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

lovetravellingoz · Mar 12, 2009

sr81 said:
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On another point - Did anyone get the points from that survey they sent around about a month ago?

I do not think I saw that one..or if I did I missed it...

Still I should not complain as my wife and I have a combined 42,000 in onlya year for no cost and very VERy little effort.

Keith009 · Mar 24, 2009

Redeemed z1-9:
TXL-ZRH LX C
ZRH-SIN LX C
SIN-MEL SQ F

37 500 miles + GBP440 in cash/tax/YQ

Then LX F on ZRH-SIN opened up and so I paid the difference in miles and cash (12 500 miles + GBP90), and the GBP20 change fee. Taxes unchanged.

4 hours after I got reissued, LX officially cancels SIN. So QF009 vs Pune round 3....

The end result was that I got rebooked as thus:
TXL-FRA LH C
FRA-SIN LH F
SIN-MEL SQ F

Due to its involuntary nature, I did not have to pay the LH 'bonus' charges for the new booking.

Am trying to lengthen the connection at FRA now, feel a bit nervous about a 65mins connection at FRA (oh and for another go at the FCT too of course

). They couldn't do it last night due to an issue with "married segments" and I couldn't be stuffed ringing around the ICC at 2am.

FYI, the same happened to another FTer who was booked on LH F via MUC, no questions asked. Glad they're being flexible about this.

lovetravellingoz · Apr 14, 2009

Just checked my BMI account.....and another 2000 points had posted for both my wife and I early this month for updating our email address in the last promo.

46K and climbing....

anat0l · Apr 16, 2009

Join BMI? So, so, so confused!!!

I am so confused!

Here's what I know about BMI Diamond Club so far:

Redemption rates look pretty generous, with decent points values for redemptions (even for Y+, J and F awards - although F awards have just increased plus 10k surcharge on LH F) and ability to utilise points+pay (at 50% points minimum).
For non-GB people that rarely fly BMI, the best way to build up miles now (not before, QF009) would be through hotel stays, car rentals and the odd miles that BMI throw out here and there. I'm guessing that at least one of HH and SPG would allow redemptions into BMI, but whether there is merit in doing so is questionable.
Mixed class redemptions are priced at the class of the longest (in distance) segment in an itinerary. This appears to be the 'unwritten and unofficial' rule that is used rather than the 'official and written' rule that states that mixed class redemptions are priced at the highest class used (which is consistent with many, many airlines around the world). This appears to be a key star attraction of BMI DC, even though it is poorly (viz. not, probably with good reason) documented.
Also, if you travel fairly much in one direction, that is considered a "one-way" award and the cost of miles or miles+cash halves from the BMI redemption tables.
Redemptions on *A are no more expensive than on BMI only - big advantage over QF.
BMI do status matches on and off, but appear to be more leaning towards the 'off' side of things now. I wish I could try for it but I have (and I will shamefully admit this) no idea how to structure an email to request a status match. (Could I say that I have travel in EU coming up in Nov this year and if they don't comp me I'd rather fly BA?)
BMI always seem to have some sort of sign up bonus going on - 3k, 1.5k, 9k points just for joining DC. There seems to be nothing suggesting DC points expire, but I have a hunch the proviso is continuing activity.
BMI DC may be tending towards LH M&M, which could be the death knell on DC points and status all around. This may happen as early as the end of this year.....

That's all I know - can someone confirm or not confirm these?

I have read up on FT and BMI online about all of this - some I had to dig into web caches for, others based on some flaky observations. I keep hearing all about BMI so I wonder if I'm the sucker not being part of DC.

JohnK · Apr 16, 2009

anat0l said:
I have read up on FT and BMI online about all of this - some I had to dig into web caches for, others based on some flaky observations. I keep hearing all about BMI so I wonder if I'm the sucker not being part of DC.

Why feel like a sucker? I don't feel left out because I did not join BMI Diamond Club even after reading stories about some of the awards people have booked. I joined VS Flying Club as everyone was saying how great it was but once you start looking deeper it is not as rosy.

Apart form the last botched Amex promotion points and/or miles don't magically appear in a FF account. Sure there are some signon bonuses and some surveys but the majority has to be earned by spending money travelling or staying in expensive hotels. In my opinion, unless you want to spend serious money every year travelling and staying in expensive hotels, stick to the one FF program and maintain top status instead of looking and admiring what a few people with more money than sense are doing....

Keith009 · Apr 17, 2009

For anyone staying at Hilton Group hotels regularly, DC is offering triple miles per night from now till 30JUN.

Details:
http://www.hiltonhhonors.com/Q2bmi

Alas i won't be able to partake myself as I need to requalify for SPG PLT, and in any case most of the cities I'm visiting during the promo's duration have Ws.

In response to anat0l, I wouldn't recommend the program to anyone who's just starting out now. All things considered it's still the best value program out there, but enhancements due to the LH merger are slowly starting to roll in until DC eventually gets incorporated into M+M. "Death by a thousand cuts..."

futaris · Apr 17, 2009

I pretty much just join any/every FFP whenever there is a decent bonus. Worst case is the miles expire, or you try and find someway to renew the account.

Thanks to BMI, I got to try Business Class on SQ late last year, before the Amex Promo. I still think BMI miles are the best value from Short Car Rentals and Hilton stays. Not bad earning for most *A fares, too.

NB, I think I've got 5,000 km sitting in a LANPass account due to expire at the end of this year. Might look into using them on a LAN flight, e.g. PPT-IPC or something. No loss if I don't use them, since they cost me virtually nothing.

For a BMI Status Match, read this thread or this one. You should just have to send a scanned image of your Non Star Alliance card to [email protected] or Fax: + 44 1623 724099. Worst case is they say no. I don't see that you should have to write a big letter or anything to get the status matched...

Flashback · Apr 17, 2009

I have 9,000 BMI miles sitting in my account atm, and want to use them. What can I do from Perth? Is my best option a trip to SIN on SQ? Would that get me return with cash+miles, or only one way? If only one way then probably not much point as a 1 way SIN-PER would be pricey I'd imagine.

futaris · Apr 17, 2009

See the chart. Your best bet is a one-way Zone 9 - Zone 9 redemption, e.g. PER-AKL-MEL with a stopover in AKL, or PER-AKL-PPT. 7500 + 50 GBP C&M redemption, plus taxes (which should be negligible on Air NZ).

Otherwise top up to 15,000 miles for a return. 6,000 BMI miles could be earnt by doing 4 one-day Hertz rentals.

Flashback · Apr 17, 2009

If I did the PER-AKL-MEL thing I could then simply pay for a MEL-PER flight.

I wonder if I could do this as a weekend trip...

auriga · Apr 17, 2009