How to almost certainly earn OW points while flying *A
 

With IAG/BA confirming bmi will leave Star Alliance when their acquisition of the carrier is complete (when its FF scheme will be undoubtedly converted into Avios points), you could credit your earned travel points on any *A carrier to bmi between now and March 31 and be reasonably confident you'll have BA points come April.

Of course, there is a risk the deal doesn't go through...but both sides are saying that is pretty low.

If you are a BA fan (some of us still exist) but have to travel on star for some unthinkable reason ;) ...this might be a good opportunity for you.

It might also be a way for Australian residents to become Executive Club members (if I'm not mistaken, the BA site ends up directing applicants with Australian addresses to Qantas, but I stand to be corrected)...

are you sure about this? Aren't there rumours that VS's bid with Abu Dhabi money may be taken more seriously?

I think you are a bit behind the times, it was announced a couple of days ago that LH are going with the IAG bid.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16298167

ahh, good point sir. what's the deadline for redemptions?

I doubt that anyone will know until after the deal has passed the regulators, but I believe that they are hoping to close the deal in the first quarter of 2012.

Interesting. Can we be very specific (or PM me)? How do I convert UA points to BM points? Does this mean giving up UA FFP or would the UA points just reset to zero? Its just that I have status on UA so I still want to keep the UA card.

There are many other ways. Just fly one of the OW codeshares on *A metal and credit to the right program(s) and you can also earn OW points flying *A. And not just almost certainly. ;)

You can't transfer UA to BD. The only way to get your BD miles is to open a frequent flyer account with them and to credit your *A flights or other activities to BD rather than to UA.

Wow, I didn't think of that. Guess I'll end up with a BA account after all.