On what tickets or flights are Flying Blue XP earned?

Question

I am not sure if this applies generally to other loyalty programmes, or if this question should be about Flying Blue specifically.

Flying Blue XP ("Experience points") are earned on flights with KLM, Air France, and some other airlines (it's not clear, I see shorter and longer lists of qualifying airlines).

Are they for example earned if:

• the flight is sold as the ticket of another Sky Team partner, say Delta, and operated by that partner?
• the flight is sold as the ticket of another Flying Blue partner, say Kenya Airways, and operated by that partner?

What if the flight is operated by yet another airline?

It's not at all clear to me what the rule is for tickets or flights that qualify for these XP.

Answer 1

The Flying Blue website is a mess, but there's a section which lists all partners, including airlines and how things work with them in terms of XP and miles accrual and redemption.

In the case of Delta:

WITH DELTA AIR LINES, YOU CAN:

• Earn Miles
• Gain XP on eligible flights
• Earn Elite bonus Miles
• Spend Miles
• Extend the overall validity of your Miles
• Enjoy SkyTeam benefits worldwide

EARN MILES AND GAIN XP

Earn Miles and gain XP on:

• Flights marketed as Delta (DL) and operated by one of the SkyTeam airline partners, as per the earning scheme below:
• Flights operated by one of the following Delta Connection carriers: ExpressJet (EV), Compass (CP), GoJet Airlines (G7), Endeavor Air (9E), Republic Airline (YX) or SkyWest (00), with a booking class mentioned in the earning scheme below

Earning Miles and gaining XP isn’t possible for:

• Tickets with a booking class not mentioned in the earning scheme below
• Reward tickets (tickets booked using Miles)

(and more details on the page, including the earning scheme)

In the case of Kenya Airways (which is actually also a SkyTeam partner):

With Kenya Airways, you can:

• Earn Miles
• Gain XP on eligible flights
• Earn Elite bonus Miles
• Spend Miles
• Extend the overall validity of your Miles
• Enjoy SkyTeam benefits worldwide

EARN MILES AND GAIN XP

Earn Miles and gain XP on:

• Flights marketed as Kenya Airways (KQ) and operated by one of the SkyTeam partner airlines, as per the earning scheme below.
• Flights marketed as Kenya Airways (KQ) and operated by Precision Air between Nairobi and Zanzibar, Kilimanjaro, Mombasa or Dar es Salaam; or between Mombasa and Zanzibar, as per the earning scheme below.
• On Domestic flights within Kenya, your XP are doubled.

Earning Miles and gaining XP isn’t possible for:

• Tickets with a booking class not mentioned in the earning scheme below
• Reward tickets (tickets booked using Miles)

(and more details on the page again)

An example of an airline partner on which you DO NOT earn XP is Transavia, though you still earn miles. There used to be a difference between Transavia NL and Transavia FR, but it seems to no longer be the case.

You will note that in many cases, there are restrictions on the carrier operating the flight, so not all code-share flights allow you to earn miles or XP.

Answer 2

Official site says :

Gain XP on eligible flights with Air France, KLM, Aircalin, Kenya Airways, TAROM, SkyTeam, or other airline partners except Transavia.

The number of XP you gain is based on your flight type and cabin.

For example, fly from Frankfurt to New York via Amsterdam or Paris in Economy Cabin = 15 XP (Frankfurt to Amsterdam or Paris in Economy Cabin = 5 XP + Amsterdam or Paris to New York in Economy cabin = 10 XP)

Source : https://www.flyingblue.co.uk/en/programme#xp

Answer 3

I spoke to KLM directly, and after a few back-and-forth messages, received this:

If the flights are marketed by KLM or Air France you are able to earn Miles and XP for these flights indeed.

In this example if the flights are marketed by Virgin Atlantic and operated by KLM or Air France, you would not be able to earn Miles or XP.

Please check with the loyalty program of Virgin Atlantic if you would earn points with them for these flights.

Which I think answers part of my question: the key point is that the flights cannot be marketed by Virgin Atlantic to qualify. It's not clear from their answer that flights marketed by other Sky Team partners do qualify, but the material posted in other answers suggests that they do.

I still think that the whole thing is pretty unclear and often very hard to judge on a case-by-case basis.