I don’t know much about Flying Blue. Care to share what the redemption availability is like?
Availability is fantastic as you can redeem for all of SkyTeam, along with Qantas, Virgin Atlantic, Aircalin (flies Australia to Noumea), Malaysia Airlines, China Southern (which left SkyTeam but is still a Flying Blue partner... I'm sure it'll be a relevant airline again some day!), Air Mauritius (flies to Perth), Bangkok Airways, Japan Airlines, WestJet and a few others.
Rates aren't always competitive, but there's stacks of availability in general. One of the best parts is being able to combine partners from different alliances on the one ticket, like Qantas domestic to Sydney, connecting to Delta from Sydney to LA if that's where the reward seats are.
It's also really good for short haul SkyTeam flights, as you can often get a flight for around 5,000 miles, even if a cash fare could be a couple of hundred or more.
They don't have published award charts, but you can register for a free account and then login and search availability and rates. Sometimes you see rates that are just ridiculous (like 600k miles for biz), but if you poke around, you'll start to find options.
I've only recently started collecting points with CBA, but with the Ultimate card giving 3 CBA points per $1 overseas (1.2 Flying Blue miles before any transfer bonus) with no forex fee, I'm hoping to get even better-acquainted with Flying Blue soon enough!
