A breath of life for bmi Diamond Club

Since its acquisition by Lufthansa, British regional carrier bmi has seen many bits of its operations aligned to their parent company’s operating model. Some routes have been cut and others aligned to partner hubs. Other changes have been announced, too, including a previous claim that their frequent flyer program, Diamond Club, would be subsumed into the Miles & More organization. Some reports suggested that change would come as early as the middle of this year.

Apparently someone has had a change of heart.

The latest reports, included in a FaceBook/Twitter-based chat with the CEO say that the end of Diamond Club is, in fact, not going to be happening this year as previously suggested.

Now that bmi is a part of the Lufthansa group of airlines, we are evaluating being part of Miles & More in the long term. A final decision has not been taken and such a move would not happen in 2011. For the foreseeable future we are firmly focused on ensuring that our Diamond Club scheme meets the needs of our loyal customers. Therefore we will continue to improve and develop Diamond Club. We will be launching Star Alliance Upgrade Awards in Q2 this year, which will enable Diamond Club members to upgrade on the majority of Star Alliance airlines using their miles, as well as bringing a number of new partners on board.

This is quite good news for most folks who have been collecting points in the Diamond Club program. It has a number of benefits over the Miles & More program, including cash & miles redemptions and a very flexible award chart. Adding in the Star Alliance upgrade option will improve the program even more.

At the same time, customers who were banking on the transition happening this year (like me) now have to make a decision on whether to extend their current loyalty or not.

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