While the British Midland takeover is quickly becoming an episode of Maury (“In the case of 47 year old British Midland, British Airways, you are NOT the father”), more details are emerging as to when British Midland will end their participation in Star Alliance. Last week I posted about British Midland’s announcement that they would begin the process of leaving the Star Alliance as of April 20, though we now have more firm dates.

First of all, today is the last day to use British Midland miles for travel on any Lufthansa group airline (which includes Austrian, Swiss, LOT, Brussels Airlines, etc.). Actually, if you’re reading this now it’s already too late. While their call center closes at 8PM BST, apparently hold times are over an hour, if you can even get through.

Anyway, according to a memo posted by Ghetto IFE, the customer benefit end date of British Midland’s participation in Star Alliance is May 31, 2012, so you should still be able to earn and redeem miles for travel on Star Alliance carriers that don’t belong to the Lufthansa group through then. Per my earlier post, I’m still trying to decide between redeeming those miles for travel on Singapore Airlines with fuel surcharges or on US Airways without fuel surcharges.

As I posted about last week, British Midland announced that they will begin the process of leaving the Star Alliance around April 20 due to their takeover by British Airways.

While British Midland as an airline wasn’t all that exciting, they had a fantastic frequent flyer program. I’d go so far as to say that they have more elite members that have never stepped foot on one of their planes than any other airline. That’s because crediting Star Alliance flights to British Midland was especially lucrative thanks to their very generous and creative award redemption chart.

I have about 100,000 British Midland miles left to burn, and I have to do so in the next week. After April 20 their future is unknown. They could be converted to Avios points at a 1:1 ratio, or they could be converted at a different ratio; it’s anyone’s guess.

With that in mind, I’ll share some of my favorite uses, and also ask you guys for your thoughts on how I should burn mine.

To start, you can find British Midland’s Star Alliance award chart here, and their partner airline award chart here.

Let’s go through the two charts separately.

Star Alliance Award Chart

The Star Alliance award chart can take a few minutes to understand. There are 11 zones, so pricing is based on the zones your origin and destination lie in, as follows:

You may notice that some of the zones are pretty big. For example, the US and Costa Rica are in the same zone, as is Japan and Uzbekistan, just to name a couple.

Part of British Midland’s pricing chart looks as follows:

The prices listed are for coach awards. British Midland charges 1.5x the number of miles for business class and 2.5x the number of miles for first class. Furthermore, there’s a supplement of 10,000 Diamond Club miles for each segment in Lufthansa first class.

Instead of exclusively using miles, you can reduce the number of miles required and pay a cash supplement. That cash supplement increases proportionally for first or business class.

In other words, Germany is in Zone 1 while the US is in Zone 3. Say you want to fly from the US to Germany one-way in business class. The chart lists the cost as being 45,000 miles or 25,000 miles plus £140. That’s the roundtrip cost, so first you’d want to cut the amounts in half to reflect a one-way, bringing it down to 22,500 miles or 12,500 miles plus £70. Then since it’s a business class award you’d multiple that amount x1.5, for a total of 33,750 miles or 18,750 miles plus £105. For a one-way business class award that’s an especially good deal. That’s one of the best values on the award chart, in my opinion.

Another great redemption is for travel between the US (Zone 3) and South America (Zone 4). The one-way cost in business class is either 30,000 miles or 15,000 miles plus £105. That’s an amazing bargain.

The “catch” is that British Midland does impose fuel surcharges when the carrier itself does as well. However, both US Airways and TAM don’t impose fuel surcharges on bookings, so fly them whenever possible.

As I wrote about a few days ago, US Airways does have a great new business class product that’s almost installed on all of their Airbus 330 aircraft. So while I’m tempted to redeem my British Midland miles for travel on US Airways, I have plans to fly them early next year using an off-peak award for only 55,000 miles in business class.

So my next option would be to fly TAM, as I’ve never flown them before and I’d love to discover more of South America. However, they seem to almost never release business or first class award space. Does anyone see space on TAM anymore, either in business or first class? Anyone? Bueller? If anyone can find a first class seat on them anytime in the next year, you have a Diet Coke with lime coming your way.

And the last thing worth mentioning is that British Midland has special access to Singapore Airlines business class award availability. Singapore Airlines almost never releases business class award space to Star Alliance members, though they do to British Midland members, as discussed extensively in this FlyerTalk thread. So if you’re burning Diamond Club miles you’ll have access to almost all the same Singapore Airlines saver award space that KrisFlyer members have access to.

So is it worth redeeming British Midland miles for travel in Singapore business class on the A380, or for travel on the world’s longest or second longest routes (Newark/Los Angeles to Singapore), which are operated by all business class products? I’ve flown Singapore’s new business class, though on the 777, so I’m not sure if it’s worthwhile aiming for the A380 or A340, given that it’s virtually the same product.

Partner Award Chart

British Midland has some interesting airline partners that aren’t in Star Alliance, including Qatar Airways, Virgin Atlantic, and Jet Airways. The thing to keep in mind is that you can’t make a miles & cash booking on partner airlines.

Virgin Atlantic costs 90,000 miles roundtrip between the East Coast of the US and London, while the same award through ANA would only cost 63,000 miles, so I have a hard time justifying that. Furthermore, the fuel surcharges and UK Air Passenger Duty add another $1,000 or so to the cost of the ticket. Still, I do love Virgin Atlantic, as my last trip on them was spectacular.

Then there’s Qatar Airways, which is an intriguing enough airline. I actually used my British Midland miles for a roundtrip first class ticket between London and Doha last year, and found it to be an interesting experience. While I’d love to explore more of the Middle East, I found Doha to be an absolute $*&^hole, and that’s the first place I’ve ever said that about. Heck, along with Chuck E. Cheese’s, it’s one of only two destinations I have no desire of returning to. So while Qatar Airways was nice enough, and at 80,000 miles roundtrip first class was a great value, it’s not necessarily an experience I have to repeat. Still, for those that have otherwise “done it all,” it might not be a bad option.

And that leaves Jet Airways. I’ve never flown them, though I’d like to. And after my recent trip to India, I’d sure love to return. But based on my experience their award space is near impossible to come by.

So what are you burning your British Midland miles on? If you were in my shoes, what would you redeem your British Midland miles for? You’re going to end up having to read about it, so make the decision for me please.

With the sale of British Midland to British Airways nearly complete, some details are emerging as to when British Midland will be leaving the Star Alliance. Per British Midland’s Facebook page.

Q. What happens once the sale completes?

It is the intention that bmi will begin to withdraw from Star Alliance at the date of completion of the sale, which we expect to be around 20 April, 2012.

bmi, Lufthansa and Star Alliance will be working together during the coming weeks to ensure bmi’s smooth exit from Star Alliance. We will update you as soon as more information becomes available.

So while it doesn’t seem like the dates are set in stone, the message is clear — burn your British Midland miles now, before they’re converted to British Airways Avios points.

In a twisted way I’m going to miss British Midland terribly. To me the airline itself has always been a bit like the Addams Family. They fly mostly out of London and serve Almaty, Kazakhstan, but not Paris or Frankfurt.

But the frequent flyer program is a completely different story. It’s awesome for a few reasons:

• Their award chart is based on zones and they offer cash and points, so it’s easy to get a great deal without using many points. For example, a roundtrip ticket in business class between the US and South America cost only 60,000 miles, or alternatively 30,000 miles plus £210.
• They offered one of the most attractive options for earning Star Alliance Gold status, at only 38,000 miles per year to requalify (which gets you lounge access with US airlines even when flying domestically).
• They offered huge bonuses for premium cabin tickets, up to 3x miles, and even more points if you had already requalified for status for the year.

While British Midland does impose fuel surcharges for redemptions on most airlines, they’re quite a bit more reasonable than what British Airways charges. Furthermore, they don’t charge fuel surcharges on US Airways and TAP, last I checked.

But the other awesome feature of British Midland miles is that they could be used to book Singapore Airlines award space that other Star Alliance airlines didn’t have access to. You can see a FlyerTalk thread listing experiences on that here. I have about 100,000 British Midland miles and should probably decide how to use them sooner rather than later.

Anyone else have British Midland miles to burn and not sure what to do with them?

(Tip of the hat to Gary)

Trip Report Index

After a quick ride on the City Airport Train I made it to Vienna Airport about 90 minutes before my flight. I had a bit of trouble finding the British Midland check-in area, until I realized that Austrian Airlines handles their check-in.

Vienna terminal

Business class check-in

After queuing in the business class line for about five minutes my check-in was quickly processed and I was issued boarding passes all the way to Los Angeles.

I proceeded to security where there was virtually no line, making for an easy process.

Once through passport control I proceeded to the first Austrian business class lounge I could find, which wasn’t far away.

Duty free shops

Austrian business class lounge entrance

Business class lounge entrance

The lounge wasn’t especially nice or aesthetically pleasing. I was quite hungry as I hadn’t had breakfast, though the extent of their breakfast spread was limited to some croissants.

Business class lounge

Business class lounge

Snack selection

Drink selection

Lots of water!

After spending about 20 minutes there I figured I’d see if there isn’t a better lounge, so started walking closer to my departure gate.

I managed to find another Austrian lounge, though this one was a Star Gold lounge and not a business class lounge, so seemed to be much nicer.

Star Gold lounge

There was only one family in the lounge, and the breakfast spread was much nicer, featuring breads, meats, cheeses, yogurt, muesli, scrambled eggs, etc.

Star Gold lounge snack selection

I settled for some strawberry yogurt with granola and a cinnamon roll.

Breakfast

About half an hour before departure I proceeded to security and then my departure gate, which was D33. Unfortunately yet again it was a remote gate, though at least boarding started on-time.

Gate area

The bus ride had pretty nice views of the tarmac, including of some airlines you otherwise don’t see a whole lot of.

Bus

After a five minute drive we were dropped off at our Airbus 319.

Airbus 319

Airbus 319

British Midland 426
Vienna (VIE) – London (LHR)
Thursday, May 26
Depart: 11:40AM
Arrive: 1:05PM
Duration: 2hr25min
Aircraft: Airbus 319
Seat: 3C (Business Class)

I was quite looking forward to flying British Midland, given that I had never flown them before and that frankly, I wasn’t convinced they were actually an airline (but instead a cleverly disguised frequent flyer program).

The seats were once again typical intra-Europe business class seats which aren’t especially comfortable, though the cabin was fairly empty so I had the set of three seats (with the middle seat blocked) to myself.

Business class

My seat, 2A

Legroom

The first thing that struck me about British Midland was the crew. They have very… interesting uniforms. Their top hats led me to believe they might be part of Lucky Charms’ extended family, or perhaps on a witch hunt… certainly one or the other.

Flight attendant uniform

Boarding quickly went downhill as the guy across the aisle from me settled in. He was loudly finishing some very important business deals, and he wasn’t afraid to make sure the whole cabin heard just how important he is.

Before we pushed back the captain welcomed us aboard and advised us of the flight time of 1hr50min, anticipating an on-time arrival. As we began our taxi the flight attendants started the manual safety demo, though I was more interested in the traffic outside (Korean Air Cargo, Tunisair, NIKI, etc.).

Korean Air Cargo

After a 10-minute wait for takeoff we were airborne and I was quite enjoying the beautiful landscape on departure.

View after takeoff

As soon as we leveled off the service began. The lead flight attendant was serving business class alone, which was perfectly fine given that there were only a handful of passengers.

For lunch was the choice between gnocchi and a chicken dish, and I went with the former. It was served with a small salad, bread, and chocolate tart.

Lunch

I spent the rest of my flight working on my laptop, while the aforementioned self-important businessman spent half of the flight in the loo with a newspaper. At least he wasn’t afraid to hide it.

We began our descent into London about 30 minutes before landing and it was a rather bumpy one, as the weather wasn’t good.

Approach into London

The landing was one of the rougher ones I’ve experienced, given that we touched down with one wheel and were airborne again before finally touching down.

Final approach

I lucked out on this trip as far as terminal transfers go. I arrived in terminal 1 and would also be departing from terminal 1, which meant I only had to run a half marathon to make my connection.

Terminal

While I was primarily planning on using the Star Alliance lounge, I figured I’d pay British Midland’s Great British Lounge a quick visit, since I had heard lots of good things about it.

Great British Lounge

It’s a bit out of the way and as I entered the agents were certainly surprised I made the trek all the way to the lounge when I was flying Air New Zealand, though still warmly welcomed me.

The lounge itself is very stylish, though when I was there, packed.

The lounge has lots of unique seating areas, from relaxation seats, to bar stools, to tables, to couches, to a business center.

Great British Lounge

Great British Lounge

Great British Lounge

Conference room

Workstations

Great British Lounge

Great British Lounge

The snack selection was also decent with soup, salad, sandwiches, fruit, and every unhealthy packaged snack imaginable.

Food selection

Sandwiches

Salad

Fruit and drinks

Chips

The one downside was that the wifi was so slow that it was practically useless, so I quickly left the lounge in favor of the Star Alliance lounge, which was a 10-minute walk away.

While there are many reasons to love British Midland’s Diamond Club program, one of my favorites has to be their ability to make changes with a) no formal annoucement b) no advance notice c) so ambiguous that no one has any clue what they’re talking about.

Case in point, British Midland has just added the following to their award redemption chart:

Where the only available routing on an award flight takes you via a higher zone a surcharge will be applied – 15,000 miles each way for Economy, 22,500 miles each way for Business Class, and 37,500 miles each way for First Class.

Now, I don’t think anyone actually knows exactly what that means, though I’ll take a stab at it. British Midland has a “zone based” award chart, which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on where you’re traveling to.

Historically, there are some destinations that savvy Diamond Club members favor due to British Midland’s award pricing. Kathmandu, for example, is one of them. Why? Because it’s technically in zone 10, while the only practical way to get there is via Bangkok, which is in zone 7. Starting in Europe, for example, an award from zone 1 (London) to zone 7 (Bangkok) would cost 120,000 miles roundtrip in business class, while an award from zone 1 (London) to zone 10 (Kathmandu) via zone 7 (Bangkok) would only be 75,000 miles roundtrip in business class. Best of all, you could add a stopover in Bangkok, so save 45,000 miles by continuing on to Kathmandu.

So I’m guessing that’s the intent here. However, there are several things that make this confusing. For one, they list this under the “miles required for a return flight in business or first” tab, while this apparently also applies to economy. Second, what do they really mean by saying “where the only available routing takes you via a higher zone?” Does that refer to the zone number or the cost of the award in miles? Beyond that, what about the cases where you can legally connect in another zone to get somewhere. It wouldn’t make sense not to charge the surcharge then, but to charge the surcharge when there’s no other option.

British Midland also charges a 10,000 mile premium for every award segment in Lufthansa first class, so combining a two segment award in Lufthansa first class with the above new restriction, you’re potentially looking at 95,000 miles in “surcharges” alone for a roundtrip. And that doesn’t include the actual cost of the award or the fuel surcharges and taxes.