Starting DC from scratch - would you do it now?
 

I have been AC Elite for many years but am LON based and never fly AC. Thus I have stuck with them mostly for the easy *G and lounge access. I typically fly around 50K butt-in-seat miles a year, mostly discounted economy to China/Hong Kong.

Since most of the stuff I get from AC, like SWU/SSWUs, are of no use for me I'm looking at changing FF program for 2006, having qualified as AC elite through Feb 2007 to maintain lounge access.

DC is tempting, though I am not likely to ever fly BMI. It would be for the cash-and-miles redemption possibilities and the double/triple miles for premium *A travel (I am planning to to a bit more of that this year, perhaps an ex-CMB run). Should I change?

BTW, is there a mistake in the DC earnings table that one only gets double miles for SQ F?

Thans in advance for any comments.

I statusmatched from KLM to DC so am gold with them. A month later they changed the program and made it worse then what I already had with KLM and FB. Have been checing in to AC and Aeroplan since then and last week made the leap. I'll be using my DC gold card and the *G status for the lounge access and all and collect my miles on AC.

I'm UK based as well. Normally fly out of BRS but will from now on fly from LHR.

I never go to Asia but often go to Skandinavia, Germany and North America. I have 4 UG vouchers for BMI if you want them. I am sure I could make use of your vouchers from AC. :-)

Still, if I were you, I'd stick with AC. DC won't give you status n flights alone as AC do so what would happen if thos 50k miles end up being 12.5 if you are in the wrong booking class? Even if you have enough flights to make you elite on AC it won't help on DC.


/E

Emma65, if I'm right, you status matched in June. I don't think it is fair to say that bmi has done anything to DCC. Now, the onboard service and airline in general has certainly been on a downward trend since then, but diamond club was almost entirely unchanged.

The best bits, like generous earn rates (particularly on other carriers and in premium classes), and even more generous spend rates (cash and miles) remain, and make it an excellent proposition. RoarAhead identifies both of these things as attractions for him/her, and it sounds like he/she will easily make Gold with that sort of flying.

Even if BD is on the way out (which I think is a premature fear), I think that LH would pick up the mileage liability. It would, IMHO, be a relatively small price to pay (in the context of the much larger M&M) to save the custom of many valuable British Star flyers.

I made the switch from AC to bmi. It was a wise move for me. Most of my flying is actually UA when I pay, and whomever when I cash in award miles. bmi's earning for premium classes matched LH's, but you don't need 100K for Gold, and the cash and miles is a wonderful option.

While I have no need for the upgrade vouchers with bmi, I have so far hung on to them, as you may never know when the time will come that I will actually be back on their metal.

Yes I did. You are correct. Then soon after they removed biz class in Europe (apart from a few routes) zero miles on TINY (which I think has been re-instated after loads of complaints).

And how do you find BMI metal to go anywhere? I have 4 vouchers I won't be using flying in Europe and for the life of me I cant find BMI metal to use them on TA flights.

Besides - I'd probably woudn't get better than Econ Premium and from what I've heard it's not worth it.

AC has several bonuses for the tiers, 2500/5000/10000 status and award miles depending on what status you are. UG vouchers and more.

The cash and miles on BMI looks very good though. But I must say Im worried about the 25% mileage earners and since I make status on number of flights more than I do on miles - going with such a program is worth it for me.

At first look, BMI and DC looked absolutely fabulous. It's easy for me to get to Birmingham or LHR. But when they made the changes to their service and somewhat to DC I lost interest.

Cheers
/E

BMI's TA flights are MAN to ORD, LAS, UVF, BGI & ANU. They also fly LHR to RUH & BOM with JED due to start at some point, subject to another meeting of the loons at Donnington Hall and another change of policy/direction.

Unfortunately you are correct in that it is only possible to use the vouchers from Economy to PE.

This is not how I read it :confused: I think milage earning has been reinstated on N and T fares, but only those booked on a BMI code, ANY flight now booked on a TINY Fare will no longer earn miles (as of 1st Jan?)
what they will soon change, is give us the ability to buy T and N fares on flybmi.com which we have been unable to do since the dreaded BABY fares came into existence

P

You are correct and I stand corrected.

/E

lol no correction was intended, just dont want people booking the wrong fares, - I did this, not fully understanding the many times the rules changed over the past few months, and was p1ssed off when I realised I misunderstood the rules as they were at that specific time

P

I was looking for a backup *A program and weighed the differences between DC and Aeroplan.. they are similar in many respects wrt partner mileage accrual in Y.. but the redemption sounds better at DC compared to Aeroplan for mid-tier flyers. Plus, the one-way award is a nice setup for ex-CMB runs!

I don't understand why SQ C/F receives lower COS bonuses compared to other *A partners.. but it's unclear if Krisflyer does the same for BD C.

SQ dictated that earning rule to BD in order to ensure the competitiveness of Krisflyer relative to DC.

Not to go OT but does SQ even compete with BD ? Plus, people are who buying SQ C/F are likely to be PPS.. and even more likely to be crediting miles to non-Krisflyer programs like LH, UA, etc.

You would have thought so! But apparently SQ was "threatened" enough by DC to insist on this crediting stinginess. BD, being small fish, agreed. LH stood firm and still credits 2x and 3x for SQ J and F respectively.

hmm. Interesting!

[QUOTE=jamespvg]Emma65, if I'm right, you status matched in June. I don't think it is fair to say that bmi has done anything to DCC. Now, the onboard service and airline in general has certainly been on a downward trend since then, but diamond club was almost entirely unchanged.


Without deviating from the thread too much, sad to say, but have to agree with you on the service, particularly Business Class which I think offers no value for money, no newspapers offered last couple of times, hot towels are not hot, food poor (agreed wouldn't expect much on short haul but not as good as used to be) luggage is always slow to be delivered and priority baggage never really seems to work.