Star Alliance - The end of bmi Diamond Club - how to maintain Star Gold?

Hi everyone

Let me apologise in case this has been posted somewhere before. I had a look in the Status Match Master Thread and couldn't find anything that answered my questions.

I have been a member of Diamond Club (bmi) for several years. My flying patterns have changed and I now rarely fly with bmi but Thai and Air Canada are usually my airlines of choice. This has allowed me to maintain my Star Alliance Gold status.

Should bmi be closed down or sold off by Lufthansa (it appears that FlyBE, Virgin and BA are the likely bidders) I am poised to lose my Star Alliance Gold benefits.

Are there any airlines within Star Alliance that status-match a fellow Star Alliance status? I'm guessing the answer is 'no'.

If not - do you think this would happen so that the airline can retain business? Or should I start crediting miles to Thai or Air Canada's programmes? If so - which one's better?!

Thanks for your help!

bmi_Barry

Hi everyone

Let me apologise in case this has been posted somewhere before. I had a look in the Status Match Master Thread and couldn't find anything that answered my questions.

I have been a member of Diamond Club (bmi) for several years. My flying patterns have changed and I now rarely fly with bmi but Thai and Air Canada are usually my airlines of choice. This has allowed me to maintain my Star Alliance Gold status.

Should bmi be closed down or sold off by Lufthansa (it appears that FlyBE, Virgin and BA are the likely bidders) I am poised to lose my Star Alliance Gold benefits.

Are there any airlines within Star Alliance that status-match a fellow Star Alliance status? I'm guessing the answer is 'no'.

If not - do you think this would happen so that the airline can retain business? Or should I start crediting miles to Thai or Air Canada's programmes? If so - which one's better?!

Thanks for your help!

bmi_Barry

Thread title a little misleading or what?

The current consensus is that Diamond Club will survive for now, as LH have installed a new CEO with a view to turning the airline around.

AC's programme has a very low threashold for Gold, but remember it won't give you domestic lounge access in North America. I don't know anything about ROP.

If Diamond Club falls out of *A, there likely will be a *A status match made available to BD members at that time.

The danger for you is if DC becomes like, or becomes part of, M&M - then you should status match to a non *A airline and then Status match onwards again.

AC's programme has a very low threashold for Gold, but remember it won't give you domestic lounge access in North America.Actually, it will.

Thread title a little misleading or what?

Apologies... Have now modified the title to be a bit more clear.

Thanks GoldCircle. I hope you're right. Diamond Club has been a great FF programme and I'd much rather just keep crediting miles to it. If Lufthansa takes over then I'd be happy. I guess my fear is the uncertainty and the fact that Lufthansa haven't denied that they are shopping around bits and pieces of bmi (though this talk is probably best for the bmi forum!).

I appreciate the advice on Air Canada. I think I will begin crediting miles there to build up Elite status. I don't fly domestically in Canada very often so this doesn't bother me.

Any thoughts on possible status matches within the alliance at this time? I guess status matching back to the alliance as you suggested should work if BA or Virgin take over. I guess my ultimate fear is being stuck in FlyBE's programme and having the choice of which Shetland Island to fly to from Southampton!

Thanks for your help.

Piet

Apologies... Have now modified the title to be a bit more clear.

Thanks GoldCircle. I hope you're right. Diamond Club has been a great FF programme and I'd much rather just keep crediting miles to it. If Lufthansa takes over then I'd be happy. I guess my fear is the uncertainty and the fact that Lufthansa haven't denied that they are shopping around bits and pieces of bmi (though this talk is probably best for the bmi forum!).

I appreciate the advice on Air Canada. I think I will begin crediting miles there to build up Elite status. I don't fly domestically in Canada very often so this doesn't bother me.

Piet

My only issue with AC is that their burn rates are very bad as compared to other *A members. Any thoughts on OZ or TK? I have heard that their *A qualification is very low too.

My only issue with AC is that their burn rates are very bad as compared to other *A members..

You think? I was under the impression that AC's burn rates were pretty competitive (with a few regional exceptions), but maybe I'm out of touch. Any particular redemptions that you think are terrible value on AC?

There are some real bargains to be had in AC's program IMHO, e.g. 35K for a business class award anywhere within Oceania (could be PER-AKL-PPT for example), or 120K for a first class award from Nth America to Asia, which permits routing via (and stopovers in) Europe as well, effectively making it a mini-RTW in F for 120K.

I have Asiana status too - the earn/burn ratio would make your nose bleed - find another programme. :)

I wasn't aware that AC's *G allowed domestic lounge access in NA. ^ Thanks for the info, KVS.

..
I appreciate the advice on Air Canada. I think I will begin crediting miles there to build up Elite status. I don't fly domestically in Canada very often so this doesn't bother me.
..
Piet

Honestly, what the xxx for??

I'm with both AC, and BD. I'll stick with BD.

Everyone is panicking over this...!

Surely there must be something more exciting in your life than worrying about the demise of Diamond Club ??

Surely there must be something more exciting in your life than worrying about the demise of Diamond Club ??

Well... I travel monthly to Asia (always via Bangkok - our key market) from the UK and about three times a year to Canada. The University I work for refuses to fly me business class but will usually stump up for miles-awarding fares. For me the key is maintaining Star Alliance Gold status so BD leaving Star Alliance would have a big impact on the comfort levels of my regular travel.

There are a few things in my life that are more worrying than the demise of Diamond Club (house purchase probably being #1) but this is a substantial enough threat to my travel well-being that I thought it was worth the query.

Keep your BD*G.

If anything should happen such that BD no longer exists independently, or if they were no longer part of Star Alliance, mark this prediction: Star Alliance airlines will offer to comp BD*G with status in another Star program.

My only issue with AC is that their burn rates are very bad as compared to other *A members. Any thoughts on OZ or TK? I have heard that their *A qualification is very low too.

AC has very competetive burn rates. Just look at Canada-Australia in C.

I have Asiana status too - the earn/burn ratio would make your nose bleed - find another programme. :)

The OP was asking for status and OZ is a great program for this. 40,000 miles in two years and status valid for up to 4 years.
Earn/burn is not great unless you have the 2 miles per $ credit card or you want to do lots of stopovers which are great with OZ.

You think? I was under the impression that AC's burn rates were pretty competitive (with a few regional exceptions), but maybe I'm out of touch. Any particular redemptions that you think are terrible value on AC?

There are some real bargains to be had in AC's program IMHO, e.g. 35K for a business class award anywhere within Oceania (could be PER-AKL-PPT for example), or 120K for a first class award from Nth America to Asia, which permits routing via (and stopovers in) Europe as well, effectively making it a mini-RTW in F for 120K.

I guess one only looks at awards one wants to redeem. I looked at US-India awards and they start at 130,000 for Y. Almost al other airlines offer the same award for anywhere from 65,000 to 90,000 range (BD is 80,000). That is a big difference.

I wil check out the other awards. Back to the topic of BD, I agree with the poster who said that whatever happens to BD, folks with status on BD will either get absorbed by M&M or get status matched on another *A airline. Personally I am continuing to accumulate on BD.

If Diamond Club falls out of *A, there likely will be a *A status match made available to BD members at that time.

I'm with both AC, and BD. I'll stick with BD.
Everyone is panicking over this...!

If anything should happen such that BD no longer exists independently, or if they were no longer part of Star Alliance, mark this prediction: Star Alliance airlines will offer to comp BD*G with status in another Star program.

This is advice from 2 VERY experienced travellers and FFP junkies as well as a bmi board moderator (not that that makes me an expert on anything).

Are you getting the picture yet? :)

Are you getting the picture yet? :)

Points taken! Thanks all for your advice on this one. Looks like I'll keep crediting my bmi account!