Join BMI Diamond Club and get 9,000 miles immediately! - Merged threads

[Flashback]

Some people have already had them post .. I am *not* one of them

 

[oz_mark]

Some people have already had them post .. I am *not* one of them

Nor me. But I wonder if I should have actually changed my email address, rather than update it to the same thing!

 

[simongr]

Some people have already had them post .. I am *not* one of them

Nor me ...

 

[Keith009]

Nor moi.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

• I am not sure if any Aussie based non-postcard recipents have received the 2000 points yet, though some USA people have.
• I do note that the T&C had bonus points posting on Oct 31. In the last promo my 2500 points posted bang on the announced day. So I will hopefully have a present by Nov1.

T&C
This offer is only available to Diamond Club members who received postal notification to update their Diamond Club account details and is non transferable. You must complete the mandatory fields detailed above by 20 October 2008 to qualify for 2,000 bonus destinations miles, which will be credited to your Diamond Club account by 31 October 2008. By completing these mandatory fields you give your consent and agree that you will receive, from time to time, relevant Diamond Club account information, programme changes and occasional carefully selected news, offers and promotions from Diamond Club. Only one updated details form will be accepted by bmi and bmi will automatically delete/remove any duplicate/surplus applications and or duplicate miles added in accordance with the Diamond Club terms of membership. All updated details supplied will be verified by bmi Diamond Club and any invalid or non existent email address details supplied by you will not be eligible for the 2,000 bonus destinations miles. The award of and redemption of such destinations miles shall be governed in accordance with the Diamond Club terms and conditions and are strictly subject to availability. Standard Diamond Club terms and conditions apply. bmi Diamond Club reserves the right to change or alter this offer at any time. This offer is governed by English law and the English courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising in connection with it. The promoter of this offer is British Midland Airways Limited, Donington Hall, Castle Donington, Derby DE74 2SB.

 

[straitman]

Good to see that someone read the T & C :!: :shock:

 

[Keith009]

Those who've yet to deal with the bmi ICC would do well to read the following thread, take a deep breath or 2 before calling Pune:
Call Centre: Problems booking redemptions: system problem or new DC policy? The Shenanigans Thread - FlyerTalk Forums

Either BD's IT systems are way behind in maintenance, or the staff can't be bothered anymore, but sometimes even when reading out the flight number to the staff, either of the following will happen:
- no availability (even if the NH tool says there are heaps of seats)
- the agent can't even see the flight
- dubious interpretations of what constitutes "backtracking"

They are especially having problems with OZ atm. If all else fails, try asking for a supervisor and either 1) a seat gets miraculously booked; 2) they'd lie and tell u supervisors aren't available until the next morning

And you'd find that a lot of agents have a "computer says no" mentality. But anyway, in my War on Error against the ICC which took 8 calls, 4 hours and lots of frustration, I finally managed to sort out my Easter trip, the itinerary of which is arguably far simpler than what I've booked in the past.

Booked the return first because that showed 2 seats in every flight I needed, so for 37 500 miles + GBP127.50 cash + GBP155 tax/YQ per pax:
TPE-HKG TG C (stop - another W stay )
HKG-SIN SQ C
SIN-MEL SQ C

I had to book the outbound separately as only 1 seat was available in each of the SQ MEL-SIN flights that could be booked. For another 37 500 miles + GBP127.50 cash + GBP150 tax/YQ per pax. Meanwhile I'd continue to monitor availability like a hawk and pay the GBP20 to switch one of us over should a 2nd seat in C pop up on either flight:
MEL-SIN SQ C (stop)
SIN-TPE SQ C

Sadly none of the regional hops had F available for 2 or we'd have taken advantage of their 'longest segment determines award level' rule and gotten in some F hops for the price of C.

For the outbound award I got a lovely female agent called Zunat who had the IT issues as above but she had a 'can do' attitude and sorted me out. She even proactively searched for alternative dates where 2 seats were available on the same flight but alas my schedule isn't flexible. Spoke in a clear and confident voice, worked out the taxes in a jiffy (rather than the 'call back in 30 mins for taxes' rubbish), and without my prompting promises that she'd forward the itinerary to the ticketing department urgently as she's aware of the SQ 24hrs ticketing deadline. If only every agent were like Zunat. BD Cust Relations will be hearing some nice words about Zunat soon.

 

[sr81]

Nice summation of the thread on FT, I am also going through some major issues with BMI at the moment but my one is that BMI can see seats but can't book OZ.

I will again be trying tonight and will report back. I like the suggestion of a supervisor.

The only proactive call guy I have had binned all my routes and stuck to the "no backtracking" line. He tried to force me to go via LAX to HNL instead of the AKL-HNL route! Issue is, of course, is that UA/AC/NZ have no availability in J but NZ does via AKL. Even when I explained that via AKL was shorter I go the "computer says no".

Perserverance is key.

 

[Keith009]

I suspect due to the outrageous itineraries that have been allowed in the past (and i'm not talking about legit, forced routings like UUS/KHV or MLE) there's been a directive to tighten up with the 'most direct route' rule and with the ICC numpties this is how it's been implemented.

There's also been reports of ICC agents pushing coughpy airlines (eg egyptair) over the popular ones like SQ/LX/LH. I guess the first few lots of inter-airline settlements must have hit BD pretty hard.

The only proactive call guy I have had binned all my routes and stuck to the "no backtracking" line. He tried to force me to go via LAX to HNL instead of the AKL-HNL route! Issue is, of course, is that UA/AC/NZ have no availability in J but NZ does via AKL. Even when I explained that via AKL was shorter I go the "computer says no".

That happened to a mate before. He wanted to fly IST-BKK-SIN on TK/SQ and didn't want to muck around with flying back to ZRH or FRA. Got the "no backtracking" line; the agent tried to book him on LH via FRA. He politely insisted that the agent refer to a map, and the agent eventually relented.

And a few posts back I reported that they'd tried to make me go via SIN as it is apparently a "more direct route" than going via AKL for MEL-LAX.

Often they'd determine what backtracking is/isn't by simply putting your start and end points into Amadeus and see what spits out - even if the routing on Amadeus is actually more convoluted (as it defaults to actual route maps published by the individual airlines via their respective hubs) than the one you wanted.

Then again I see it as a trade off for the outrageously generous FFP that dc is. When dc eventually gets sold to LH you can bet that not only will awards be a lot more expensive, but a lot of routings that are currently allowed will be all but blocked by those polite and efficient teutonics.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Out of interest QF009, how do you acrue your points to Dimaond Club.

Is it just by flying Star Alliance flights with points awarded to BMI, with the odd survey bonus thrown in???

Or do you have other ways of earning points for DC?

 

[Keith009]

Out of interest QF009, how do you acrue your points to Dimaond Club.

Is it just by flying Star Alliance flights with points awarded to BMI, with the odd survey bonus thrown in???

Or do you have other ways of earning points for DC?

A combination of all the above. Less so on flights. Hilton stays are v good.

 

[sr81]

Success!

After a lot of messing about, 7 phone calls and over 50 minutes on the phone I got my redemption. The agent was really good though needed some prompting as OZ was proving difficult.

SYD-ICN-LAX-OGG

I had thought that I could get from SYD to OGG on a zone 9 to zone 11 redemption but BMI wasn't having a bar of it unless I traveled the most direct route which is MEL-LAX-OGG. Obviously I had no desire to travel Y on UA to LAX so I accepted their alternative which was two point to point redemtions.

Leg 1:
SYD - ICN
2 business seats
Asiana
18750 points + GBP127.5 + GBP121.5 (tax) per person

Leg 2:
ICN - LAX
2 business seats
Asiana
Leg 3:
LAX - OGG
2 eccomony (waiting for UA to release seats)
18750 points + GBP127.5 + GBP121.5 (tax) per person

Total cost was 75,000 points and GBP996 for two people. Whilst the AUD is killing me it is still a good deal.

The best deal is that I can upgrade to first for the ICN - LAX leg if I can russell up another 12,500 points whilst availability remains.

Whilst I didn't get the amazing deal that was possible before BMI cracked down on interesting routings I still think that I got good value for my points. Asiana has a good reputation and I have never been to Seoul.

Thanks to QF009 as his help has been invaluable.

 

[Keith009]

The key was to pick a day MEL-LAX is unavailable or keep arguing that you want J and you aren't accepting MEL-LAX in whY. But I also understand that by that stage you wanted to get it over and done with asap.

Nonethess a v good value award.

The tax on the ICN-LAX-OGG award is cheaper than the YQ SQ is stinging me to fly MEL-oSIN-TPE...:-|

I still find it hilarious that they're pushing people to go via Asia and the mainland to get to HNL even though there's a direct AKL-HNL (as opposed to OGG where you actually have to go via the mainland), bodes well for the longevitiy of the Hawaii forced routing to get cheaper mainland awards.

 

[mumbles]

Looks like Lufthansa will be purchasing bmi in the next months.
This could be the end of generous BD redemptions...

 

[sr81]

Looks like Lufthansa will be purchasing bmi in the next months.
This could be the end of generous BD redemptions...

This has been mooted for quite a while now and currently LH are deeply entrenched in Italy following the AZ collapse.

Do you have an article or reference to back this up?

If you are going to try for status matching with BD then moving sooner rather than later may be prudent.

 

[sr81]

Seems like there is confirmation of the BMI sale as LH will buy 50% plus 1 of the shares.

The BMI board on FT has gone into meltdown with rumor and "sky's falling" talk abounding.

see link here: Confirmed: Sir Michael Bishop sells bmi to Lufthansa !!! - FlyerTalk Forums

I am quite grateful that I redeemed last week as the DC phone line will be jammed for the next little while.

 

[Keith009]

I'd also posted the article in the Travel News section.

http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/community/travel-news/lh-announces-bd-takeover-time-15152.html

Looks like Pune will have a lot more work to do in the coming weeks...

 

[oz_mark]

Does anyone know how long the 2000 points take to post :?:

Well 31 Oct has been an gone, and no sign of the points. Oh well was worth a shot.

 

[straitman]

Well 31 Oct has been an gone, and no sign of the points. Oh well was worth a shot.

Only just gone on the other side of the world though. Maybe Monday will see something.

 

[Keith009]

Matched to BD*G. All it took was an email.

*G status is valid for a year from today, here's hoping dc will have turned into M+M by then. They also soft land you to *S should you not make Gold within your 'year.'