GoldCircle

Diamond Club announced a large programme update on November 16th 2009. A full re-write of this FAQ is now required. Please be patient while we find the time to do this!.

The most frequently over-asked questions are here in post No. 1

Understanding Diamond Club is in post No 2.

How do I contact Diamond Club / Joanna ?

by Flyertalk PM to diamond club
by e-mail to diamond DOT club AT flybmi DOT com
by fax to +44 1623 724099 (if the machine is working....)
by mail to the mailing address

To protect the adressee from SPAM, please do not post actual e-mail addresses on Flyertalk.

Do they comp?
Yes, they do. They won’t comp you from a *A member as a rule, though there have been occasional rumours of success where proof of change of address to a bmi hub is supplied - YMMV. They do particularly like members of BA’s Executive Club. Aer Lingus Gold Circle and KL/AF Flying Blues members fare well also. Until recent times, pretty much anyone with metalic plastic seems to be able to receive a comp, even Americans! Now that the airline (bmi British Midland for those who have never set foot...) has been sold to Lufthansa, there is some suggestion that comping is being offered on a slightly more restrictive basis. It never hurts to ask, does it? But remember - it's a one time only thing.

So, get your most recent frequent flyer statement, or a photocopy/scan of a current status bearing card and sent it to the Diamond Club admin office by fax or by email to the diamond club address.

How long does it take? Well that depends on how busy they are, but experiences suggest 1-2 weeks, it happens quietly, and most people only know they've been comped by logging in to their DC a/c. Your pack should arrive by post a few weeks (3-6?) later.

I took a flight 5 mins ago and it hasn't posted yet...
Most bmi flights post overnight, except at the weekend. So if you fly Friday, don't expect it to appear until Monday at the earliest. Sometimes it takes a day or two more. If it hasn't posted, ask yourself the 3 basic questions:
1) Did I put the number in at the time of booking?
2) Did I check again at check-in/OLCI?
3) Did I make absolutely sure it was printed on my BP?
No to any of these? bmi flights not appeared within a week? Just send in the BPs.

Partner flights? YMMV. Most *A airlines tend to appear in 3-5 days, with the above weekend situation to be factored in on top. UA seems to be quite slow - up to a month according to some. SQ often doesn't show up, and premium classes were routinely credited as Y, though this may now have been fixed. Generally speaking, *A flights do post if you follow the 3 step procedure - with step 3 being particularly important in this scenario.

My segments have posted as 0 miles. What's happening?
This is normal. It does not indicate a non-earning fare class. Entries always initially appear with 0 0 next to them. On weekdays, the database is updated overnight and new entries will change to show the relevant number of miles. This doesn't happen at the weekend, so an entry which posts on Friday may still show 0 until Tuesday morning. If the system cannot update the entry automatically, it may remain at 0 0 for a few days. It will post eventually, so no need for concern.

How long do I have to retro-credit missing miles? How do I do this?
For new members joining, you have one month from the 1st flights to get your application in. For everyone else, there is a six month time-limit to send in details of missing flights/hotel nights/car rentals etc.

Where to send details?
Well, you can scan the ticket/e-confirmation (incl. ticket no./PNR) and BPs to the diamond club e-mail address or send them by registered post (after having made a photocopy/scan of everything) to the Diamond Club mail address.

How long does it take? I've sent my details in 25 times and nothing has appeared yet...
The Diamond Club admin team is very small, so it often takes as long as two weeks for her to just get to your query. Even longer if they have to weed out a shed load of duplicate enquiries. Be patient - they are nice people who work hard. If you send your stuff to the correct address, they will get to it. less than 2 weeks seems to be the average. If your missing bmi segments haven't appeared within 4 weeks, then, perhaps you could send an email to enquire. *A segments need to be sent to the partner airline for verification, so that can take longer. Again, most partners can be quite quick, with a few exceptions - notably SA & SQ.

Do I need to know anything about the Indian Call Centre (the 'ICC') ?
Some people say it's just rubbish, some think it's like this , some people defend it (especially the bmi bean counters). Whatever your opinion, the following advice is worth remembering:
- Beware of calling just before 20:00 GMT, as there is ample evidence on the bmi board of the operators hanging up on you at the stroke of 8, using the old chestnut: "Can I put you on hold for one moment sir?" Click.
- They are generally very efficient at actually answering calls, so if you have been on hold for more than 15 minutes, you've probably been lost in orbit. Hang up and call again. Really. I'm serious. (Want to test this out? Then use a second line to call again and I'll bet it's picked up sooner than the original "lost" call.)
- Always note the name of the operator you speak to, ask them to spell if necessary
- Ask for any successful seats found to be ticketed instantly, ESPECIALLY SINGAPORE AIRLINES and Lufthansa.
- Keep checking until they have been, as, again, there is occasional evidence of things being screwed up very badly and people losing valuable rewards.
- You will probably be asked to call back so they can calculate the taxes. When you do, ask for a detailed breakdown of the charges, as they can often be wrong.
- Sunday is perhaps the best day to make redemptions without undue trouble.
- Most experienced bmi FTers agree that it is best to deal with the female agent in the call centre.

Why don't my bookings appear in the MyFlyBMI profile
This is one of the great mysteries of life. You need to be logged in at the time of booking for them to (maybe) appear. Sometimes they appear later, sometimes never and sometimes 3 or 4 times. Oh, and they disappear just as easily. You also need to be logged in with the same status variant at the start of your number (1 for gold, 6 for silver, 3 for B+ and 0 for the rest of you). Also, there are reports that if you have a change of schedule, then your flights disappear also.

Can I upgrade using miles from another *A partner?
No. BD does not currently participate in the *A system wide upgrade scheme. You can not upgrade any ticket using, for example, UA MP miles. Unless of course, you have booked under a UA codeshare, then UA might be able to help - no point asking BD, though.

Will my miles expire ?
They do not expire as such, except that if you have no activities for 24 months (earning or burning), your account may be terminated and your miles would then be forfeited. See clause 11.3 of the DC T&Cs.

Now read the second post and let's not have any more numpty questions on the bmi board!

GoldCircle

Version 3 of this FAQ has now been superceeded by version 4.

Please click here for newer information.

This thread is locked.

GoldCircle

Last updated: 25 May, 2009

Diamond Club announced a large programme update on November 16th 2009. A full re-write of this FAQ is now required. Please be patient while we find the time to do this!.
Understanding bmi Diamond Club

Most Important Links in to the bmi Website
Earning chart - how many miles do I get on airline A, with booking class B
Burning Chart - how many miles does it take to go to...
Who are the airline partners... (both *A and others)
Who are the hotel partners... (destination miles only)
Who are the car hire partners... (hint: only Hertz - again destination miles only)
Are there other partners? (Parking, airport shopping, AMEX rewards etc. you guessed it, destination miles only)
Is there a credit card?
And bmi's online shopping portal?


38K for Star Gold? That’s a steal! Let me at it!
Yes, you only need to 38,000 miles to keep your Gold card. But you have to earn Silver first (unless you’ve been comped, obviously) which requires 16,000 miles, and before that you have to earn Blue Plus, which requires 3,000 miles. So, from a standing start (i.e. no status) you need 57,000 to achieve Gold. Note the new Blue Plus tier, which extends the requirement from a standing start from 54K to 57k. You may find Air Canada slightly easier at only 35,000 in a single calendar year, but Diamond Club has excellent redemption value thanks to useful options such as using cash+miles.

OK, so I have a calendar year to make 57K?
Er, no actually, you have a bit longer. Diamond Club members have their own, personalised qualification year where the clock resets on achieving each new status level. If you join on, say, 1 April and by 10 June you have 3,000 miles, your level is upgraded from Blue to Blue Plus; your status miles balance is reset to zero; and your new Blue Plus status year starts on 11 June running for 12 further months. Your redeemable destination miles remain untouched. By September 21st you’ve earned another 16,000 miles so Diamond Club makes you Silver and resets your status miles to zero again, with a new membership year beginning the following day. If you are Silver and earn 38k, the same happens again as you become Gold.

What happens if I don't earn enough?
If you are Gold, you get a soft landing to Silver, even if you've earned fewer than 16,000 miles. You don't plummet all the way to the bottom. This is especially nice if you have a bad year - re-gaining gold is not so hard, as at Silver you only need 38K to regain your Gold. Likewise, from Silver you fall to Blue Plus even if you've earned fewer than 3,000 miles. Diamond Club has confirmed to me by PM that members dropping from Silver to Blue Plus will be automatically offered the opportunity to buy-up for Ł150.

What if I have 15,500 status miles and a 5,000 mile flight pushes me over the threshold? You said my status miles return to zero – do I lose 4,500 miles?
The computer will initially reset you to zero. But in recent times, things seem to be adjusted automatically after 24 hours (or by Tuesday morning, if a weekend gets in the way) and the 4.5k is available for qualification to the next tier, Gold in this example. However, if you have any further flights on the same day as the flight that carries you across the threashold, then they may not be carried onwards and a manual credit may be required. If this occurs, Diamond Club will adjust this for you.

What about Lifetime Status?
A lifetime Gold card is award for members who earn 10 consecutive regular Gold Cards, without ever slipping to Silver status. The tenth card indicates lifetime status. Diamond Club has this to say: "If you earned your gold card in October 97 and continued to earn gold every year without downgrading your lifetime gold membership would be issued to you October 06 as you had held gold for 10 years".

All this flying is so tiresome. Can't I just buy the status?
Call yourself a real flyertalker??? Get your lazy bum on a seat.

Routepass, nonetheless, is a way to get Silver status up front; this is a booklet (has it gone E yet, anyone?) of non-refundable pre-paid full-Y or C flight vouchers that will earn enough miles to qualify for Silver – they just give you the Silver status up front when you stump up the cash.

Gold members who have more than 55k status miles (not just regular Golds) in their account can purchase a Silver membership for a friend. The cost is 16,000 miles (not increased to 3k +16k with the introduction of the Blue Plus tier). If you want to purchase those miles, it would cost you Ł192 + Ł15 processing fee.

Can anyone around the world join?
Pretty much. Membership used to be limited to countries served by bmi flights, but no longer. Anyone can join by chosing the "Other Countries" box on the application form. If you have any difficulties, you can send a PM to our very own bmi lurker diamond club, currently Joanna, who will be kind enough to help you out. Shouldn't be necessary any more.

Great, I’m going to sign up my whole family – including all my kids
Only if they’re over the age of 18. For real children, Lufthansa has a kids programme that will allow real flown miles to be credited in to.

What do I get as Blue Plus?
Withering looks from Gold card holders. A free meal and drink in economy on short-haul routes that have buy-on-board catering. You must present your card, which is swiped by the cabin crew as though it were a credit card. Beer and wines are included in the free deal accoring to the T&Cs, though there are reports of members being refused/charged for this. Pull out Voyager from the seat pocket in front of you and point!

What do I get as Silver?
Same benefits as Blue Plus, plus:

• Access to diamond club lounges, business lounges and overseas executive lounges when travelling on BD flights (not *A partners) in business, economy and discounted economy fares. 1 guest now permitted - YMMV. However, no entry when travelling on Economy Saver (formerly known as Tiny) fares AS A SILVER CARD HOLDER - Gold card holders fare better. See the how to avoid Economy Saver (formerly known as Tiny) fares section below.
• An extra 25% destinations miles bonus each month on all base miles flown (more below on this particular concept)
• Hertz car hire 1 class upgrade voucher
• use of the priority business check-in desk, but not with tiny fares
• telephone check-in from LHR-T1 and DUB
• priority ticket sales desk and check-in at LHR-T1
• priority on standby
• additional baggage allowance
• dedicated Silver card enquiry line for bookings or enquiries
• guaranteed business class booking 48 hours in advance on our operated flights, even if the flight is full (currently excludes long haul flights and Leeds Bradford to Glasgow and Edinburgh and bmibaby flights)

I'm really here for Gold. What’s the deal?
The main benefits include all the Silver benefits above, plus the regular *G status perks, principally *G check-in and lounge access, priority on operational upgrade lists and the like.

• Gold members have Virgin Clubhouse access when flying VS from LHR (not LGW).
• access to exclusive diamond club and business lounges, plus Star Alliance Gold lounges with a guest (or two YMMV), regardless of fare (Yes, you can definitely enter on a Economy Saver (Tiny) fare).
• four complimentary space-available upgrade vouchers. These are non-reservable ant can only be used at check-in or at the gate prior to departure. Old versions had no expiry date, but new ones are date-expired. They are good for a 1 class upgrade – so, on short haul, that means from economy to business. They are not officially available for upgrade from premium economy to business but there are reports of this being allowed. There are also reports of the occasional double upgrade at outstations such as Las Vegas and Almaty .
• You also get four Hertz double upgrade vouchers (Avis is long gone). Again, these are space available and can only be used when you pick up your vehicle (although if you call Hertz and get a note put in your PNR this seems to help). I’ve never heard of an upgrade not being available (although at smaller locations in busy periods I’m sure it could happen).
• 20kg extra hold luggage allowance
• priority luggage delivery
• hand baggage and telephone check-in
• use of manned check-in desks regardless of fare
• a dedicated Gold card enquiry line for bookings, enquiries and requests
• shorter advance notice on bmi free flight redemptions (three working days instead of the usual five)
• When redeeming on bmi flights, Gold member redemptions are automatically booked into business class on short-haul or premium economy on long-haul, for the economy miles tariff. This is confirmed at booking. Note I did not say Gold Members, I said Gold Member redemptions - get it? If a Gold books with or for a friend, the friend is upgraded at the time of booking, even if the Gold member isn't travelling.
• a monthly destinations bonus of 35% on bmi operated flights - partner flights will still earn 25%
• lifetime Gold membership if you've earned Gold diamond club status for 10 consecutive years
• room upgrades at Grange Hotels (YMMV)
• exclusive gifts to spend your miles on, plus special promotions on bmi fares throughout the year
• Gold members with over 55,000 membership status miles can buy a Silver diamond club card for a friend or colleague
• Gold members with over 55,000 membership status miles will have any miles over this amount (up to a maximum of 250,000) credited as bonus destinations miles - this is so significant for some people, that we have dedicated a whole section to this below.
• Also as Gold, an unpublished benefit, is that you can waitlist for the Business cabin (on bmi metal only) when no award inventory is available. Yield management will often release seats for you the next day.
• Also as Gold, an unpublished benefit, is that the seat beside you is blocked so no one can sit there. Great when travelling alone; great when travelling with someone a on a light/moderate load; awkward when all A/C seats are taken and you cannot get your partner in to the B seat - no matter how hard you try OLCI will always make it unavailable to you.

Do I earn miles on all fares? What’s a Tiny/BABY fare? Can I change my ticket?
Fares earn between 0% and 300% depending on the ticket type, while some are excluded from earning altogether. Full details of the miles earned on each carrier and for each flight are in the earning guide.

bmi recently re-named some their offerings, so the TINY category has now been re-named Economy Saver. These fares are the cheapest tickets - though sometimes the occasional sale fare will be cheaper - on bmi short haul flights and are still identifiable by the word BABY in the fare basis. They can not be changed at all. Period. (Historical note: they used to be named after the Tiny fares marketed on bmi's no-frills sister airline, bmibaby. They were introduced to bmi amid a baffling, commercially-suicidal and short-lived experiment in modular pricing to and from LHR. Originally, they earned no miles and used to exclude elites from all benefits such as lounge access but after a customer backlash they then work like ordinary - but deeply restricted - fares).

Silver members travelling on an Economy Saver fare still cannot use bmi lounges. As with other fares, the designator letter (eg E in EBABY, T in TBABY) tells you the miles you will earn. It is worth noting that the cheapest standard Economy fare is usually only a fraction more expensive than an Economy Saver fare but has far fewer restrictions, earns more miles and can be cancelled within 24 hours of booking for a full refund, while Economy Saver fares are completely non changeable and non refundable. Note: if changing your ticket and the new flight turns out to be cheaper, you do not get a refund of the difference, nor do you get any credit against the change fee.

And on codeshares?
This is a fraught area... YMMV. Please do not make and decisions based on what follows. The main things to consider are
1) whose code is on the ticket
2) who is actually operating the service
3) are either/both *A members
4) are they also Diamond Club partners.
The rule of thumb always is that any miles you earn depend on the airline operating the flight. In the case of codeshare flights with partner airlines, the operating carriers' miles earning structure will apply.

Thus, if the operating airline is not a Diamond Club partner (yes, even if flying on a BD code - and this beggars belief) then you do not earn. The current partners are all *A airlines plus Qatar, Transaero and Virgin Atlantic. bmiBaby is also a partner, but you earn based on the purchase price, not distance travelled - see below. (Also, it now now seems that you can earn STATUS miles on Transaero flights on the LHR-DME route also, but only destination miles on other Transaero routes).

*A code and *A operated, you will earn status & destination miles, as long as you are in an earning class for the operating carrier.
*A code, non-*A DC partner operating, destination miles only
BD code, non DC partner operating, no miles of any description (watch out for BD codes on EK flights)

The airline bmibaby has some great fares. Do I earn miles with them also?
Yes, you can now earn destination miles, but this is calculated by acutal fare paid, not distance flown. And as bmibaby is not a Star Alliance carrier, absolutely no perks apply – no status miles, no lounge acccess, no free sandwiches, not even help in the case of irregular ops. Earnings on the fares, before taxes and charges, as follows: What about a Status Bonus?
If you are Silver, you get a 25% bonus on your base Destinations Miles (not your Status Miles). This bonus only applies to flown (not hotels, car hire etc.) miles - the actual distance, or appropriate minimum mileage if appropriate, regardless of fares type or class and you don’t get the 25% bonus on your Class of Service bonus. These bonuses applies to miles flown on all *A carriers, as well as bmi partners Virgin Atlantic, Qatar Airways and Trasaereo (some routes are excluded).

If you are Gold, you get a 35% bonus on your bmi operated flights, and the regular 25% on other flight partners.

Here's the good news for newbies - the status bonus is applied after a month-end status check, so in the month you first cross in to Silver status, you earn the bonuses on all flights taken in that month - including those when you had not yet earned status. Similarly, on crossing to Gold Status you bmi metal flights in that month will return a 35% bonus.

Timeline Example: If you have Blue Plus status on April 1st and no status miles and you fly LHR-SIN and back earning 13520 miles. You're still Blue Plus. You wait till April 30th and then fly LHR-BOM for 4480 miles, giving a total of 18000 status miles. You will earn your 25% bonus on all 18k - thus getting an additional 4.5k that month. Getting a taste for status yet?
These miles are credited usually on the 2nd Wed/Thurs of the following month as “Monthly - mileage bonus”.

So, there’s a Class of Service bonus?
Check the charts, as these change regularly, but as a rule of thumb you get double miles for Business, and triple for First, including north-American domestic first services and so-called Q-UP fares. And yes, your COS bonus counts for status. There are exceptions to this rule of thumb, so watch carefully – the one that seem to catch people out most are SQ First earns 2x and Biz just 1.5x; SA F earn 2x; TP biz earn 1.5x; AC Z discounted Biz now earns 1x.

The Turkish (TK) table of earnings seems to be changing regularly, but should settle down soon enough.

However, note that on many airlines, including bmi, there are multipliers of 0.5x and 0.25 on cheaper tickets also.
These miles appear simply in the form of triple, double, one-and-a-haffle or less times the distance on your statement, not as a separate entry.

What about the Gold 55K threshold?
Well, for high earners, this is where a good programme becomes truly great. The old complaint was that once you got Gold status, well, there was nothing better to aim for. Other programmes offered extra upgrades, or a Platinum level or whatever.
In 2006, bmi came up with this: If you have Gold status, bmi will "convert" any (up to a maximum of 250,000) status miles in excess of 55k to bonus destination miles - i.e. the equivalent amount of destinations miles will be credited to your account. Prior to the May '09 DC website upgrade, these bonus destinations miles were credited monthly, but now they should credit as an additonal 'bonus' entry on you account as and when the flight posts.
Your status miles total stays the same - the miles aren't deducted once they have been 'converted'. At the end of your membership year, of course, your status miles total is reset to 0 and you have to get back up to 55,000 in your next membership year before you earn any further rollover bonus destinations miles.

If you think about this, you can rack up a serious amount of miles on the back of this. Consider a trip to Australia on LH First, for a Gold member, with more than 55k status miles in his a/c:

• LHR-FRA-SIN-SYD: 10890 miles x 3 = 32,670 (YMMV)
• Gold 55K conversion: 32,670
• Regular status bonus: @25% = 2722

That gives a total of 68,062 miles each way or 136,124 miles return. Or 625% of the distance. Now, if you could combine this with an occasional double miles promo, well then, you could be looking at 825%. Not bad for a day sitting round drinking champage?

Are there minimum mileages?
On bmi operated flights the minimum is 600 miles on domestic sectors and 800 miles on international sectors. On all other partners, the minimum is 600 miles. Remember to multiply these figures by the % figure for the fare class as outlined on the full table of fare earning classes.

So I’ve got my status and I’ve earned me some miles. Tell me about the free flights on bmi
Ok. First up you need to book further in advance than with some FFPs. You need to book flights at least seven days out. Gold members have this reduced to three days.
Simple Bmi-metal oneway and return redemptions can be made online : just bear in mind this function is rather flaky and your may wish to book via the Diamond Club call centre instead.

+ve factors for redeeming online :

• you don't have to deal with the Diamon Club call entre
• you get double miles on the taxes and cash component if you use a bmi credit card to pay

-ve

• the list of destinations appears to be random subset of bmi destinations : many are simply not there
• booking time window is always 7 days : it doesn't recognise the BD*G 3 day booking window
• it isn't programmed to handle the complimentary BD*G upgrade to business properly
• booking for someone else to travel doesn't work properly
• you are subject to the usual bmi website malaise of occasional random crashes and broken transactions

All other redemptions have to be made through the Diamond Club call centre (now is the time to do a search on the ANA tool).

Gold members also get upgraded gratis on bmi operated redemption flights (short haul economy up to business, long haul economy only to premium economy), if space is available. If booking online, DO BOOK THE UPGRADED CLASS and the system will only charge you the mileage for the lower class.

What about award flights on *A and partner airlines?
Partner flights (including codeshares) must be booked solely through the call centre. It can be hard to secure the exact seats, routes, dates you are looking for, so most people will use the ANA tool (do a search on this) to figure out the available routings in advance of calling the Indian Call Centre. See post No. 1 above before calling.

And other partner airlines?
You can earn (destinations miles only – not status) and redeem on Virgin Atlantic, Qatar Airways and Trasaereo*, however open-jaw itineraries and one-ways are not possible on redemption bookings. It can be difficult to see non-*A partner availability on ANA, so it may be in the lap of the gods.
* It seems that status miles are now avaiable on Transaero's LHR-DME service.

And I can use miles and cash?
You sure can, on *A partners. One of the best features of DC is that you can pony up a few hundred quid and this halves the mileage requirement. This makes flying in the premium cabins longhaul quite easy. See the charts for details of costs.

Lufthansa recently withdrew their F cabin from M&C redemptions, but full miles can still get you a seat.

Additional miles required for z1/2 awards involving connecting flights
If your trip involves more than one flight each way, and the origin and destination are both in zone 1 or zone 2, there is an additional connection charge for each passenger of 7,500 miles per economy return.

The connection charge does not apply when either the origin or the destination are outside z1/z2, for example LHR-FRA-JFK)

The connection charge is reduced or multiplied in line with the rest of the award so it would be 3,750 miles for one-way economy bookings, 4,000 miles plus Ł30 for miles+cash economy return bookings, x1.5 for business class etc.

That means the charges, for economy returns are :

Zone 1 to Zone 1 (example GLA-LHR-FRA)
Miles only 16,500
Miles + Cash 8,500 + Ł100

Zone 1 to Zone 2 (example GLA-LHR-LIS)
Miles only 19,500
Miles + Cash 10,000 + Ł100

Zone 2 to Zone 2 (example LIS-FRA-FCO)
Miles only 27,500
Miles + Cash 14,500 + Ł130

The usual multipliers apply, multiply the miles and the cash by 0.5 for a one way journey, and multiply by 1.5 for a business class jorurney.

So for example, the charge for a one-way business class trip LHR-ZRH-FCO is
Miles only : 19,500 x 0.5 x 1.5 = 14,625
Miles + cash : (10,000 + Ł100) x 0.5 x 1.5 = 7,500 + Ł75

If your trip involves 2 connecting flights, example LHR-OSL-TOS-LYR-TOS-OSL-LHR, then you are charged 2 lots of 7,500.

The connection charge makes these sorts of trips poor value unless the revenue fares on your route and dates of travel happen to be very high.


I'm short a few miles for an award. Can I buy them?
Yes. This function was added recently, with a predictably shaky start to the IT.

1. Log in to My Diamond Club
1a. Change country to UK, if applicable to you
2. On the left bar, click Online Shopping
3. In the main frame, click Buy Destination Miles
4. Choose whether to buy miles for yourself or for another person.

A new limit of 24k miles, as of March 1st 2009, purchased by and for yourself applies.

What's all this about online shopping?
By using bmi's online shopping portal, you can earn miles with their partners. Very flaky service and only a few reports of miles being received to date.
1. Log in to My Diamond Club
1a. Change country to UK, if applicable to you
2. On the left bar, click Online Shopping
3. Click Shopping
4. Click Start Shopping Now
...after that you're on your own. Read on...

Do they have a credit card?
Yes they do. As a result, we're written an FAQ on this very topic. Click here.

I don’t believe you. You’ve made all this up. Where can I get real info?
Well, you can look at the bmi website at www.flybmi.com but you can never be sure if it has been updated. You might find the Indian call centre more informative

GoldCircle

Reserved for when bmi Diamond Club becomes a regional chapter of Miles & More !

CrackAddick

Great work Goldcircle (& Wingnut) ^^ thanks for taking the time to do this.

Kevincm

Great GoldenCircle ^ and of course WingNut ^

For BMIBaby routes, its earned as below...
£00.01 - £39.99 150 Miles
£40.00 - £69.99 300 Miles
£70.00 - £99.99 600 Miles
£100+ 900 Miles


and these are Destination Miles only... They do NOT attract Status Miles

Pyeinthesky

Great work ^

Are there any other AC fares that don't earn, like BA AC don't seem to tell you what fare bucket you've booked.

cstead

Great work! I had thought that based on the wording on the website, earning Blue Plus was incorporated into earning Silver. I didn't realize that it resets, so that DC effectively upped the requirement by 3000 miles for each level. Is this right?

G-BOAC

Excellent stuff ^ Should we maybe clarify that Silver lounge access is quite restricted (i.e. not like BA Silver/OW Sapphire for those looking at comps), e.g. "Access to diamond club lounges, business lounges and overseas executive lounges when travelling on business, economy and discounted economy fares on BD operated flights only (BD Silver equates to *S which does not provide lounge access on other carriers as a benefit, for that you need *G)."

Are there exceptions to 'BD operated'? I think I read on here BD-coded ex-LHR works for access to LH/SK lounges?

BTW Not sure how you'd get a two-class upgrade on the two-class service from Almaty

Roger

Terrific! ^

About lounge access - it would be useful to know whether gold/silver card holders can take non-status guests. I suspect this is one area (the one area?) where BA Silver is more generous, though I'll be delighted if that is a misconception.

Oxon Flyer

Superb ^

and useful to list the partner lounges where even BD*Gs cannot take guests.

redshift27

To quote the in-flight menu:

gate4lounge

Yes indeed, beer and wine are included in the free deal as the menu confirms I've had both many times, now that I travel regularly in steerage

Thank you Gold Circle and Wingnut for your sterling efforts

ajamieson

Good spot - I'm owed a refund now, because I've been charged more than once for wine. And that piece of duff information came from me, not GoldCircle.

antichef

Additional benefit for Gold and silver card holders, not sure what others. Not published as a benefit by BMI.

Parking fees at BHD airport reduced. At BHD you can park in the short stay car park and pay the cheaper long stay rate.

On entering you MUST take a ticket. DO NOT use the credit card option. On your return take your ticket to the airport enquiry desk. Present your BMI card and the ticket and they do the fee at the lower rate and issue your VAT receipt. Exit as normal. Saves the long walk or waiting for the transit bus.

Details are posted on another site but here is the cut and paste from http://alaninbelfast.blogspot.com/20...rking-at.html:

"Now, bmi have negotiated a deal with the airport to allow diamond club gold and silver members to park in the closer short stay car park but just pay the cheaper long stay car park rates.

The downside is that you can’t just stick your credit card into the machine at the car park entrance and then on the way back out again. You need to take a paper ticket, not lose it during your travels, and present it at the airport information desk along with your diamond club card before leaving the terminal and heading back to your car.

There’s nothing in the bmi news story to say that you have to show your ticket or prove you’ve flown with bmi to get the discount. So it bmi siler/gold card holders may also benefit when traveling via Air Berlin or Flybe. Besides, frequently people travel out on one route, and return on another with a different airline.

So you get a shorter walk in the cold, but traded for spending extra time queuing in the terminal to pay - no such thing as a free lunch!"