FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - The 2010 Diamond Club FAQ - Everything the Newbie couldn't posssibly know yet (v.4)
Old Nov 17, 2009, 4:51 pm
  #3  
GoldCircle
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: DUB - Ireland
Programs: EI-GCE, BD-G, BA-G, A3*G, TK*G, FB-G, HH-G, Hyatt-Dia
Posts: 8,527
Understanding bmi Diamond Club - the Programme Basics
Last updated: 20 January 2010


Most Important Links in to the bmi Website
Earning chart - how many miles do I get on airline A, with booking class B
Star Alliance Burning Chart - how many miles does it take to go to... (better value)
Other Airline Partner Burning Chart - how many miles does it take to go to... (poorer value)
MFU - Miles for Upgrade- how many miles does it take to upgrade my bmi flight
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 Europcar - 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. So, from a standing start (i.e. no status) you need 54,000 to achieve Gold. You may find Aegean slightly easier at 15k, and Air Canada similar to DC 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 54K?
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. E.G. you join on, say, 11 June. Your miles are zero. By September 21st you’ve earned 16,000 miles so Diamond Club makes you Silver and resets your status miles to zero again, your destination miles are untouched, 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. From Silver you fall to Blue. Diamond Club has confirmed in mid-2009 that members dropping from Silver to Blue Plus will be automatically offered the opportunity to buy-up for £150.


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?
No. You'll get a credit for the balance which will be available for qualification to the next tier/requalification at Gold.

However, at the end of your Gold year, all status miles are zero'd and will not be carried in to the new year. The programme is generous, but not that generous.


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. As yet, no special card or logo has been applied to LGs' cards. They live in hope. But not much hope, as it is not expected that Miles & More will respect LGs status.


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 product comprising 10 non-refundable pre-paid full-Y or C flight coupons 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.


Can anyone around the world join?
Pretty much. Membership used to be limited to countries served by bmi flights, but no longer. The list of countries that cannot join DC is growing now - the Netherlands, Israel and Ukraine were all migrated to M&M and no longer participate in DC.


Great, I’m going to sign up my whole family – and the home help and my security detail
Nov. 09 saw the introduction of family membership.
How do I create a Family Membership?
You'll need to log into your Diamond Club account at flybmi.com and select 'Family Membership' in the left hand navigation.

How do I request for other members to join my Family Membership?
Within the application process to create a family membership, you'll add details of each member you wish to invite to join. The member will then be sent an email asking them to either accept or reject your invitation.

How many people can join my Family Membership?
You can have 8 members within your Family Membership. A maximum of 2 members of your Family Membership can be personal staff, this is classed as a paid for employee, employed by the head of the Family Membership.
What benefits does each membership level get?
The chart is here.

What do I get as Blue?
Nothing much apart from a slight weighting on standby lists and a few miles. In IrrOps the same applies, but everyone else with proper status is ahead of you.

What do I get as Silver?
Same benefits as Blue, 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 in bmi operated lounges - YMMV in contract lounges. (There used to be restrictions around TINY fares, but this is now history)
  • An extra 25% destinations miles bonus each month on all base miles flown (more below on this particular concept)
  • Europcar hire 1 class upgrade voucher
  • use of the priority business check-in desk
  • telephone check-in from LHR-T1
  • priority ticket sales desk and check-in at LHR-T1 & DUB
  • 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

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)
  • four unusuable complimentary upgrades - more detail below in the upgrades section of the FAQ.
  • You also get four Europcar upgrade vouchers (Avis & Hertz are long gone). Again, these are space available and can only be used when you pick up your vehicle (although if you call Europcar 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
  • 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 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 after 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 online
  • 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? 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.


What’s a Tiny/BABY fare?
A historical footnote, thankfully. 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. If you find references to this on FT, having used the search function, you can relax and forget all about it.


Can I change my bookings
Economy Saver tickets can not be changed at all. Period.

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. Now, it is starting to become a little clearer how this operates, as in the past, you could not reliably predict what your booked fare with the codeshare partner would translate to on the operating partner. Recent improvements on bmi's site now allow you to see what fare bucket is credited. More details here.

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. Think of this as a form of shopping bonus. Earnings on the fares, before taxes and charges, as follows:
£00.01 - £39.99 - 150 Miles
£40.00 - £69.99 - 300 Miles
£70.00 - £99.99 - 600 Miles
£100+ 900 Miles

Last edited by GoldCircle; Jul 19, 2010 at 4:03 am
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