Programs: US Airways Silver, Hilton Gold, BMI Diamond Club Gold
Posts: 579
Does BMI status match?
Hi all,
Sorry if this has been covered already.
Im currently a Gold with UA, having got a status match with them as I was a Gold for a couple of years with US Airways. Ive also got Blue + or something like that with BMI when I signed up last year.
This year however, Im doing more routes to DUB and Paris as well as a couple of trips to Vegas, and was just thinking it would be better for me to fly to DUB and Paris with BMI.
In principle, BD will not match from within *A. Since you are UA Gold, you will have all the *G benefits and, as blue plus, you will also get the front of the plane+free catering. So, all you are not getting by not being matched is the 35% elite bonus, so it is not the end of the world, imo. Just build up your status by crediting to BD, using your UA*G card for lounge access for now. That will enable you to partake in the complaining of how awful the DUB lounge is.
I'm guessing BMI might match Delta or AA, but what you'll need are the following:
* Copy of your current Tier membership card with the relevant carrier
* Copy of your historic flight history to get status on that airline, particularly strong if it's on a BMI route
* Flights booked with BMI upcoming - good reason for them to bump you up a tier status - ie they're going to get plenty of extra revenue if you're going to jump ship from BA to them.... particularly if it's in biz class.
Moderator: Cathay Pacific Asia Miles and Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Travelling Mystic - YVR & HAM. Today @ MEL
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Posts: 14,149
And to start with - you would need a UK address.
BD would prefer to status match you if they can pull you away from BA - that is their main competitor.
You may change your address back to the US after a year of maintaining your status match.
I've known people who tried to status match when they're outside UK and BD says no. Or they have a UK address for a few weeks and after they got BD Gold, changed their address back to whatever it is, only to receive an email from BD to say that their Gold status is being revoked.
Or they have a UK address for a few weeks and after they got BD Gold, changed their address back to whatever it is, only to receive an email from BD to say that their Gold status is being revoked.
I don't agree with this either, once you've earned/been issued gold you will keep gold for 12 months. It doesn't matter where you live. You can also join dc without a UK address, you just need to pick the Rest of the World option on the application form.
Yea, I was just able to join BMI using a US address, or at least it appears that I have joined.
As far as matching status (hopefully to Gold), what will that give me exactly, other than the 25% bonus? I assume I will still have to earn the 36,000 miles before the extra miles turn to destination miles, right? The reason I am considering this is I have no *A status and got in on the LAX/SFO-AKL C deal. My calculations show that this should earn me a little over 35,000 destination and elite miles if I credit to BMI with no status. What extra benefit would I get from matching to Gold prior to this trip? Can I use the *A lounges on a domestic USA itinerary if I am BMI Gold?