Twelve Air France / KLM Flights in Four Days – The Story of a Mileage Run

A mileage run is a flight or a series of flights which is majorly intending to gain miles at airlines’ loyalty programs. Many of my friends asked me why you do it and what it is like to do one. Majorly, there is some sort of disrespect and aversion in their thoughts. Some are also fascinated. I rarely do pure mileage runs. I rather like to arrange a travel with a certain purpose in a way that it is also gaining me more miles, points or whatever than it could do. However, I recently indeed did a die-hard mileage run with Air France and KLM. I felt that it is a good opportunity to take you with me in my trip report. I will also try to explain you a bit about the logic behind my flight choices.

 

The Routing of My Mileage Run

I took a four day trip, starting on Thursday, 23rd January 2025. I fact, it has been a combination of two tickets. One of them brought me from Dusseldorf (DUS) to Krakow (KRK) on the first day, and the equivalent return on the last day of my trip. This ticket type (also see costs below) required to have three days between outbound and inbound or the night of Saturday to Sunday in between. The second ticket was from Krakow (KRK) to Malaga (AGP) on Friday and back the next day. All flights are routed via Amsterdam (AMS) and Paris (CDG), so I spent a lot of time in the major airports of France and the Netherlands during the trip.

 

Day 1 – Thursday 23rd January 2025

The first day of my trip brought me from Germany to Poland, starting with the early morning service to France. Scheduled departure time in Dusseldorf (DUS) was 6:40 with arrival in Poland on 16:30.

Flight	From	To	Airline
AF 1107	Dusseldorf (DUS)	Paris (CDG)	HOP!
AF 1500	Paris (CDG)	Amsterdam (AMS)	Air France
AF 3137	Amstedam (AMS)	Krakow (KRK)	KLM Cityhopper (KL 1325)

Day 2 – Friday 24th January 2025

The second day was likely the most inconvenient trip, departing on 11:45 and arriving in Spain at 23:40, with the hotel being a bit remote from the airport.

Flight	From	To	Airline
AF 1136	Krakow (KRK)	Amsterdam (AMS)	KLM Cityhopper (KL 1324)
AF 1741	Amsterdam (AMS)	Paris (CDG)	Air France
AF 1748	Paris (CDG)	Malaga (AGP)	Air France

Day 3 – Saturday 25th January 2025

Back to Poland. My trip from Malaga (AGP) on the third day started on 12:40, with a late night arrival in Poland at 23:00.

Flight	From	To	Airline
AF 1747	Malaga (AGP)	Paris (CDG)	Air France
AF 1440	Paris (CDG)	Amsterdam (AMS)	Air France
AF 8255	Amsterdam (AMS)	Krakow (KRK)	KLM Cityhopper (KL 1329)

Day 4 – Sunday 26th January 2025

On Sunday, I went back to Germany. The first two flights from Krakow (KRK) via Amsterdam (AMS) to Paris (CDG) were the same like on Friday, with a Hop! flight to Dusseldorf (DUS), arriving there at 19:30.

Flight	From	To	Airline
AF 3136	Krakow (KRK)	Amsterdam (AMS)	KLM Cityhopper (KL 1324)
AF 1741	Amsterdam (AMS)	Paris (CDG)	Air France
AF 1006	Paris (CDG)	Dusseldorf (DUS)	HOP!

Accommodation & other parts of the Trip

I went from my home in Leverkusen to Dusseldorf (DUS) and back by car. I typically park there at a rather competitive rate. For the nights in Krakow, I used the Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport. I already shared the review of the hotel with you and really love it. For the night in Spain, I went for another Hilton option, the Hilton Garden Inn Malaga, which is rather close to the airport.

 

Why?

Air France and KLM slightly adopting their FlyingBlue loyalty scheme. For me, the conditions slightly change at the end of May 2025. The scheme comes with a nice roll-over system. I need 300 XP to prolong my platinum status. However, if you have more XP at the time of prolonging, you can use the surplus for the following years. While the surplus was not limited in the past, it is now capped at 300 XP, i.e. the amount of points you need the following year.

However, the transformation is very customer-friendly. For each full 300 XP above the surplus you have at the transformation date, you receive and additional year of continuous Platinum status count. If you do ten consecutive years of FlyingBlue Platinum status, My aim is to have 1200 XP at the end of May 2025, i.e.

• 300 XP to prolong my Platinum status
• 300 XP surplus
• 2 * 300 XP which will be transformed into Platinum status years.

The trip in January has been a key part to reach that target.

 

XP / Miles earned during the trip

All of the flights are crossing a border and thus fall under the lowest international category of flights at FlyingBlue, Medium. The whole tickets are booked in business class, so that each flight segment will lead to 15 XP. Overall, this leads to a total earning of 12 * 15 XP = 180 XP.

 

Environmental Impact

A really nice feature of FlyingBlue is that you can also earn status points for compensating the environmental impact of your flights. I feel it is a nice incentive doing so. You typically get three different levels of compensation. I go for the full compensation, which is especially high for the Krakow to Malaga and back ticket. Overall, I expect 117 additional XP by having purchased the full compensation of environmental coverage (the money is used to purchase Sustainable Aviation Fuel in Amsterdam). This means that the whole trip will lead to 297 XP, almost one slice of additional platinum year compensation.

 

Twelve Flights within Four Days – My Trip Report

Here is my trip report of the four days of traveling. 

Day 1 – Thursday 23rd January 2025

Heading off to Paris required to leave home around 4:00 in the morning. The days before, I had gotten a cold, so I did not feel too fit – but I was just too committed to this trip and had to do it. I went for a pure hand luggage trip this time, which I typically do rather rarely, but simply felt more convenient. Some two hours before departure, I was at Dusseldorf Airport Rail Station, where I typically like to park my car. The SkyTrain arrived right when I approached the platform and the processes went very efficient, so that I had some 40 minutes at the lounge before heading to the departure gate.

The first flight with Hop! to Paris (CDG) was a nice and easy one with very charming service. In Paris, I had to take the bus transfer from Terminal 2G to 2F, even having a bus just for myself – the mileage run felt to kick off with a lot of luxury.

I spent some time in the lovely Air France Lounge 2F, which is regarded being one of the nicest Schengen lounges in Europe, before I headed on to the short hop to Amsterdam (AMS). On the Airbus A220 flight, the crew was lovely and I had a full three seat row just for myself. Another really smooth connection on that trip. I spent most of the three hour layover in the KLM Crown Lounge Schengen – not my favorite place but a good place to stay hydrated and doing some Flyctory.com work.

Diversion due to bad weather

If you have twelve flights in a row, there must be something going wrong as well. Just when we were about to start the approach to Krakow Airport (KRK), the plane did a U-turn. The captain announced that due to weather, the airport is closed and we had to fly to Katowice (KTW). With my health condition, I could have imagined some better message. But at least, it was my maiden flight to the Polish airport. And: KLM did great in organizing the bus trip between the two airports, which is a bit longer than one hour by bus.

When I was (with hand luggage) out of the airport, the transfer bus was already there. The trip was reasonable comfortable. Before I checked in at the hotel, I went for the “Soup of the Day” at an airport cafe. Time to have a rest, my body needed to lay down quickly… And I agreed to that call.

 

Day 2 – Friday 24th January 2025

I definitely can’t say that I was sleeping all night, but at least I was resting and felt slightly recovered the next morning. Apart from a group of pupils which felt to block the priority check-in in Krakow (KRK), everything went rather smoothly and I was soon in the Business Lounge at Krakow Airport (KRK). The plane had a slight delay and due to strong headwinds, there was an additional delay until we reached Amsterdam (AMS). Some priority lining up before the flight, by the way.

As the plane from Paris (CDG) was also delayed, the transfer was absolutely easy. Again, it summed up to almost an hour at take-off – but as my original schedule had a layover in Paris (CDG) of almost five hours, I was very relaxed about it. Apart from the meal service, I slept major parts of the flight. Once in France’s largest airport, I headed back to the Air France Lounge (or Salon, as they say) 2F, locked my suitcase and went to the relaxation room for some nap. The lower floor one was neither comfortable nor quiet, but the upper floor one was really cool.

With the Mouse to Malaga

We speak Spanish was somehow the title of the last flight of the day to Malaga. The plane was packed with Spanish people. I was also amazed how much of an attraction Disneyland Paris still is. There were so many children with Mickey Mouse ears on their head. One was even wearing a princess costume. The flight had quite a bit of turbulence, but finally I was happy that the day was over. I took the Uber to the Hilton Garden Inn Malaga and at least had a much better sleep than the day before.

 

Day 3 – Saturday 25th January 2025

I had to start the third day of my trip really slowly. My body was still very weak, showing different kinds of signals. Thus, apart from doing the periodic Songs of the Week work, I played it very slowly and headed to the airport some two hours before departure. A short visit at the large and spacious Sala VIP at Malaga Airport (AGP), before heading back to Paris (CDG). I felt very weak during the significantly shorter flight (just about two hours) to Paris (CDG), so that I did not eat onboard and went to the Air France Lounge 2F after landing. Unfortunately, the plane stopped at a 2E (i.e. Non-Schengen) gate, so that we had to take a bus transfer. In the lounge, I went for a nap again, before I had some soup and bites, working on my trip report.

At 18:15, my flight to Amsterdam (AMS) was about to depart. However, the trip was a bit of a nightmare. The Airbus A220 was located in the 2E area, so there was another bus transfer. The whole thing started weird, as the bus driver felt to search for the plane by himself. He stopped briefly at every A220 plane in the area and then headed on until we finally made it. You had to walk up a circular stair outdoors to the jet bridge, which was also not really nice in pouring rain.

Air France Loading Chaos in CDG

The real nightmare started when we were on board, though. The crew announcements, at least the one in English, were not really clear – but as far as I understood, it felt like that they thought they had loaded the wrong luggage. This was especially strange as a passenger sitting close to me stated that he could track some of his luggage being in or close to the plane already, due to the use of AirTags. Luckily, I flew with hand luggage only – I am sure there were many missed connections as the total delay at departure was roughly one hour. No chance for me to have a lounge break in Amsterdam (AMS). Instead, I headed to the gate for the next flight immediately instead.

I really felt that the cold and all the hassle impacted my body. I felt very weak during the flight to Krakow (KRK) and finally just have been keen to somehow make it back to the Hilton Garden Inn Krakow (KRK). The crew was really nice and charming, though, so that I really enjoyed the flight. The KLM Cityhopper Embraer 195 with the new seats is such an upgrade, compared to the other Embraer they are flying. We had a bit of a delay, majorly due to ground handling issues in Amsterdam (AMS). However, I was just so happy just having to cross the road at Krakow Airport (KRK) to make it to my bed for the night. I even got an upgrade to a suite room again. I love that room type at the hotel.

 

Day 4 – Sunday 26th January 2025

On the last day, I had comparably tight connections, so that I especially wasn’t sure whether I would make it to the lounge in Amsterdam (AMS). Thus, after having a relaxing morning bath, I went for a richer breakfast and walked over to the airport terminal. I quickly grabbed my printed boarding passes just in case there is something wrong with my cell phone. The check-in agent was a bit of confused as he saw a total of nine flights on his screen (as the Krakow – Malaga return had no layover longer than 14 hours, it was all shown in one) and had a bit of trouble to find the flights of the day.

After going through the Krakow Airport (KRK) fast lane security, I had a brief visit at the lounge, majorly to grab some water and have some more fruit. The flight to Amsterdam (AMS) was smooth. Interesting to see that even the buses for Ryanair run more efficiently. While we were stuck due to a departing WizzAir flight, their bus took a longer, but unobstructed route and was much faster. The KLM Cityhopper crew was lovely again – a very relaxed experience.

No Lounge Break in Amsterdam – and Food Monotony

The connection in Amsterdam was too short to make it to the lounge. I would have loved to have some Dutch Frikandel or similar soul food. Just something different. However, also due to the construction work at the airport, chances to grab something like that in a short time are limited and so I went straight to the gate for my Paris (CDG) flight. The flight was rather relaxed, the food was the same I had multiple times that weekend. The ride was cloudy and bumpy, but overall, it was a relaxed experience. I was not overwhelmingly happy with the seat pitch in the fourth row of the Airbus A220, which I wanted to check out on this leg. Furthermore, the front row seats are significantly longer than in the other rows, obviously, so that I needed a seat belt extension.

After grabbing some macaroons for my wife, I took the bus transfer to Terminal 2G. The last leg of this trip was about to start soon. I felt relieved. As long as you transfer within Schengen, I feel that Paris (CDG) is not too bad. The security screenings if you travel from outside Schengen (even from countries, which are regarded to be “clean”, like the U.K.) are terrible, though. I did not have to do this experience this time and had time to relax in the Air France Lounge 2G. Not the airline’s premium location, but I like the place. And they had other food. Maybe not the most posh stuff on Earth, but I was so happy to have some warm and some sweet snacks.

The final flight of the trip was a rather smooth one. Still quite some turbulence due to the strong winds, but at least, the flight was quick. You will see in my next Food I Had onboard post that I got the same meal for the fifth time during the weekend. I was quite exhausted, but processes went smoothly and I could head home rather quickly, having 298 additional XP in my Flying Blue account.

 

Costs

I felt I save the most interesting for last. There were majorly three main drivers for the total price of the trip:

• The flight tickets: There were two separate tickets. both booked via Air France, one for the Dusseldorf (DUS) to Krakow (KRK) return and one for the flights between the Polish city and Malaga (AGP). Both were roughly 650 EUR each.
• The second major part (which actually boosted my XP account) was sustainable aviation fuel. I went for the full compensation for all twelve flights, which was in the range of 1000 EUR
• The hotel nights were roughly 120 EUR each. I originally had booked a significantly cheaper option, but decided to go for the more relaxing Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport one.

This also shows that you might optimize the trip. Typically, mileage hunter go for a certain value per mile (or here: per XP). While the tickets were 1300 EUR / 180 XP =  7.2 EUR / XP, the sustainable aviation fuel is about 10 EUR / XP. It might thus be more effective to go for two of the trips instead of one without environmental compensation. However, it is also a matter of time, hotel costs etc. Thus, this trip has been the ideal strategy for me.

 

The Reprise

I made it! Finally, that’s my key takeaway. 12 business class flights in four days should be rather easily doable, but due to my health situation, they were pretty demanding. Especially at the end of the third day, I was really, really exhausted. Going for the Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport was such a game changer, compared to taking one of the cheaper options. The other key finding for me is food. I typically love onboard food and even appreciate the KLM sandwich in economy – but I really got tired of it rather quickly. You have to say that neither KLM nor Air France is really creative in their catering and you know beforehand what you get. If you just have one return flight a month, this does not matter. But in that special setting, it was really bothering in my point of view.

 

 

Miles and Status

My topic Miles and Status deals with earning miles and loyalty programs:

 

Trip Reports

Here are all (other) Trip Report postings: