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

[Keith009]

I'm beginning to think that these people don't know basic geography...

For UK-Russia, LHR-UUS:
- Tried to be reasonable and found availability on a reasonably direct route (and NH F wasn't available as always):
LHR-FRA LH C
FRA-ICN OZ F <stop>
ICN-UUS OZ C

- "Sorry sir you have to go on the most direct route."

- Pointed out that the only way to get to UUS was via Asia.

- "That's fine sir but you can't connect in zone 1 (FRA), you have to go through Singapore or Bangkok."



So ended up with the following because it is apparently "most direct":
LHR-BKK TG F
BKK-ICN OZ C (stop)
ICN-UUS OZ C

I'd leave y'all to figure out the award category...

edited to add: ahh just found the bit which says an award between the 2 zones involved cannot have a connection or stopover in zone1... odd rule considering they're perfectly fine with me going via an even less direct routing...

 

[JohnK]

You seem to have an awful lot of BMI miles. Have you been purchasing them or signing up for every promotion possible? More than once!

 

[futaris]

It's not really an odd rule considering that BMI Diamond Club is aimed at UK residents. NB, an interesting case is the SQ26/SQ25 SIN-FRA-JFK flight. These are usually booked as a thru-sector.

JohnK, I think QF009 has been crediting his *A flights to BMI, and crediting to them for Hertz Car Rentals and Hilton stays. There is a double mileage promo for Hertz Rentals till end of Sept. Usually you only get 1700 points/rental, so 3400 points/rental is excellent.

 

[sr81]

I'm beginning to think that these people don't know basic geography...

For UK-Russia, LHR-UUS:


So ended up with the following because it is apparently "most direct":
LHR-BKK TG F
BKK-ICN OZ C (stop)
ICN-UUS OZ C

I'd leave y'all to figure out the award category...

Astonishing. I believe that this would be a zone one to zone two award at 2 times half points plus twice the co-pay given the F leg.

USS - Valdivostok?

 

[futaris]

UUS - Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Sakhalin, Russian Federation (Russia)

 

[Keith009]

You seem to have an awful lot of BMI miles. Have you been purchasing them or signing up for every promotion possible? More than once!

Let's just say I have lots of family members who couldn't care less about FFPs when it came to the 9000 mile promo. One of those is sufficient for the abovereferenced LHR-UUS award.

And yes Hilton stays are a good way of earning miles, 1000 miles/night to the max of 3000 miles. And then some. Which go a long way considering how good value DC awards are.

Also ITunes are a good way to earn miles whenever the shopping promos come up. Each transaction would need to be above GBP1 to attract miles, so 2 tunes per transaction in a few separate transactions usually do it.

 

[Keith009]

It's not really an odd rule considering that BMI Diamond Club is aimed at UK residents. NB, an interesting case is the SQ26/SQ25 SIN-FRA-JFK flight. These are usually booked as a thru-sector.

They allow zone1 connections when itineraries originate outside zone1 it seems. For eg my z2-4 and z4-9 awards as posted above. The z4-9 I got away with wasn't entirely legit but apparently the most direct route for that is something like GRU-MUC-SIN/BKK-MEL or GRU-JNB-SIN/BKK-MEL.

 

[Keith009]

Now that I'm staring at LH SEN-hood expiring in Feb (and dropping to *S - yick!), was thinking that this might be a good way of getting free *G for 3 or so yrs...
- BMI matches virtually any OW status, so AA EXP/QF WP/etc -> BD*G
- This will then be valid 12 months from turning *G
- Conventional wisdom is that within a year LH will exercise its options on BD, in which case DC will turn into Miles and More.
- Based on what happened with Swiss Travel Club, miles will convert from DC to M+M on a 1:1 basis. All STC Golds were automatically made LH SEN, which lasts 2 years.
- So AA EXP/QF WP -> BD*G for up to 12 months -> LH SEN for a further 2 years

Of course all this is contingent upon LH actually taking over BD within that time frame... Exactly when is anyone's guess but a little bird told me it could happen between November and middle of next year, but to expect a little longer to integrate DC into M+M.

 

[SeaWolf]

That's quite a few what-ifs though. Even if LH does buy BD (and there's a good chance that they'll use those options and get it at a bargain price) there's a pretty good chance that they won't hang on to it. Instead, they'll probably start a bidding war between BA and VS over it. Whoever comes out on top will end up with BD (pending competition approval of course) and all those extra slots at LHR.

 

[Keith009]

That's quite a few what-ifs though. Even if LH does buy BD (and there's a good chance that they'll use those options and get it at a bargain price) there's a pretty good chance that they won't hang on to it. Instead, they'll probably start a bidding war between BA and VS over it. Whoever comes out on top will end up with BD (pending competition approval of course) and all those extra slots at LHR.

The competition authorities will have a field day if BA takes over BD. LH is interested in BD primarily for the LHR slots, due to Open Skies.

 

[JohnK]

BMI Diamond Club is offering 3,000 miles again for signing up.

I am still not a member so I would appreciate if someone can answer some questions before I join. Should I wait for a better offer, like the 9,000 miles offer? Can miles be transferred between accounts? How much does it cost to buy the miles?

Their economy awards do not represent great value if I wanted a BKK-SIN return. I think it is 20,000 miles + taxes or 10,000 miles + taxes + GBP170. Close to $400 and 10,000 miles is more than a paid Cathay economy ticket and marginally less than a Cathay business class ticket. The same award on QF is 26,500 QFF points (including assisted award booking fee) + $110 in fuel surcharges. Decisions, decisions.

Also Diamond Club does not appear to have many partners that Australians can take advantage of to add miles to their BMI Diamond Club account.

 

[Flashback]

BMI Diamond Club is offering 3,000 miles again for signing up.

I am still not a member so I would appreciate if someone can answer some questions before I join. Should I wait for a better offer, like the 9,000 miles offer? Can miles be transferred between accounts? How much does it cost to buy the miles?

Their economy awards do not represent great value if I wanted a BKK-SIN return. I think it is 20,000 miles + taxes or 10,000 miles + taxes + GBP170. Close to $400 and 10,000 miles is more than a paid Cathay economy ticket and marginally less than a Cathay business class ticket. The same award on QF is 26,500 QFF points (including assisted award booking fee) + $110 in fuel surcharges. Decisions, decisions.

Also Diamond Club does not appear to have many partners that Australians can take advantage of to add miles to their BMI Diamond Club account.

There has been varying offers since, and I don't think you're likely to get much better than 3000 miles in the foreseeable future.

No, points cannot be transferred between accounts unfortunately, and the good value comes in J and F awards longhaul, rather than short trips.

 

[oz_mark]

Might be time for me to fire another 'help I can't get into my account' email. Should be 14,000 points in my account, which might be useful for something

Success at last. I'm in.

(But oh, my, what have they done to their home page)

 

[Keith009]

Finally....

 

[Flashback]

Miracles never cease to amaze! oz_mark, maybe you should buy a lotto ticket

 

[dajop]

Their economy awards do not represent great value if I wanted a BKK-SIN return. I think it is 20,000 miles + taxes or 10,000 miles + taxes + GBP170. Close to $400 and 10,000 miles is more than a paid Cathay economy ticket and marginally less than a Cathay business class ticket.

There are certain flights you just wouldn't use points for. Economy return SIN-BKK is one of then (although it is 10,000 miles + taxes +GBP70 not GBP170) .

On the other hand could MEL-SIN-NRT(one way) in J class for 18,500 miles + GBP127.50 + taxes . Or even Economy SIN-NRT return for 15000 miles + 75GBP + taxes is much better value. Current quote on SQ is 1100SGD (which may very soon be 1100AUD ) + taxes

 

[JohnK]

That looks like a ridiculously small amount of points required for awards in premium cabins.

Oh, and the A$ may soon reach parity with the S$ not the US$ as most economists had predicted. I had a suspicion that economists and financial advisors had absolutely no idea what they predicting or recommending and this goes part of the way to confirming it. Everyday for the past 2 months it is a new excuse on why the A$ is free falling. Didn't they see the economy was slowing down 3 months ago? Now they are predicting the A$ to remain between US 70-80 cents and maybe even lower. So much for parity....

 

[futaris]

I originally rang trying to a J ticket SYD-SIN-CGK, but the first agent was useless so I hang up and rang again. NB, I was using the ANA tool, so knew what availability etc there was.

Second agent was more useful I successfully booked SYD-SIN on a 744 in J class (using cash and points), but couldn't get the SIN-CGK segment in J or Y class on the same day. The agent said that tickets can be changed for 20 GBP, so I just booked the SYD-SIN segment.

I rang up at 5pm (8am GMT+1) and found availability in J about 17hrs after the flight into SIN arrives. Gave the PNR and the agent said that the destination of a ticket can't be changed even though it's already been booked. Seems stupid, as the destination is still in the same Zone.

Anyhow, I asked to speak to a supervisor, gave my mobile and still haven't heard back since. If I had know this, I probably would have just booked a SYD-SIN-NRT or something for the same cost.

 

[oz_mark]

Oh, and the A$ may soon reach parity with the S$ not the US$ as most economists had predicted. I had a suspicion that economists and financial advisors had absolutely no idea what they predicting or recommending and this goes part of the way to confirming it. Everyday for the past 2 months it is a new excuse on why the A$ is free falling. Didn't they see the economy was slowing down 3 months ago? Now they are predicting the A$ to remain between US 70-80 cents and maybe even lower. So much for parity....

The problem is that the economy has pretty much come to a halt in NSW, while other states steam ahead. To a degree interest rates were causing the dollar to be as high as it was.

 

[Flashback]

That looks like a ridiculously small amount of points required for awards in premium cabins.

Oh, and the A$ may soon reach parity with the S$ not the US$ as most economists had predicted. I had a suspicion that economists and financial advisors had absolutely no idea what they predicting or recommending and this goes part of the way to confirming it. Everyday for the past 2 months it is a new excuse on why the A$ is free falling. Didn't they see the economy was slowing down 3 months ago? Now they are predicting the A$ to remain between US 70-80 cents and maybe even lower. So much for parity....

Makes me very happy that I booked my hotel for my trip to Singapore in December, when you were still getting approx 1 AUD -> 1.30 SGD. Compared to buying the same room now, it has saved me a lot of dosh