• It’s the only way to net international First Class travel on SkyTeam carriers None of the US SkyTeam members (Continental, Delta, or Northwest) offers a First Class cabin on long-haul routes. And their foreign partners don’t allow you to use their miles to book First Class because these three don’t have a First Class seat to offer in return. (SkyTeam partners offering three classes of service, Air France and Korean Air, pulled First Class award redemption for this trio about a year ago.) All this is to say that only ‘Flying Blue’, Air France’s loyalty program, gives you access to First Class awards.
• Inexpensive First Class awards to Europe 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.
• Decent award availability to Paris March 2008 yields a handful of First Class seats to Paris from New York/JFK. Los Angeles appears to have some seats in Feb. and March. Washington, DC has scattered, single-seat availability through the end of 2007. April through Aug. 2008 has decent availability of single seats too, for First Class travel to Paris from Houston.
• Miles are easy to acquire American Express’ Mileage Rewards program allows Flying Blue members to transfer points to miles, and purchase up to 500,000 Membership Rewards points per calendar year at a rate of 2.5¢ per mile.
• Another Way to Earn First Class Travel: American Express Starwood Program It gives Flying Blue members the chance to transfer or purchase up to 100,000 Starwood points per calendar year at a cost of 3.5¢ per mile. With the 25% Starwood bonus for each 20,000 points purchased, that amounts to 125,000 miles (2.8¢ per mile after bonus).

[table_opt style="gray-header" id="1717 " width="" alignment="center" responsive="all" heading="thcenter" rows="tdcenter"]

• Inexpensive First Class awards to Hawaii A free First Class ticket is only 60,000 Flying Blue miles on any of its three US partners. The same award with any other SkyTeam member is 75,000 miles (25% more).
• Less expensive domestic awards It takes only 40,000 Flying Blue miles to net a free First Class domestic ticket with Air France partners Continental, Delta, and Northwest. All three 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—a huge downside to those programs.
• British Airways, Korean, and Lufthansa First Class award travel compared to Air France British Airways at times can charge triple the miles that Air France does. Korean Air, the only other SkyTeam member with First Class award travel, has high and low seasons for its own awards. (Rates shown below are based on low season.)

[table_opt style="gray-header" id="1718 " width="" alignment="center" responsive="all" heading="thcenter" rows="tdcenter"]

• They have one of my favorite First Class cabins!