bmi increase rates, cut redemptions

6th April 2009

bmi has yet again changed the Diamond Club, making further reductions to the possibilities of using bmi miles for flights on Star Alliance airlines.

The biggest change is to First Class Awards. This will also be the case with miles plus cash, which will increase to x2.5 miles. In addition, First Class award flights with Lufthansa will also incur a surcharge of 10,000 destinations miles for each First Class sector of an award flight, and the ban on using Miles and Cash on Lufthansa remains.

The ban on using miles on the new Singapore Airlines premium cabins (first, and business class on the A380 and the 77W) remains, and it is also now not possible to book into First Class on Turkish Airlines.

You can however still book First Class on Swiss, which seems unusual as it is owned by Lufthansa. In particular, First to Dubai now costs 120,000 miles on LH or 50,000 and £350 on Swiss.

The changes to the miles required for first class redeptions is happening as of the 1st of May, and any bookings made after this date for first class travel will be charged at the new level. Any bookings made before 1st May but are for travel after the 1st May will be charged at the current level.