The BMI Diamond Club is being folded into the British Airways Executive Club this month for members outside the UK and South West Pacific. This means it is the last month to transfer BMI miles into Avios points. Back in July, we shared the step by step process to transfer any remaining miles out of the BMI Diamond accounts and into British Airways Executive Club accounts thereby adding Avios points to our already large balance.
We are glad we did because today we found a message from BMI in our junk email folder indicating December 2012 will be the last month to transfer between BMI and British Airways for members outside of the UK and South West Pacific.
Message From BMI
Mr Weekly Flyer,
During the past few months, we have been in contact with you regarding a number of changes that have been made to the Diamond Club, following the sale of bmi to IAG, the owner of British Airways.
As part of the ongoing transition of bmi into British Airways, we have been looking at the future plans for Diamond Club and after very careful consideration we have taken the decision to close Diamond Club for members outside of the UK and South West Pacific on 31 December 2012.
As a result of the decision to close Diamond Club, we would like to announce the following changes.
From 27 October 2012, the following benefits will no longer be available:
- Earning and spending your destinations miles on bmi operated flights with a bmi flight number
- Earning and spending your destinations miles on airline partners British Airways, Jet Airways, Qatar Airways and Transaero Airlines
- Earning destinations miles on bmi hotel partners, WorldPoints, through American Express Membership Rewards or when you shop online
- Buying destinations miles
- Upgrading your flight with destinations miles
- Earning status miles
From 27 October 2012 until 31 December 2012, you will be able to do the following:
- If you are a Diamond Club Gold or Silver member, you can apply for matching tier status within the Executive Club at ba.com/tiermatch
- Transfer destinations miles into Executive Club Avios at ba.com/diamondclub
- Gold and Silver members can also continue to access the bmi and selected British Airways lounges at London Heathrow and London Gatwick
Bottom Line
If you have any remaining miles in a BMI account, act quick and follow the transfer steps here to transfer the miles into British Airways Avios points.
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The Weekly Flyer writes about travel from a business traveler perspective. He travels the world every week accumulating points and miles along the way.
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How exactly are these Avios “free” if they are already yours?
Hi Gene – I’ve changed to “find” to be more clear.
Assuming the average person isn’t aware they had BMI miles or wasn’t aware they had to transfer by Dec 31, 2012. If someone wasn’t going to transfer the miles from BMI or didn’t realize they had the miles, they would expire on 12/31/12. So anyone can essentially “find” Avios points for free if they transfer the miles they would have otherwise lost.
Thanks for the reminder, got 4000 free Avios.
What is your take on this post on Flyertalk
from DiamondClubQueries- company representative:
My Take: you can cancel and receive refunds and points as avios after DEC 31
Official Clarification on Refund Policy Post Dec.31 (Cash Refunded, Miles to Avios)
Dear all
I can now confirm that we can accept reward cancellations after 31 December and will refund the taxes, fees and carrier charges for all members globally.
To do this you will need to call the Executive Club service centre to cancel the booking so that the miles can be added to your account as Avios (you will need to be an Executive Club member to do this) and then complete a webform on ba.com to request the cash aspect of your refund. You can do this at http://www.ba.com/bmirefund
I hope this now clarifies things and apologies for the delay in clarifying this. Any queries can be submitted to through the website
Best regards
Nicci