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Originally Posted by vla
(Post 17975924)
Hi Singapore_Air. Any chance you could add a little more insight into this -- unless it was a general expression of interest by *A, I'd be very curious to learn more.
They do accept that the loss of bmi greatly dents Star Alliance's value proposition. |
Originally Posted by 1k650
(Post 17975864)
There is lots of useful real-world information on UA forums re. upgrading with SWUs and CR-1s.
The general rule with UA and upgrades appears to be: do your research and pick your routing and timing carefully and you can do well. |
Originally Posted by Singapore_Air
(Post 17975698)
At the business travel show, representatives from Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa seemed to have little idea about next steps.
The Lufthansa rep was confident that Star Alliance would somehow address the hole that bmi leaves. The Turkish rep said that her manager has been told to use his miles quickly. I'm just hoping *A will offer some kind of tradein on BMI DC miles, there is no way I can use all mine by March. If I could trade them for SK Eurobonus that would be a reasonable option for me since I'm doing LHR<->ARN every couple of weeks for the foreseeable future. |
Originally Posted by jfknight
(Post 17989615)
I asked a VS FC rep today what the story was on booking award SK/BMI codeshare flights and was told they had a note on file saying "Suspended on all BMI flights operated by SK".
The only exceptions might be flights where there is a hard block i.e. some AF flights HEL-CDG that are operated by AY. AF has a had block for certain number of seats that they treat as their own. |
Originally Posted by holtju2
(Post 17989869)
I have trouble following what you are saying. You cannot book awards on "codeshare" flights. Either the operating carrier has made seats available on the redemption bucket or not.
The only exceptions might be flights where there is a hard block i.e. some AF flights HEL-CDG that are operated by AY. AF has a had block for certain number of seats that they treat as their own. |
Originally Posted by sofasurfer
(Post 17390206)
Now that it seems that we really are facing the closing stages of Diamond Club, might it be a good idea to have a dedicated thread where people can discuss what options might be best for them?
As there are many of us with different circumstances (number of miles, how we could earn miles - flying or otherwise, base location, flying patterns, whether status/redemption possibilities are priority), if more people can add data and discussion points (and, perhaps, links to key threads on other subforums that others may not be as familiar with) this could build up to a useful resource in its own right (and not be buried in other discussions!) So here's my situation: Winding up DC: I'm sitting on about 130k miles, which could be burned for 3 TATL trips for Mum to visit in the next year in C using C&M (that, with the return OW I still need to book for her upcoming trip, should clean us out if need be). Initial speculation re. BAEC: The family account option is attractive, but C&M has been our favoured burn route for seats in C. C&M doesn't seem to be anything as good an option with BA, but it's still there - but I gather MFU is the thing to aim for with BA? Flying habits and other earning potential: Relatively modest compared to others on here, I'm sure ;) We're based between YYZ/BUF. Mrs Sofasurfer usually has 2x intl work trips each year (Paris and China confirmed for 2012) Annual family trips include 2-3 in North America (usually Florida for in-laws, indirect flights ex-BUF have been a great earner for us!) and at least 1 TATL. I think there's a BA credit card in Canada and transfer options with RBC and Amex points, so scope there to top up. Redemption or status? Redemptions in C (using C&M) were our preferred habit in DC. We don't fly enough for status (I dropped back to Blue, Mrs Sofasurfer is Silver (Little Miss Sofasurfer will hit silver if we do one more flight before DC ends!) so the family has possible status matches to BA that might be useful. Other thoughts: Living in Canada, Aeroplan is the immediate choice for *A - but none of us are likely to hit status (but A3 is the no-brainer - *S has value in NA in terms of avoiding bag fees, at least). Thinking of Alaskan for non-*A miles earn/burn (to at least consolidate non-*A flying, as AS seem to have arrangements with OW and ST members , in spite of not being part of an alliance themselves). Don't think they have family membership, though. LMS is 5 years old, has a M&M JetFriends account (before family accounts existed in DC) with about 8k and I don't think these miles start to expire until she hits 18. Not sure which other FF programs are particularly child/family-friendly? I do most of my flying to the Far East and so am tempted to move to TG or Asiana so as to remain in the *A. Are there better alternatives? When are we likely to know where we stand on BD miles and status? |
Presumably LH could offer comp gold - it will only be an issue if people fly star and wouldn't star (if not lh) rather people fly star than not? wouldn't it be worth getting them to try to stay with star...and if they don't they could be given gold.....or diamond studded platinum and it would cost LH absolutely nothing?
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Originally Posted by jfknight
(Post 17989976)
Don't shoot the messenger please - I was clearly told that I cannot now use VS miles to book a flight operated by SK, regardless of whether it appears as a BMI flight number via codeshare - whereas previously I could. Maybe the rep read it wrong - but that's what was said to me.
SK (Scandinavian) is a VS redemption partner. http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/us...anairlines.jsp There are number of tools that you can use to check SK award inventory - X for economy and I for business. |
Originally Posted by Singapore_Air
(Post 17977330)
It seemed more of a general vague comment. If Star Alliance do know what's going on they haven't communicated that to the front line. Ways to fill bmi's hole included: a side agreement with bmi to keep the feeder, increasing flights to the UK, looking at new alliance partners in the UK (well, there's only VS).
They do accept that the loss of bmi greatly dents Star Alliance's value proposition. I really fail to see how the loss of BD "greatly dents" *A value in the eyes of other *A airlines. Admittedly, they wil lose some market share in the UK but, let us face it, given bmi's performance and the unsuitability of its network for many of its former customers, it was a dwindling share anyway. |
Originally Posted by Singapore_Air
(Post 17977330)
It seemed more of a general vague comment. If Star Alliance do know what's going on they haven't communicated that to the front line. Ways to fill bmi's hole included: a side agreement with bmi to keep the feeder, increasing flights to the UK, looking at new alliance partners in the UK (well, there's only VS).
They do accept that the loss of bmi greatly dents Star Alliance's value proposition. London whilst one of the prime destinations in the world is also becoming a lower yield destination simply due to the competition that now exists in the market. BD did not appear to offer anything that you could not get with another carrier instead. I've enjoyed some of the BD staff over the years (lounge girls especially), loved the FF programme, but at the end of the day, BD is a shadow of it's former self and has become increasingly irrelevant in today's market. As much as the mid-haul strategy could have worked had this been a different point in time, it sadly did not partly due to troubles in the oil rich world. |
^
Originally Posted by Traveloguy
(Post 18007637)
What exactly did BD offer *A towards the end? I'm sorry but as someone who actually flew BD metal regularly up until last year, I'm now of the opinion that towards the end there has been very little value it offered to the alliance as a whole.
London whilst one of the prime destinations in the world is also becoming a lower yield destination simply due to the competition that now exists in the market. BD did not appear to offer anything that you could not get with another carrier instead. I've enjoyed some of the BD staff over the years (lounge girls especially), loved the FF programme, but at the end of the day, BD is a shadow of it's former self and has become increasingly irrelevant in today's market. As much of the mid-haul strategy could have worked had this been a different point in time, it sadly did not partly due to troubles in the oil rich world. |
Originally Posted by holtju2
(Post 17996106)
Sorry, but I still don't understand what BMI has to do with redeeming VS miles on SK.
SK (Scandinavian) is a VS redemption partner. http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/us...anairlines.jsp There are number of tools that you can use to check SK award inventory - X for economy and I for business. So please pray tell, from the link above, where is the "Spend Miles" option for SK? I think you will find that SK are no longer regarded a VS redemption partner, though they are still an earning partner. BMI remain a redemption partner, and operate codeshare flights with SK. But you cannot book any of them with VS points. Or so I was told! Here is the link which illustrates this: http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb...rlines/bmi.jsp Does this clarify my point? |
The question still stands, what an earth does it that have to do with bmi? :)
Your question is about SAS and about Virgin... A codeshare flight operated by SAS but with a bmi flight number is still a SAS flight. The page you mention links to another one: http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb...&bfSubmit1.x=8 where it says The Mileage credit is not available on flights offered by SAS but operated by another airline. You're complain is not with bmi, it's with SAS or/and Virgin. |
Originally Posted by Traveloguy
(Post 18007637)
What exactly did BD offer *A towards the end? I'm sorry but as someone who actually flew BD metal regularly up until last year, I'm now of the opinion that towards the end there has been very little value it offered to the alliance as a whole.
Out of all my leisure travel over the last 8 years, it's bmi that made me book over 90% of the flights on *alliance airlines. I may not have always connected with a bmi flight (although sometimes I did), they're the ones that brought the *A airlines revenue. |
Originally Posted by jfknight
(Post 17989615)
If I could trade them for SK Eurobonus that would be a reasonable option for me since I'm doing LHR<->ARN every couple of weeks for the foreseeable future.
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