What I am about to do in is open up one hell of a can of worms and suggest programmes for those of us who are looking for a new home for our miles post BMI Diamond Club shut down (if/when it happens).
Now, this affects me personally as I target the “value” range of flying, and I can see what might happen (and lets face it, it could be completely wrong) so here are a few ideas
A little side note – I’m writing from a person who doesn’t live in the USA point-of-view – therefore I’m excluding things like credit card bonuses and most of the US based relevant items. This is also written pre-sale, so things will probably change…
From BMI Star Alliance to other Star Alliance
As a matter of principle Star Alliance members do not match within the alliance… generally (there are reports of it happening every now and again). For those on the cheap who want Star Gold, you might want to look at Aegean Airlines or Asiana Airlines programmes which have lowish requirements for Gold (20,000 on A3 for a year, 38,000 on OZ for 2 years.). Air Canada is a reasonable option but requires you need to earn a minimum of 10,000 Air Canada Status Miles or 5 Air Canada Status Flight Segments on flights operated by Air Canada or Air Canada Express.
Those of you who can fly the extra miles (from 38k to 50k) and are mostly jetting back and forth from the USA may be better off with United Mileage Plus Premier Executive as 50k will get you your Star Gold back, and on top of that Economy Plus seat selection at booking (rather than the embarrassing E+ seating selection at Check-in in with United Mileage Plus Premier)
Those who have hardened bottoms may wish to consider Lufthansa’s Miles and More. Frequent Traveller Level (Star Silver) can be earned with 35,000 miles or 30 segments for those of you who segment hop. For those who want Senator (Star Alliance Gold), it’s 100,000 if you live outside Germany, 130,000 if you live inside Germany. The major benefit is that the status lasts for two years.
On a personal thought – those hoping for a status match when BMI is sold… I wouldn’t hold my breath.
From BMI to OneWorld
Really? You really want to match to OneWorld now when there’s a strong chance it’ll be IAG (BA) taking over and we might get OneWorld status of some sort? Try Malev – they’re still offering their status match at http://www.malev.com/offers/fly-at-a-higher-level. American Airlines also have a Challenge Programme that could work for you.
From BMI to SkyTeam.
Ok – I’ll hold my hands up here – I’ve done no research (least of all, most of the SkyTeam lot I wouldn’t want to set foot on personally). Although Delta has a status challenge programme, I’m not sure they’ll match from BMI. But stranger things have happened…
Overall
Keep your eyes peeled. Whilst there may not be many crumbs to get when the time comes, I sure there will be a few matches out there.
The A3 *G status is good for at least 3 years. I qualified Aug 2011, and the expiry dat on my A3 *G card is Dec 2014.
How about TG Royal Orchid Plus where for 50k within one calender year or 80k within two calender year – you get *Gold for the next 2 years from date of qualification.