I have had some really bad experience with KLM and am thinking about moving all my business to BMI. I am a PE until 2009 or something, but nothing with BMI. Is there a way to get the same status with BMI as I have with KLM - suggestions how to handle this?

I have already made your journey

In our experience on this board BD doesn't status match, except from BA - and even then it tends to be exclusively for very high revenue pax.

If you don't have status with any Star Alliance airline you might consider applying to UA for a status match and BD for an ordinary blue card. When travelling you could use your comped UA Gold card to get lounge access and Star Alliance Gold perks, but earn your points on the BD account. After a year, you'll have a genuine BD Gold card.

Personally I don't think you will regret your decision. Every time I dip my toes back in the water over at KLM to see if things have improved I come runnning back to Midland.

I was told on the phone to DC that if I faxed a BA Statement showing BA Gold status with my DC Application, I'd be comped straight to Gold.

Regards,
Alex

Maybe the trick is to phone up DC saying you're fed up with KLM and were going to switch to BA who offered you a status match, then you heard that bmi had a far superior FFP... worth a try

I too have followed the path of wisdom. I have a PE card which I never use any more, and my experience has been different to that of ajamieson.

BD comped me from EI and comped my wife from KLM. We simply wrote to DC saying we were disillusioned with our respective airlines, BD had useful routes and that we'd change over in a flash if BD would just give us lounge access. Two weeks and hey presto pair of gold cards.

I do agree with ajamieson - when you make the change, you'll never go back.

aj, i don't think i've followed the plot completely and i wonder if you could elucidate some more.

KLM's network doesn't overlap hardly with BD's, except perhaps for LHR to AMS, and certainly not for anything eminating out of EDI. so that being the case, a switch from one programme to another would surely only be to utilise just one route that someone was flying?

Did you switch when KLM pulled out of STN? or are there other routes that i've not figured out yet?

I actually live in London - I still fly to the FE and US via AMS. With BMI / BA I can go direct from LHR/GTW - thanks

Based on my experience with *A carriers, I have found BD to be the weakest link of all that I flew.

Last week I did 5 flights on BD and the service was minimal and often rushed and rude. Since I am an AC SuperElite, I did ask about upgrades and was given mis information and certainly not a simple courtesy.

In fact, it seems BC staff have been given some lines to disarm travelers, such as "my computer does not have that information, you have to go to the gate." This is pure rubbish as on one day I get this from one lazy agent, and on another day at the same lounge (CDG), I get someone who at least looks at the load but still pushes me off to the unsympathic gate agents.

Also on June 2, all passasengers from CDG to LHR waited an outrageous 50 minutes for luggage at T1.

BD pales in comparison to other *A carriers such as LH, AC, UA in my opinion.

I think BD goes through phases. They have their good phases and they have their bad phases. I haven't been on BD metal for a month now, so am unsure as to how they are doing.

By the way -- a quick question... I had something stolen from me on a BD aircraft back in April. What recourse do I have?

Sorry you had a bad experience, but I don't think BD is quite as bad as you suggest:

Service on the 40 minute LHR-CDG is a cocktail and a sandwich at mealtimes, so I'm not surprised the crew are rushed... but that's still loads more than you'd get on AC/UA, particularly given some people are on GBP8 webfares.

Granted, there are better places for good ground service than CDG, but they do a fairly efficient job, given the stresses (eg, last week's ATC strike). They do occasionally upgrade, based on *A status and fare class, but only if operationally necessarily (and operationally possible given back-catering). At CDG, the decision is taken manually by the dispatcher, who will be at check-in and/or at the gate, but certainly not in the DC clubroom. The rudeness was unfortunate, but the information the lounge agents gave was correct.

I am looking very closely to moving my business from KLm due to very poor service and being fed complete fiction about changes being made.

I use one airport down from Edinburgh although BMI do not fly from there. They have code share with Lufthansa into Dusseldorf and from my other airport - Teeside - they fly down to the dreaded Heathrow.

I have used BMI a number of times and found them pretty good, I certainly would be very interested in using them if they comped the FF from KLM and then I culd hook up with Lufthansa for my round Europe trips.

I need to go to Taiwan 4 or 5 times a year so I could look at what miles I would get and see if I could get enough for upgrades on Lufthansa as I have heard the economy is pretty awful in terms of comfort.

Any advise would be welcomed.

Bingo! That was the catalyst, when KL/UK foolishly killed off the domestic routes. STN wasn't much use (although I used it regularly for London trips) but they could have kept EDI/GLA-LGW and run a profitable point-to-point service for business traffic and feeder service to NW flights. So I went to try the competition instead. BA doesn't have a frequent flyer program (premium flyers only) and so BD it was. The best decision I ever made.

As for the route network...well, the Star Alliance provides a much bigger range of destinations than KL could ever manage, with or without Skyteam. BD has direct flights from EDI to *A hubs in BRU, CPH and MAN as well as FRA on LH. KL can only offer AMS; besides, most attempts to reach AMS during the winter months seem to end in a diversion to NWI. Although AMS is a great airport, I'm prepared to tolerate using LHR to get better airline service and MAN is actually the most convenient hub of all for transatlantic from EDI.

Snap....I had exactly the same decision when KLMuk pulled domestic services. Like you, I'm glad I chose BD over Bloody Awful

Agreed insofar as the CDG-LHR route is problematic. Traffic in the air corridor is horrific and ATC delays upwards of one hour on the 55 minute flights are common. CDG is an operational nightmare (so very French) and the international pier at LHR T1 is no better. When you combine delayed arrivals with inefficient ground operations, ridiculous baggage delivery delays and gate blockages occur. Although these are ultimately the fault of the airline, BD is in many ways at the mercy of two overcrowded, badly-run hubs on this route.

Also have to agree with YOWkid and others; frequent travelling karma is important to keep perspective...and sometimes that karma is instant. Last week I had a horrid check-in experience at EDI; uncommon for me. I got turned away (incorrectly) by security with my e-ticket itinerary and, by the time I gave up arguing and got back downstairs, check-in for the BD54 had closed. The supervisor I normally deal with was on her break and nobody else would budge even though I only had hand baggage and 30 minutes still to go. Ticket desk, my last hope, were dealing with a group who wanted to sort out a multi-segment itinerary paid for with plastic buttons or similar so I had to wait ages to get my itinerary stamped. By which time I was under 15 minutes to push-back and received a totally unnecessary rebuke from the dispatcher upstairs for my timekeeping. I really had to bite my tongue. All was instantly put right, however, when I dashed down the jetway and squeezed into 26B. The CSD, who recognised me from earlier flights, told me after the doors had closed that I could take 1F if I wanted. And she found a meal for me, too.

So there are always bad moments...and good ones.

At the moment I am KLM Platinum Elite AND hold a lowly DC card. I hardly travel KLM now,but do use BD but have points put onto my LH SEN account.

Do you think BD will upgrade me to Gold if I present my KLM card?