dunas_dog

Does this include silver/silver and gold/gold match? I am still wondering and need to decide soon, as I am at 1450 tier points now with BA, whether to stop crediting tier points to BA account so come renewal on 8 August I will be silver/gold matching (if you can do that while still getting other silver benefits). As I am a lifetime gold with bmi I would then hold off as long as possible before matching.

APTraveller

Firstly, thanks for the thread which is very interesting. I'm a newbie to posting, but have been surfing for a while.

I'm currently BMI Blue, but am travelling to Uzbekistan next week with Turkish and expect to be BMI Silver after I return.

I'm also existing BA Blue, but have tended to fly with them less often, so have a few Avios/TPs.

I can't see an expiry date on my BMI card or through their website (guess Blue never expires!).

My BAEC membership ends 8th August 2012 and card expires 30th Sept 2012.

Having read the thread I think I'm as well to match asap after I go up to Silver with BMI? Since I am existing BAEC member I should retain my TPs.

Can anyone confirm my understanding? Thanks.

David-A

Welcome.

Assuming your Turkish flights are all completed enough to get you silver by 31st May?

If you match your new BMI DC Silver to your BAEC account BEFORE 8th August 2012:
You will be BA Silver until 8th August 2013.

If you match your new BMI DC Silver to your BAEC account AFTER 8th August 2012:
You will be BA Silver until 8th August 2014!

As such, if you will not be flying much with BA or OneWorld airlines in the summer, it could make sense to wait, as you will push your Silver status out for another year.

Your existing TP don't really matter. The match will get you BA Silver for all of your current BA membership year that remains plus all of the next.

BA Silver gets you lounge access when flying with oneworld airlines worldwide.

gpb_croppers63

I would say you're better waiting until after 8th August to match (assuming they're still matching then). My BA Blue year ends on 8th August as well and I'm planning to wait until after then so that I get all of my BA membership year (until 8th August 2013) plus another 12 months (until 8th August 2014). This is all assuming that I've understood everything correctly but I'm fairly confident that I have. I'm sure someone else will chime in if I'm wrong.

Hope that helps.

EDIT: David-A beat me to it but confirmed my understanding.

APTraveller

Excellent, thanks.^
My Turkish flights are 14 and 18th May, so hope all four flights (LHR-IST-TAS rtn) post before end of May to claim my Silver!

My trouble is that I will increasingly need to fly BA following demise of BMI. I regularly travel to Moscow and the only "decent" options have been BMI or BA...now only BA. I think an additional two months of BA Blue (June/July), for an additional year of Silver is worth it.

skrosvik

Hehe, my BA membership year ends May 8th 2013, and since May 8th passed two days ago is it "safe" for me to statusmatch today, or should I wait more?

Herman ze German

Is there a way to simply transfer the Miles with no Status Match and/or Membership year reset?

I am BA Gold and bmi Silver. I have used almost all my bmi Miles but have roughly 8000 left. I switched all my flights to BA but as I am European based I do not want them to change my membership year to benefit from the 2 renewals at the old Levels. However if I could bring those Miles to BA that would be good.

sigma421

There will be as of the 3rd of July. BA will be launching a tool then to allow you to transfer Avios to and from Diamond Club accounts.

Herman ze German

Thank you

EDIflyer

Remember that once you've got BD Silver you'll be able to get in to the BA lounges in London (and I believe there's mention of this soon applying to all BA lounges), so you won't need to totally slum it :P

David-A

I'd agree with your thinking (a wait could be worth it - if you won't be able to renew without effort etc).

We are assuming though that they do not announce a stop date for the match before then. [And we assume they will announce a stop date for the match, not just stop it.]

Do also keep in mind if you are going to be flying BA in the summer, as a BA Silver you will get 100% bonus Avios on BA flights, so the Avios benefits of having it could be high if doing a lot of flying shortly (i.e. if this level of flying will be higher than that you would do in the whole extra year you will get with status later on).

Needs to be a personal calculation.

Also, work out if you will be able to renew easily, etc. If your travel will let you renew eaisly,that could again be an argument to do it sooner.

But, based purely upon duration of matched status, waiting would indeed get you it for longer.

Prospero

I received further communication from Nicci this morning. The statement above is incorrect - your membership year should have been reset when your tier match was accepted, per the guidance outlined in the ba.com FAQ.

My humble apology to you all for posting incorrect advice. I will keep you posted with further updates as they come in.

Moomba

I have that membership year end date as well. I applied late last week and have been matched with a shiny new Gold card on its way end dated 30 June 2014.

irishguy28

Indeed, this is what the FAQs clearly said - though it seems from other reports further upthread that this is not what has been happening (so far).

Obviously, they're not going to "correct" the status matches done so far, but are they going to reset the membership years for all further status matchers?

Prospero

There is no guarantee yet that those who have already had their status matched will not see membership year reset.