BA Avios Transferable to bmi Miles July 3
 

Credit to View From the Wing

also today's
USA Today Story

(edited with corrections from comments)

This may be a good time to get a bmi Diamond Club membership in case the program stops new members.

According to a bmi email sent out to members, BA Avios will be transferable to bmi beginning July 3. BMI, of course has left *A and redemptions can only be done on *A through 5/31.

Assuming the bmi award chart isn't gutted, this opens up some appealing uses for Avios ! bmi currently has 27.5K + 170pound coach/ 37.5+255pound biz awards to Europe.

For now, other than leaving *A, there's no word on whether bmi's partnerships will continue. From July3 to a certain time some partnerships may survive (including the irony that points could be redeemed on Virgin Atlantic).

bmi Award Chart

I received the bmi email regarding this as well. I truly find little value in Avios since my main need for travel is TATL and I have NO interest in paying $400+ in YQ when that's almost a fully paid coach ticket. :(

HOWEVER, if bmi keeps its award chart past the date Avios become transferable, this will open up a whole new set of opportunities for the 200K+ Avios sitting in my family account. ^

FYI BMI has already left the Star Alliance as of yesterday.

Last day to redeem on Star Alliance is May 31st, 2012. You can transfer between Avios and Diamond Club starting early July, 2012. How are you going to redeem on Tam.

You cannot use Cash + Miles on partners. Only on Star Alliance.

If they are leaving *A before transfer option is opened how can you use Avios for award on TAM?

Unless the LATAM merger is completed by then it would have to be exclusively on LAN.

I do wonder if that award chart will stick around after July 3rd, probably not though.

Not sure how fast they plan to merge or if it's faster in the UK than the USA. But with the USA mergers the ff plans stay the same for quite a while before they're merged.

I'm optimistic that the bmi program will continue for maybe another year.

I think you will find that by then BMI will effectively become Avios just like IB. I think the earning and spending tables will be adjusted to match BA's and therefore there will be no point exchanging miles. Then diamond club will either shut down after a bit or it will become BA avios once/if the BMI brand is dissolved and slots are taken over by BA.

That would be my guess. I'd be quite surprised if bmi chart doesn't change to match the Avios scheme as of 03 July. Though of course it would be nice if that doesn't happen and we have some limited opportunity. A big "if" though.

There is a deal. In fact. possibly two deals. In a thread early on the evening of Friday, 4/20, I saw that it may still be possible to get a 1000-mile signup bonus for joining BMI's Diamond Club from a US website address. Don't even ask for confirmation, because this is likely to be pulled at any time. Just stop reading this message and go to http://flybmi.com to see if you can still get 1000 miles for joining.

Even if you can't, if you're contemplating a stay in any of Hilton's various properties, this is the time to credit your stays to BMI.

Why? Hilton's current promotion is for double points or miles. As a result, you can earn 6000 DC miles for a three-night stay at almost any Hilton property by making your partner preference BMI. BMI normally earns 1000 per night (not stay as with BA) with a maximum of three nights allowed per stay. Double that to 2000, and if your travels allow you to stay three nights, you'll earn 6000 DC miles.

As an added bonus, Hilton gives you the same award even if you're staying in a Hampton Inn/Suites or Homewood Suites. With Iberia, BA's partner, you get 150 Avios (doubled to 300 during this promotion) and with BA, 100 (200) if you stay at those properties--per stay. So, at the second-level properties, you could earn 6000 DC miles which are now confirmed to have an equal status with Avios, instead of as low as 200 Avios per stay if you credit to BA. 30:1, I'll take it! Only the Home2 Suites chain gets a lower earnings rate, and that's still 1000 DC miles per stay (not per night), meaning 2000 during this promotion rather than 300 or 200 Avios. 6.5 to 1 or 10 to 1. I like those odds!

You have to make an irreversible choice of either double points or double miles so if you've already made your choice for double points, you can't change now, but since the Hilton program allows you to change the airline of choice almost any time, you could credit a stay or two and then change back to any other airline later although at least through the end of the promotion on June 30, I have no idea why anyone would if you want to accumulate Avios.

And, if you're interested in accumulating Avios, the policy announced on Friday, April 20, means you can earn 6000 DC miles for a three-day stay instead of 2000 Avios or less for any length of stay in any Hilton property. Plus, given that you can transfer from Avios to DC as well, you may have an option to take advantage of some better awards BMI offers although I suspect those loopholes will be closed shortly as well.

Slightly off topic - on IB/BA transfer

I know IB account with UK address can transfer freely between IB and BA.

However IB account with US address does not seem to have such privilege.

(I looked at that probability when e-Reward has a much higher redemption ratio on IB and any other options worthwhile to me. Then I found out it has no use because I cannot transfer the IB Avios to BA Avios with a US address account.)

How can you be sure the BMI account with US address can transfer the Avios to BA?

I received the BMI email yesterday (I'd joined DC a couple of months ago in anticipation of a 1:1 DC to Avios exchange, already aware of the higher earning ratio with Hilton), and there was no mention of a transfer restriction similar to the BA-IB situation. Nevertheless, you're probably right that this issue should be clarified before taking too many steps based on this assumption. For me, such a two-way exchange would be a bonus because I took the gamble figuring that for my purposes, even if BA kept DC a totally separate program, I was fine because I could use DC for hops between Scotland and Ireland where BMI has service currently (but perhaps not permanently) on a trip later this year.

You're missing a few vital pieces of information.

1) Star Alliance redemptions cease definitively on May 31. (Already, Lufthansa group airlines, and Asiana apparently, can no longer be redeemed using Diamond Club miles). That chart, for Star Alliance partner redemptions, therefore disappears on May 31. BA Avios will not become transferrable to Diamond Club until July 3, and can therefore not be used to make *A redemptions.

2) After May 31, the only airlines you will be able to redeem on are bmi themselves, bmibaby.com, Jet Airways, Qatar Airways, Transaero, and Virgin Atlantic. British Airways (and probably One World airlines) will be added at some point in the future, and it's very likely that Virgin Atlantic will cease to be a partner. Redemptions on to any of of these airlines do not use the redemption table you referred to earlier.

3) When OneWorld redemptions become possible, there will be a new, OneWorld redemption chart that will look nothing like the old *A redemption table but will presumably be closely modelled on the existing BA table

Any idea how long these take to post?

It took about a week for the joining bonus miles to post. The miles earned through Hilton from a stay two weeks ago show that they will be credited to BMI but have not yet posted to my BMI account.

I joined on 4/21 and no bonus miles yet. :/

When you joined, was there any indication you would get 1000 miles? As I noted in one of my 4/20 posts, I was afraid BMI might pull the joining bonus at any time. When I joined, there was definitely an indication that you would get 1000 miles for joining. If you received a similar message, I'd contact Diamond Club for resolution.