Bond Boy agree with all you said but can I just pick you up on this:
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">posted by Bond Boy: bmi always try to upgrade bmi Gold when they are on a redemption flight. I also understand that bmi Gold and *Gold flyers all have the seat next to them blocked off by the booking engine unless the flight is full.</font>
The statement about seat-blocking is unfortunately untrue; no such mechanism exists. Of course, the staff aim to ensure as many people as possible have an empty seat, but there is no facility in the booking engine for this. As for upgrading, bmi do not
try to upgrade redemption flights, they practically
guarantee it. X class, in which redemption tickets are issued, is treated as C for Gold customers by yield management. A good perk, and better than the vouchers which involve a degree of uncertainty.
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">posted by neilmac: Bond Boy, when did BMI ever give *G an upgrade let alone an empty seat beside them. Maybe this happens in transatlantic but most certainly not domestic.</font>
Erm, quite a bit. I normally find at least 1 in 5 of my BD domestic flights is upgraded; closer to 1 in 2 at times. An empty seat is less likely.
As for Diamond Club, this is at best a huge blunder, at worst a disastrous decision which will strip out the entire leisure market from the BD loyalty scheme at a stroke. If the mileage earning schemes on economy fares (sorry, 'discounted economy' fares) is correct, DC is now the most uncompetitive frequent flyer program in the entire Star Alliance network and one of the worst of any airline around the world. I agree 100 per cent with
wingnut. They've decided to pitch themselves just a few feet short of the awful BA Exec Club thus allowing themselves to proclaim they are better than BA while at the same time becoming worse than most, if not all, other competitors.
And this appalling website needs sorting out urgently.
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">from the website: Even domestic flights guarantee a minimum 600 miles if you travel in economy</font>
This simply isn't true. False. Wrong. Misleading.
And look at the earning levels. In order to get a MAN-ORD award you need 45,000 miles which now equates to, count them, 12 MAN-ORD economy revenue trips (12 x 3810 x 2 x 0.5 = 45720). If I made exactly the same trips and put the mileage on my UA*G card, I would earn (12 x 3810 x 2) 91440 - almost enough to make me a 1K. And if I were make almost identical trips on UA metal instead of BD metal the difference is incredible; 12 LHR-ORD trips would get 94560 status miles and the UA*G 100% bonus would bring the spending balance to 189120 - enough for a RTW ticket.
So not only is BD making its loyalty program uncompetitive, it is risking a loss of revenue.
Sadly, it appears Diamond Club and I are about to part company.
[This message has been edited by ajamieson (edited 04-26-2003).]