http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...&refer=germany

Not quite, it is stating that LH says this (which it has done before, see earlier posts) as you would expect from LH which is trying to reduce the cost of the deal to maximise shareholder value. LH is desperate to attack BD's nominal value and is hoping the CAA will provide it with ammunication. If the CAA actually does so, which is unlikely given its indifference to just about every other matter of importance to airlines and their passengers, it would be a travesty.

You kind of get the feeling that LH is resorting to questionable tactics in order to try and sow the seeds of uncertainty regarding the brand so that it can get it's own way regarding the price.

The fact is that we have no idea how solid the original deal is (although I suspect that SMB being no fool, it is probably watertight), and therefore LH are looking for any way out of having to shell out Ł300m given their other commitments right now.

At the end of the day SMB pulled the trigger and backed LH into this corner, I suspect that they don't care right now how they try and get out of it, if they can.

If LH manage to wriggle out of the deal is BMI likely to go bust - and if so what happens to my F flights in Swiss booked using BD miles for August?

I'd have thought the LHR slots would still be worthwhile for *A as a brand/whole (of which LH is the biggest part of course), and they probably would be willing to buy bmi - but not for the huge fee that SMB has managed to get (and that is LH's fault alone). One suspects that with other airlines such as Swiss, Austrian Air etc LH not only got the airlines pretty much for free they got big soft loans too from the local governments - I can't see that happening with the UK.

I'm also curious in a bankrupty situation what would happen to my pre-booked tickets... as I booked through a credit card as well, wonder what happens with regards to how much of a refund? My 200k bmi airmiles in a bankrupty situation for my F/C bookings to Australia and back via many cities would be worth about 2p, but the flights booked are probably worth around Ł10k each for my wife and I to book new equivilents?

When *Varig went bust, tickets were not honoured on partners because they won't receive payment from a bust airline,
but the only silver lining was that status could be matched across to a different member airline.

*I previously said TAM but I meant Varig...opps

If nobody "rescues" the airline, and the airline really goes bankrupt, all tickets ticketed by the airline (for bmi meaning ticket number starts with a 236) probably won't be valid anymore. Usually you won't see much of your money back (even though you might see a little bit out of the insolvency assets). If your credit card has an insurance againest airline insolvency I don't know.

If you've got a UK credit card, you'll get a refund of any cash paid. (but not any lost miles of course.

Tam (JJ) hasn't gone bust. What are you talking about? RG (Varig) did go under in Brazil few years ago, however.

I looked into this before buying an AZ ticket at the time the survival of AZ was in the air and it seems that UK legislation is better than that and puts the credit card company in the shoes of the defaulting trader, which would mean that you could insist on the credit card company taking on the liability ot providing you with the flights (since the airline would have that obligation).

I did not have to test it out since AZ kind of survived () although my guess is that you would have to have a tough fight with the card issuer if it came to that. Not sure either whether the legislation protects you to the same extent in case of partial payment with a credit card (which would be the situation for a redemption ticket).

I seem to remember getting some serious grief from one or two regulars on here not so long ago for making the statement, 'no deal is done till it's done', particularly when time has passed and organisations have changed evolved.

Clearly i'm far too adult to name and shame those involved.....

Err.. no deal though yet chaps I see?

Having blown that raspberry, I really want this deal to go through to secure a positive future for the airline. Safely and quickly.

It's funny how quick these names fall out of the mind once they're no longer around. I did indeed mean Varig, not Tam.

Same happened to Ansett. *A partner airlines would no longer accept Ansett ticket stock tickets and of course all the miles people held were wiped out.

What's the UK governments stance on non-banking corporate bailouts these days?

Did they really? - Press release from Star Alliance.

But of course today's situation, with many airlines in financial problems might be a different situation.

I stand corrected then, but I do have a mate who had an Ansett ticket which was not honored by SQ ... and all of his miles got wiped out of course ...