’ miles about a year ago. All this is to say what I like most about Flying Blue is that it gives you access to First Class awards—my favorite.

Inexpensive First Class awards to Europe—the same as other carriers’ Business Class Flying Blue only charges 100,000 miles for a First Class award between the US and Europe. Most other carriers charge 25-50% more. With SkyTeam partners Continental and Northwest, 100,000 miles only gets you Business Class. I’d rather pay 100,000 miles for a true First Class cabin. (P.S. That’s only 80,000 Starwood Starpoints with the transfer bonus, for those of you who don’t have Amex Membership Rewards points.) Remember, you can purchase up to 500,000 Membership Rewards points at 2.5¢ each, meaning you can buy a restricted First Class award outright for $2,500 round-trip. First Class can otherwise cost $14,000+ for travel to Europe. (And remember, the Amex 2-for-1 with Air France doesn’t offer First Class.)

Inexpensive Business Class awards Flying Blue only charges 80,000 miles for North America-Europe round-trip Business Class awards on the SkyTeam airlines. Delta charges 90,000 miles for Business Class to Europe and if you use Continental or Northwest Airlines you will pay 100,000 miles. Flying Air France Business Class is also a great alternative to paying 100,000 miles for an anytime (double miles) economy class award.

Inexpensive anytime awards Air France calls them Open Miles, and at 200,000 miles for First Class and 160,000 for Business, they’re a relative bargain compared to an anytime award on Continental, Delta, or Northwest. You can buy the Amex points outright for $5,000 to get the 200,000 miles needed for an unrestricted/anytime First Class award. This can easily save you more than 65% on the cost of purchasing an ordinary First Class ticket. Open Miles awards are also valid for Air France or KLM one-way flights at half the round-trip award level.

Decent award availability Where flights are more frequent, as in the northeast, there is decent availability of both Business and First Class awards when booking on either short-notice or about 10 months out. If traveling from the west, availability is light until you get 10 months out. Also consider checking availability on an itinerary requiring a connection. We found good availability in First Class 10 months out from Washington, DC.

Flights to Pacific islands No US carriers fly to Tahiti. But Air France does from Los Angeles, so here’s your chance to go Business Class on miles if you can book about 10 months out.

One-way ticket awards Air France offers them, whereas no US carrier does. They cost 50% of a round-trip award and often come in handy with a cruise vacation or open-jaw itineraries.

Lots of flights Air France–KLM offers over 100 weekly flights from the US. It also has numerous gateways in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and the Indian Ocean.

Elite program Flying Blue offers 300% miles for paid First Class long-haul travel—twice the bonus of most other carriers. Elite status miles are earned at twice the rate with Flying Blue than with the US-based SkyTeam programs. Elite Plus members (70,000 Elite Qualifying Miles annually) are admitted to the US lounges of Continental, Delta, and Northwest. And for residents outside the US and Canada, it offers free domestic upgrades on Northwest.