Miles viz Points ?
 

I picked up the following, which in priciple seems fine and a good idea, but, how are you supposed to work out your BM points viz miles when the chart is all mileage based. Isn't it about time that BM went over to Miles ?

"With the new Star Alliance Award program, you can
redeem your member miles for award travel on any
combination of Star Alliance airlines with one
frequent flier award ticket. Previously, award
tickets could only combine two Star Alliance
airlines. This is made possible through a new
geography-based award chart, which makes all award levels
the same for every airline, varying only by class
of service and region.

With this flexibility, you no longer need to use
two or more award tickets to reach many of the
Star Alliance's 729 destinations in 124 countries,
and therefore, need fewer miles to get to certain
destinations. Also, an around-the-world award
will be available within most Star Alliance Awards
charts.

You can now book award ticket seats in real time
online through a new function called "Redemption
Availability and Sell" (RAS), which creates an
alliance-wide ability to deliver faster award
bookings and more flexibility in the choice of
available flights."

Hi Mike

Each * carrier publishes its own * Award chart. You should have had bmi's one through the post late last year (I think there might be a thread on it somewhere) - it came "online" at the beginning of this year and is of course in points. It's on their website here (you may need to log in first).

However, I couldn't agree more that BD should have miles instead of points. If there is to be a *-wide FFP however, I don't think they'll bother changing until they get replaced!

[This message has been edited by Wingnut (edited 02-10-2003).]

Thanks...I looked at the chart published on the United site, which seems pretty clear and straightforward to me...but I'm not sure I am comparing 'apples with apples'...is it a simple case of, say, 50 BD points equals 5000 miles or wharever ? Not only that , but United show 16 zones viz BMs 12, so how on earth you can work out the points required to take advantage of one ticket for any two or more carriers routes..beats me !

[This message has been edited by mike turnbull (edited 02-10-2003).]

Then again, even point accumulation on BD doesn't always make sense either...

Last time I spent an hour or so looking at this (which was before the intro of star award) the average exchange rate between DC points and MP miles was 1:26. Note that this could vary widely between routes. Try using this as a rule of thumb - if the (spending) rate is higher than 1:26, go with bmi, if lower go with UA.

So, as a follow up....if I change my address to the US and convert into UA, how many miles per point will the rate be ? Anybody done it ?

One point for every mile flown; minimum of 250 points of 500 points depending on the airline. You'd have to look that one up in the Mileage Plus Programme.

You may also want to look into AC Aeroplan; it is easier to achieve status than in UA's MP -- I know for AC, you get minimum 500 points for BD flights while UA only gives you 250.

Sorry Mike, I don't understand your question. Are you trying to swap DC points for MP points? If so this can't be done. When I talk of the "exchange rate" I mean if a US-UK economy award ticket costs 50,000 UA miles or 2000 BD points then the exchange rate is 25:1.

Also, you can have a UA MP account with a UK address.

I see, I suppose what I was thinking was to consider closing my BD account, or get it switched to another *A carrier where miles are the order of the day...if that were possible. I mean, what happens when BD members move address, say NZ. Do AirNZ quite happily take on an ex BD member and arrange for their points to be changed into AirNZ miles somehow ? It just seems to me that earning and burning miles is a whole lot easier for all concerned.....I can then refer to the 16 award zones published by United which seems to infer that these apply to all *A carriers....perhaps it's just me that gets confused.

You won't be able to get your DC points converted into another *A scheme. You can, of course, join another *A scheme (for example, I'm in UA's scheme too) but they remain separate. As to what happens when you move out of BD's catchment area, that's a good question. Retain a UK address, I suppose!

Yes and no. There are swings and roundabouts to each scheme, and the earning and burning possibilities are fairly tightly pegged with benefits occasionally to each scheme. In terms of ease of redemption though, and the possibility of long haul upgrade awards, then other FFPs are better.

No. Each * carrier has its own * Award chart. For a comparison, see Hagbard Viking's Star Award chart. There's always idiosyncratic discrepencies between schemes - it's up to you to find the ones that work for you!

[This message has been edited by Wingnut (edited 02-11-2003).]