bmi diamond club
by JFC AdminI discovered bmi’s frequent flyer programme - diamond club only a few months ago and it has proven to be one of the most generous frequent flyer programmes in existence. However, with Lufthansa taking over bmi in January it’s very likely that diamond club will be merged with Lufthansa’s much less generous Miles & More scheme.
So what do I like about diamond club? Well first of all they’re willing to status match, as I had elite status with KLM’s Flying Blue they gave me a diamond club gold card which is valid for a year. This gave me the benefits that I’ve come to expect flying KLM and SkyTeam such as lounge access and bonus miles for all bmi and Star Alliance flights.
The idea of a status match is to encourage you to try flying their airline, you have a year to requalify for gold. This has certainly worked for me, whereas before I’d have not considered bmi for routes that I could reach on a SkyTeam airline, now I’m happy to have the full range of options from Star Alliance too.
There’s a number of ways to earn miles besides flying, signing up for the bmi Amex will net you a generous miles bonus as well as online shopping and even taking out a subscription to the Economist. If you’re short of miles bmi allows you to buy miles at a more generous rate than other airlines and also pay for awards on a half miles, half cash basis.
When you qualify for gold you also receive upgrade vouchers that entitle you and a companion to an upgrade from Economy to the next class up (Business Class on short and medium haul and Premium Economy on Long Haul). The Premium Economy product of bmi is class leading as instead of offering an enhanced economy style seat they offer an old-style business class seat which is very comfortable.
The programme also has its downsides too in particular the callcentre is problematic at times and makes the Flying Blue callcentre look knowledgable. Despite this the rewards are well worth the effort of having to deal with the callcentre occasionally.