Join BMI Diamond Club and get 9,000 miles immediately! - Merged threads

[futaris]

12,000 miles if you credit a return trip to BMI:

cheap flights from the uk, Europe and worldwide | bmi

 

[Keith009]

Has anyone tried doing a one-way award Zone 9 - Zone 9 with a stopover? e.g. BNE-AKL-MEL or BNE-AKL-NAN ???

I don't see why that can't be done. You're supposed to go on 'the most direct route', unless the destination you want to reach can ONLY be done a certain way like BNE-AKL-MEL or even with a totally convoluted routing via a different zone, which leads to some rather interesting ways to save miles. Look up LHR-UUS (something like 6000 miles + cash zone1-2 in F) with a long transit at the final point before proceeding to UUS. Or Australia-cities in Hawaii not served by NZ. (Hint: OZ does fly to Russia, and UA has a great network from the mainland to Hawaii)

As for a stopover it's a hit or miss. Some agents will say no because you're only allowed 'enroute' stopovers and whilst BNE-AKL-NAN with a stop in AKL is 'enroute' the same cannot be said for BNE-AKL-MEL. But hang up and call back often enough and there are good chances that an agent will okay the route - you just have to make sure you tell them that you're entitled to a 'free stopover' rather than an 'enroute stopover.' Then again some of them might not even have a clue where all these places are...

I had lots of fun routing GRU-MEL. Zone 4 to 9, ended up going via MUC, ICN, HKG and SIN. I didn't do that route because I thought it's fun to fly an 'extreme' routing but because it was the only way I could find F availability all the way. The first agent I had was clearly clued up in geography and said that I had to take the most direct routes (either GRU-MUC/FRA-SIN-MEL in F or GRU-MUC/FRA-BKK-MEL in F/J or GRU-JNB-SIN/BKK-MEL in J). No availability? Tough, or pay for a Zone 4 to Zone 8 GRU-HKG (which was already in itself more expensive than 4-9) + a Zone 8-9 HKG-MEL to ticket the routing I wanted. So I hung up and called again - and the 2nd agent who obviously didn't consult a map okayed the routing as a 4-9.

In the case of the routing described in post 95 it was pretty much okayed instantly when we didn't find anything on LH/LX and I suggested going via SIN.

Though note in both instances I didn't have any stopovers, just long transits. Didn't want to push it, but people have been successful. YMMV.

A few extra hours of flying in F doesn't hurt I suppose.

Tip: The BD agents are completely unhelpful beyond the 'standard' routings that shows up on their screen so make sure you work out availability on the ANA tool before calling up. They will not help you with alternate routings to find availability, you have to do the legwork yourself and feed your itinerary to them flight by flight.

BTW I wouldn't advertise any successful rule bending on FT... lots of BD lurkers there. We're still safe here as I don't suppose people from downunder let alone this forum are on their radar quite yet.

This is by far one of the BEST schemes in the industry, miles are easy to both earn and burn.

 

[Keith009]

Ooh.... I wonder if anyone's redeemed to GUM (also zone 9)? Using the "only way to get there" exception to get to GUM could be very good value...

 

[Keith009]

As of 16th July, cash and miles bookings can no longer be used on LH F. Meaning if you want to redeem on LH F you have to pay full miles.

 

[ANstar]

Well just redeemed SYD-SIN-PVG (stop) -KIX on SQ/NH

18750 Miles + around $550 AUD in cash/taxes.

Got F between SIN-PVG, J for the rest.

 

[Keith009]

Just redeemed for my Easter trip to TPE:
MEL-SIN SQ
SIN-TPE SQ (stop)
TPE-HKG TG

All in J, 18750 miles + around A$610 in cash/tax/fuel.

Could've got SIN-TPE in F for the same cost but wanted to make my transition to whY on QF30 HKG-MEL easier.

 

[Keith009]

SIN-LHR now showing as A380... Suites here I come!!

Got the first bit done... and with this I conclude that DC is truly like stealing candy from a baby.

HKG-ARN Zone8-Zone2, 25 000 + GBP170 for F.

Here's the routing I ended up with:
HKG-SIN SQ F
SIN-LHR SQ F
LHR-ARN SK C



Was another GBP100 or so in tax and fuel fines.

Full miles was this would've been 50 000, but I reckon the cash offset is pretty nice value.

Such a shame LX/LH had no availability in F hey.

 

[futaris]

What's the easiest / cheapest way to get 1000 miles into BMI? I think you need to do a car rental / hotel stay to get any miles into BMI.

I've got 11,500 miles from the survey and this signup, and I'd like to redeem a one-way economy Zone 7 - Zone 9 using Cash & Points...

I suppose I could go for 15,000 miles and redeem one of the suggestions that QF009 came up otherwise...

edit: Whoops, didn't see buy miles on bmi.

 

[futaris]

buy miles for you

Special Bonus Offer - receive 10% MORE Miles!
Purchase miles between August 25 and September 30, 2008 and receive
a 10% Bonus on the number of miles purchased!

The maximum number of destinations miles that can be purchased in any
12 month period is 20,000 destinations miles per diamond club account.
The * symbol means you must provide this information.

 

[oz_mark]

Might be time for me to fire another 'help I can't get into my account' email. Should be 14,000 points in my account, which might be useful for something

 

[Keith009]

Might be time for me to fire another 'help I can't get into my account' email. Should be 14,000 points in my account, which might be useful for something

a one way F award on SQ enroute to a small US island territory mayhaps.

 

[futaris]

Shame that ANA (the only *A carrier that flies there) is discontinuing flights there from Jan 13, 2009. Would have been fun way to get to OzFest 6 in CNS.

 

[Keith009]

OZ flies to SPN...

 

[openseat]

Sorry to interrupt the very interesting discussion on how to get somewhere obscure that involves as much F travel as possible with the smallest amount of miles.

I just got this email from BMI to DC members:

As a Diamond Club member you'll already know that we're the UK's most generous frequent flyer programme and we want to make sure your flying experience with bmi is as special and as rewarding as possible.
This month we're offering you some exclusive rewards when you fly with bmi and it couldn't be easier to register and qualify.
Fly one return bmi flight (two one way flights) between 1 September - 13 October 2008 to earn double destinations miles and double status miles.
Or
Fly two or more return flights with bmi (four one way flights or more) between
1 September - 13 October 2008 to earn triple destinations miles and triple status miles.

You have to register for these. The email continues with another bonus:

If you're planning a trip to Tel Aviv, Cairo or Moscow, here are some great reasons to fly business class with bmi. Fly between 1 September - 13 October in business class, and not only will you travel in style, you'll be rewarded with 4,000 bonus destinations miles.

 

[Flashback]

Sorry to interrupt the very interesting discussion on how to get somewhere obscure that involves as much F travel as possible with the smallest amount of miles.

I just got this email from BMI to DC members:


You have to register for these. The email continues with another bonus:

Targetted URLs, or can anyone register for them?

 

[Keith009]

Just put another one through:
MNL-SIN SQ F
SIN-CPT SQ J (stop)
CPT-JNB SA J

18750 miles + GBP127.50 cash. Taxes can't be loaded automatically for some reason, and I was told to call back in an hour.

edit: total cash + tax + fuel ~ A$544

 

[openseat]

Targetted URLs, or can anyone register for them?

Just looking at the link on the email, it does seem it is targetted, as my DC number appears in the link.

Just put another one through:
MNL-SIN SQ F
SIN-CPT SQ J (stop)
CPT-JNB SA J

18750 miles + GBP127.50 cash. Taxes can't be loaded automatically for some reason, and I was told to call back in an hour.

edit: total cash + tax + fuel ~ A$544

That is a fantastic deal. BMI DC looks better and better by the moment.

 

[Keith009]

Yet another.... this is for a mate, a fantastic value hawaii award i'd previously alluded to:

MEL-AKL NZ J
AKL-LAX NZ J (stop)
LAX-KOA UA J

18750 miles + GBP128 cash + GBP34 tax - no fuel fines for UA/NZ!
Oh and the first agent I got for some reason reckon going via SIN is a more direct route and tried to book MEL-SIN-LAX... (UA transpacific wasnt available thank goodness...) Wouldn't have minded SQ J myself but my mate wanted NZ Business Premier and let's just say that he isn't as big a fan of flying as we are. But anyway she was adamant that I had to book via SIN, and so I left the convo to "answer the door". 2nd agent did exactly as requested.



Someone else i know did PER-SIN-LAX SQ J, LAX-KOA UA J, for the same award level, with a stop in LA.

 

[futaris]

That's ridiculous. You could buy 17,000 miles for 219 GBP using the above link.

Essentially, a return trip to LAX (in NZ J) with a Hawaiian Stopover, for:

381 GBP ~ AU$820 including taxes

plus the cost of the flights back from Hawaii...

I think we have a fare that is as good or better than the UA SFO-AKL Mileage Run.

 

[Keith009]

That's ridiculous. You could buy 17,000 miles for 219 GBP using the above link.

Essentially, a return trip to LAX (in NZ J) with a Hawaiian Stopover, for:

381 GBP ~ AU$820 including taxes

plus the cost of the flights back from Hawaii...

It only works if your final destination in Hawaii IS NOT HNL.... otherwise they'd try to get you on the direct NZ flight to HNL as that'd obviously be the "most direct" route.

Cheapest ways to come home: either look out for a onestar deal ex-HNL, or book an identical award the other way round - which by the way allows another enroute stopover if booked as a separate one way award and not a return of the same award.