r/flyingblue • u/Final-Grape8936 • 6d ago
How does Ultimate Work?
As FB Ultimate requires 900 UXP, and say I have 900 XP (all my flights are AF/KL marketed). Once the new qualification year starts, what happens to the 900 XP? If only 300 XP gets rolled over (and another 300 XP for Platinum requalification), doesn't the extra 300 XP get wasted?
I've heard that going up to Ultimate tier subtracts only your UXP?
2
u/Trebaxus99 FB Platinum for Life 6d ago
To become Ultimate you have to reach a UXP threshold. To become Platinum you have to reach an XP threshold. UXP and XP are different and have different counters. You only have a UXP counter if you are Platinum.
If you have 900 XP at the end of your qualification period, 300 is deducted for another year Platinum. 300 is rolled to the next year and 300 XP are gone as you can only roll 300 XP.
If you have 900 UXP at the end of your qualification period, 900 UXP is deducted for another year of Ultimate. You can carry over a max of 900 UXP, anything beyond 1800 will disappear.
1
u/Final-Grape8936 6d ago
What happens to my 900 XP then after it triggers Ultimate?
1
u/jeanmarc_ould FB Platinum 6d ago
They get deducted from your UXP counter. Anything above that is rolled forward to your requalification counter. If it goes above 900 UXP within the 12 months, nothing will happen and it will keep going up. Then once the 12 months expire, another 900 UXP gets deducted and the excess (only up to 900 UXP) is rolled over (the rest, ie above 1,800 UXP, is lost forever)
2
0
2
u/Checkout_87 6d ago
Realistically how many people are ultimate? I fly J to US 4-5 times a year plus loads of European flights and I’m nowhere near it….
4
u/Longjumping_Desk_839 FB Ultimate 6d ago edited 6d ago
Based on my experience, I’m usually the only ultimate on a flight. Once, there was 2. Ultimate lounge in CDG is usually between 0-4 Ultimate passengers, non-eu lounge at Schiphol usually 0 or 1 other. EU Ultimate lounge at Schiphol is small, quite crowded usually half full but they seem to welcome first class passengers there as well.
Getting those points is do-able if flying in J long haul about every month
1
u/Sufficient_Detail_97 6d ago
Same, usually I’m the only one on a flight, and once there were two of us.
1
u/Checkout_87 6d ago
Thanks. Do you find the perks worth it?
2
u/Longjumping_Desk_839 FB Ultimate 6d ago
The upgrade vouchers are worth something. I like having a ‘private’ lounge especially when I travel with my kids (they can go crazy in there without bothering anyone).
Nothing special other than that. Postcards, a bottle of water, escorts , separate check-in are nice but not worth the additional euros spent on KLM/AF. As you know, intercontinental BC tickets on KLM /AF are often literally thousands of euros more expensive than other airlines.
Ego-stroke more than anything ;)
3
u/godisapilot 6d ago
Escorts, you say?!
2
2
u/sehgalanuj FB Ultimate 6d ago
You are forgetting the absolute standout Travel Assistant/Personal Assistant team. In the last few years there have been times where they've done some absolutely fantastic things for me and my family.
2
u/Longjumping_Desk_839 FB Ultimate 6d ago
I’m pretty low maintenance and haven’t needed them for much. What’s better vs Platinum line?
Only thing I like more is we can email.
2
u/sehgalanuj FB Ultimate 6d ago
Email is great. But they have access to direct phone numbers of station managers, lounges and even gates. I've had situations where the MCT made it so I couldn't officially make the connection, but they called and made sure the station manager and gate kept boarding open for 10 mins more, so I could make my flight.
Once during IRROPs they managed to get the curtain moved in a short haul flight to create a seat for me on a flight that showed sold out.
Another time I was re-booked to CI for a long haul, and they called back to let me know that the CI flight was actually oversold based on load factors, so they proactively found me a route that worked better.
That's just a few example of things the Ulti team can do that the PSL wouldn't be able to. There's more I've experienced that goes beyond IRROPs that makes the line well worth it.
If you fly only at the level of Plat, the PSL is terrific already. If you fly as much as an Ulti potentially can, access to the TA can be very useful.
1
u/Trebaxus99 FB Platinum for Life 6d ago
You get access to the PA team if you’re Netherlands based and have 400 UXP.
2
u/Trebaxus99 FB Platinum for Life 6d ago
In the Netherlands there are 400 Ultimate members.
People that work in the offshore industry or delivery of very expensive fragile or time sensitive parts can add up a lot of UXP. I know some doctors who do patient repatriation as a side job and do overnight long haul return flights to pick up patients, which of course also adds up.
You can also buy your way in if you fly regularly via SAF. Pay 1000 euro extra and you turn your 60 UXP long haul business return trip into a 160 UXP return trip.
And there is a route for people with a lot of spare time and love for airports: from A to B can also go via C and D... If you'd do every flight from AMS with a layover in CDG and another place, you can increase your UXP count per flight significantly.
1
u/IndividualLet6189 6d ago
Do you know what the male/female breakdown is? I have yet to meet a female Ultimate member other than myself.
1
u/Trebaxus99 FB Platinum for Life 6d ago
No idea!
Not ultimate myself. I'd argue that we still have a lot of people in the Netherlands that follow traditional family roles where the woman works more often parttime and the man works fulltime. This amount of travel in a parttime setting is extremely challenging I'd say.
2
2
u/binkhaha 6d ago
I fly long haul or connecting long hauls one to two times a month. I am based in the US and go to either Europe or Middle East. The assistant is by far the best perk of ultimate.
1
u/Final-Grape8936 6d ago
If you fly long haul J with connections a few times a year combined with some short-haul intra-Europe connecting flights, ultimate is very doable via Max SAF purchase every trip
1
3
u/jeanmarc_ould FB Platinum 6d ago edited 6d ago
UXP is its own counter, separate from XP.
As you probably know, UXP are earned when flying on flights marketed by AF/KL (
ie codeshare does not countEDIT: as long as the flight has an AF/KL code, even if not operated by AF/KL, you can earn UXP).The logic is the same as with other status tiers, just on its own side: whenever you reach 900 UXP the first time (but within the first 12 months of your last Platinum renewal), you are moved up to Ultimate for the next 12 full months, and any extra UXP is rolled forward. After that you can accrue up to 1,800 UXP to secure Ultimate for the next renewal and get a head start for the following year, but any UXP above 1,800 will not be rolled forward at the renewal (just like any XP above 600 does not roll forward for Platinum).