[Anonymous]

[seasonedtraveller]

I know there is a similar topic below this one but, does anyone know if I can move some of my excess Diamond Club miles into my SAS Eurobonus account (both Star Alliance). I have tried talking to BMI but sorry to say that their damn awful call center has not the first clue what it is that I am asking them.

[VintageKrug]

You generally cannot directly transfer miles between any airline scheme (even within the same alliance).

However, there are two ways round this.

1. Redeem on SAS via bmi

The easiest way is to use bmi miles to redeem on other Star Alliance (and certain non-star alliance bmi partners, e.g. Virgin Atlantic).

With bmi’s woeful IT and offshored call centre, you need to do plenty of your own research before you call them requesting a redemption.

So make sure you research the amount of miles needed, the routing, dates and flight numbers/airlines you want and give them very clear simple instructions; doing this almost always results in the answer you want.

Use a site like expertflyer to see redemption availability before calling, though this doesn’t show for all airlines (e.g. Swiss) and there may be some restrictions on redemptions on certain carriers (e.g. Singapore Suites are off limits, Lutwaffe charges non-Lufty milesholders a premium for F redemptions).

Another tip is that as the callcentre is in Pune, India, it is better to call early in the day UK time; assistants are fresher and better disposed to help; as ever avoid weekends where possible.

ALWAYS double check bmi redemptions after about 48hours using http://www.checkmytrip.com to ensure it has been ticketed.

2. THe second option is to use points.com to launder your miles through various schemes. Not at all recommended as you tend to lose quite a bit of value doing so.

[seasonedtraveller]

VK – Thank you for your extremely kind and comprehensive answer.
I hold more than 500,000 miles with BMI & am 3 times over the required re-qualification for Gold status – this is only half way through the status year. I am afaid that I now have little or no reason to fly with BMI since their reincarnation as an LHR based Middle Eastern carrier and since my ‘region’ now includes the Phillipines as well as the USA, I thought it was about time I joined another programme.

[cityprofessional]

I too am a lapsed bmi traveller, and only occasionally fly these days. But the bmi programme is still one of the most generous for earning (especially in premium classes) and burning (cash plus miles), particularly after the 55k double earning threshold. Why not keep using diamond club to earn/burn?

For high mileage, paid premium class travellers the only significantly better schemes are things like Miles & More (if you think you’ll make HON, for the recognition and perks) or PPS (if you think you’ll make a high tier, and so you can redeem on SQ suites and new business)

[VintageKrug]

The problem is that bmi the scheme will be merged into Miles & Less during the course of 2011.

[Senator]

seasonedtraveller,

Quicker question is who are you using for the US and Asian trips? SAS Eurobonus is fine if you fly in Scandinavia, and the threshold outside of Sweden for Gold is easily obtained. However, it is not a brilliant programme for other Star airlines partners.

It is likely that DC will be rolled into the LH M&M Programme in the future as VK stated. M&M is excellent if you travel in premium cabins, less so if you are in the back. By the sound of it, it could suit you. In this case, I would stick to DC until this is done to keep miles (transfer) and status.

In M&M you get
1.5x in B, Y class on most Star carriers
2x in Business
3x in First
25% Exec Bonus on Frequent Traveller, Senator, Hon on all airlines using M&M as programme, as well as AC, CO, US, UA.

Thresholds for redemption for Business and First was recently increased which was disappointing.

[cityprofessional]

Well, unless you are the recipient of some inside information, we don’t know for sure when DC will be merged into M&M. It has been reported on Flyertalk that the Netherlands/Israel/Ukraine trial run cost bmi a cool £1m in sudden redemptions (hahaha…), so it won’t be so easy for bmi

In any case, with the travel profile suggested by the OP, it sounds like he’ll comfortably make SEN. M&M is less generous in some areas, but relatively generous to SENs, and if you want to do things like couples’ redemptions. Also opens up premium redemptions on LH and SQ, which DC does not allow

My personal strategy is to keep milking DC for as long as I can make it last, transfer to SEN when DC closes, and then build up *G somewhere else, or status match into OW (having completely drained my DC account, of course – and, boy, will I have an amazing year of premium redemption travel – bmi won’t know what hit their balance sheet…)

[Senator]

Cityprofessional,

I don’t have inside info, I could perhaps get it 🙂 as I used to work with M&M on a professional side. I once set up a my former employer as a earn/redeem partner with M&M. What is clear is that LH Group sees M&M as a strategic asset in the group, and that all other aquisitions have been “forced” into M&M. In addition, many have come voluntarily including Lot and Austrian (prior to the M&A process).

I may be wrong, but I believe the BMI CEO did confirm that it was inevitable that DC would be rolled into M&M at some point in an interview. I believe this is what VK was referring to,

If you look at history, the importance of M&M as an asset to the LH group I think it is inevitable that this will happen. It is probably more a question of when.

I’d be interested in what programme you would consider as an alternative for Star in Europe. UA (or CO) is not a good option unless you fly frequently with them.

If you fly a fair amount on LH, BD, OS, LX it is a good programme (assuming you fly in premium cabins).

[cityprofessional]

Senator, the CEO said there was a roadmap, but gave no timing, and that was before the £1m cost of converting the first few countries

I didn’t say that M&M was bad – only that DC was more generous, and that the OP may as well keep earning/burning on DC until the last possible moment

As for the best programme, well that depends on your travel patterns. It’s easier to reach gold on Aegean, Turkish and Asiana than bmi, but redemptions are not easy or cheap. Conversely M&M and Krisflyer can be generous if you do a lot of paid premium travel. DC is a happy blend of easy *G, cheap redemptions and generous mileage for premium passengers

Once DC is gone, I personally will probably move my paid premium longhaul travel to Oneworld, as LH doesn’t seem to want my money

[Senator]

Here is a statement from “diamond club” poster on FlyerTalk. Not 100% this is a real BMI communication channel, but it lays out the land so to speak:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/bmi-diamond-club/1182088-miles-more-update.html

“Now that bmi is a part of the Lufthansa group of airlines, we are evaluating being part of Miles & More in the long term. A final decision has not been taken and such a move would not happen in 2011. For the foreseeable future we are firmly focussed on ensuring that our Diamond Club scheme meets the needs of our loyal customers. Therefore we will continue to improve and develop Diamond Club. We will be launching Star Alliance Upgrade Awards in Q2 this year, which will enable Diamond Club members to upgrade on the majority of Star Alliance airlines using their miles, as well as bringing a number of new partners on board.”

[stevescoots]

well, I have about 300,000 diamond club miles. I have only ever flown BMI once, it was one of the first flights I took years ago and since then any star alliance flights I take I load the points to the BMI card.
I dont plan flying BMI at all,

So can I use these points on lufthansa flights? then just get a miles and more card?

I really need to tidy up my points, I have already lost 50K Air france, and 70K czech ones over the years due to expiry (and lazyness on my part).

[KeaneJohn]

Didn’t BMI also say they had a commitment to flying into Glasgow as well

;o)

[Author]

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