[stevescoots]

so, I have a bunch of BMI miles…shoudl i use them now? can I transfer them to another program, if so then who?

[VintageKrug]

Use them as soon as possible; I’ve been trying to offload as many as possible for the last two years (it’s a struggle!) and was expecting the programme to end (in its current format) earlier this year.

It’s unlikely you’d lose your miles, as Diamond Club will eventually fold into Lufthansa’s Miles & Less; however, for various reasons M&L isn’t in any way as good as Diamond Club,

[sparkyflier]

Back on where us travellers think BA should be going with the 6 bmi slots (and also 2 qantas slots) which would also be profitable for them and where they may be currently missing out on opportunities, I think the following would be highly worthwhile:-

North America

Only Fort Lauderdale really seems to have loads of positive factors which VK has summed up . US economy is not great and some are much stronger as I am about to suggest.

Latin America

Bogota (tying in with Lan there who also have a small hub there now) Good economy and many Colombians in UK now.
Lima (lan hub) Tourism, some business and lots of cargo.
Santiago (” )
Brasilia & Belo Horizonte.

The latter 2 are after Sao Paulo & Rio the next biggst cities in Brazil, and only have TAP on the roue to Europe, who do very well on these flights, so how about a LHR – Brasilia Belo Horizonte 777 3 times a week. Or a LHR- Brasilia-Santiago, with Belo Horizonte as a tag to Sao Paulo or Rio.

Africa

Freetown & Monrovia 767 triangle route 2/3 tims a week.

Port Harcourt as tag to LOS or Abuja. If via LOS, using same crew who would rest in Port Harcourt. AF & LH do well there.

Douala/Libreville 3/4 times a week triangle with 767. Oil markets.
Malabo already covered by Iberia.

Kigali, Rwanda. & perhaps Zanzibar or Mombasa. 767 2 a week.

Far East

In China can see Guangzhou is a gaping hole, maybe a smaller city as well as indicated in an earlier posting.

ICN not sure of, well covered by very strong competitors.
Osaka?
Phuket with tags to Ho Chi Minh, although Vietnam Airways IS starting this soon directly from LGW.
KL daily, perhaps with on tag to Jakarta 4 a week and Bali 3.

767 does have its limitations but is good at opening new markets, however it does not have crew rest facilities, and so China may be too much for it.

[Travellator]

Main focus here has been which BA routes will use these new slots, however a slightly different slant is which routes will BMi give up, perhaps a regional one BHD perhaps – low PAX numbers here have seen an Embraer on this route on some flights lately instead of a 319/320

[Hippocampus]

BD has said these slots were previously leased out so this sale alone won’t affect their schedules.

[Caerdydd]

Does anyone think there is a chance that BA could use these slots to fly to more Asian Desinations – for example Hanoi, Seoul, Philippines or Bali?

[esselle]

The sale of BMI will be accelerated with the appointment of a new chairman a couple of weeks ago.

It will be interesting to see what happens.

[Scandinavian]

Some information about what BA is planning to do with their new slots seems to slowly seeping out of Waterside.

LHR-JFK: an extra daily rotation (eight BA in total). Uncertain if this involves taking over a flight from AA or not.
LHR-MIA: an extra daily 772 rotation (three in total)
LHR-HKG: extra three frequencies per week
LHR-JNB: extra three frequencies per week with daylight return!

So far none of our wishful thinking for new US or Asian destinations has materialised. Maybe BA are waiting until they take over more bmi slots 😉

[Tete_de_cuvee]

Most odd as recently WW indulged in a public whinge about needing slots to boost UK:China whose economy is doing rather better – and appears not to be suffering from the current industry over capacity. Now the slots are available it appears the blowhard’s veil of promoting UK plc has dropped …. again.

[Scandinavian]

At the same time the current increases look like occurring on routes where BA makes money, which is smart. Better to go into a potential economic downturn by strengthening its position in its best markets rather than losing money in new markets with higher risk!

WW & Co. know what they are doing.

[RichHI1]

Another one world LHR-JFK will be useful. I have done LHR-JFK-LHR three times in last eight weeks on AA and every flight I have been on has been full and some cabins at the best times have been closed out in advance when I tried to book, so there is obviously resilience in this route..

[LeTigre]

It may also be wise to remember that these slots were all used for short-haul flights before, not all slots will be suitable for long-haul usage, I reckon all 6 will not be used for long-haul for that reason. The ones mentioned by Scandinavian only account for two(if AA give up a slot to BA)/three though, so more Asian destinations isn’t totally a lost cause. Also would just like to add that in the current economic climate I am not sure whether new US destinations would make sense in the long-term, the USA will be bankrupt rather soon…

[Scandinavian]

Absolutely Hengli – it’s not certain that BA will allocate everything to long-haul. Indeed they have a further two QF slots coming their way too.

Eight new long-haul routes/frequencies in one go would be high-risk and capital intensive. But over two to three years they can optimise their slot portfolio by increasing long-haul capacity!

Posters on this forum however get more excited about a new US or Asian destination than a 11th frequency to Glasgow! 😉

[RichHI1]

Excited is a good word for it. As previously posted strengthening the MAD connection to exploit Latin American Connections could be a strong move , possibly using widebodies such as a CW 763 to offer a more suitable all business experience (IB and LAN having 2 class service anyway).

[LPPSKrisflyer]

Well nothing creative there if it’s true. You would wonder how much more capacity is needed between LHR-JFK.

This still leaves LH as the strongest player from Europe to China and they are consolidating on that position day by day. Another missed opportunity.

[Author]

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