6
Apr
british midland is offering silver status for a year and 2000 miles to start your account for new members.
Now, Silver status doesn’t get you much unless you’re actually going to fly bmi, it takes Gold for partner lounge access, but it’s status so a halfway decent offer. Though they do sometimes offer more miles to start than this, so consider waiting if you’d rather have more miles than status.
Update: Good points in the comments, bmi Silver gets you Star Alliance silver, and that means baggage fee waivers with several airlines. Details and links in the comments.
Alex said,
“Silver status doesn’t get you much”
On the contrary Gary, for anyone without *A status, and in particular, for the casual flyer, this waives baggage fees on *A flights, which is a significant benefit.
Those of us (I’m AA Plat/CO Gold) who fly frequently often overlook these little benefits for casual fliers.
While I won’t benefit much from this, my mother, father, sister, aunt, cousin, etc. all benefit a good deal from it because they only fly 3-4 times a year, and the mileage accrual isn’t worth the baggage fees.
While 90% of your posts help the 10% of people that are frequent travelers, its little posts like this that could make a truly tangible difference for the other 90% of folks.
So thanks!
Scott said,
FWIW it also gives a head-start to Star Alliance Gold status!
Timothy said,
I’m just wondering if I understand this right, so if I’m a silver member on BMI, then I can get my baggage fees waived on any *A flight (e.g. a Continental flight in the US)?
Baggageinhall said,
Thanks. Can I echo Alex’s last paragraph. I’ve been waiting for BMI to repeat this instant silver offer as I missed it last time round. My dear old Mother was about to switch from Emirates to a *A carrier and this has provided the ideal opportunity.
JK said,
Alex said,
“…On the contrary Gary, for anyone without *A status, and in particular, for the casual flyer, this waives baggage fees on *A flights, which is a significant benefit.”
This doesn’t sound right. Sorry.
http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/diamond-club/diamond-club/membership-benefits/silver-membership.aspx says that bmi Silver gives you *A Silver status.
http://www.staralliance.com/en/benefits/frequent-flyer/gold-silver-status/ says that you only get baggage fees waived when you are Gold, not silver.
Am I wrong?
Erik said,
@JK:
http://www.usairways.com/en-US/traveltools/baggage/baggagepolicies.html
“Exempt from 1st and 2nd checked bag fee:
Star Alliance Silver and Gold status members”
http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6867,52481,00.html
“Baggage Fee Exceptions:
a Star Alliance® Gold or Silver member”
http://www.continental.com/web/en-US/content/travel/baggage/checkbag.aspx
“The following customers will not be charged service fees to check a first or second bag:
* OnePass Silver Elite members and Star Alliance Silver members*
* OnePass Platinum and Gold Elite members and Star Alliance Gold members**”
On CO, silvers get 2, golds get 3 bags. 70lb limit either way.
Brandon said,
I don’t think it’s a global *A Silver benefit, but several member airlines waive baggage fees for *A silver members, such as UA and CO.
JK said,
Glad I was mistaken! Thanks for the extra info.
Keith said,
How do *A members know if you have status with a different airline?
David said,
@Keith: you’ll either have to a) associate your BMI number with the reservation or b) present your BMI silver card at check-in. Depending on the carrier and the temperament of the check-in agent, you may or may not be able to get the benefits of status with one carrier while accruing miles to a different carrier.
Jon Garside said,
@david. Thats what I hope to do. I am posting almost all my miles to Virgin at the moment, but I was gifted a BMI silver card through corp services. My hope is on my flight MAN-EWR-LAS next week I can use my card to lose the fees for my bags but keep the VS number for the much needed miles
Michael Ballard said,
Just curious if this also does anything for making use of those 1000mile upgrade certs you get with the UA branded CC. The ones that have the stipulation of any fare class for premier members? Would that star alliance silver translate to anything here?
If I have to buy a Y class ticket its not very useful!
Cornroaster said,
Does anyone have any thoughts on using the Silver status on bmi as a starting point for a status match on another airline? Is this possible? Could this be used for a “challenge” match to possibly get status with a carrier in a different alliance that might lead to similar benefits (i.e., waived baggage fees, etc.) on other carriers?
Cornroaster said,
One other thought is that bmi also offers “family membership” as discussed in this thread in Flyertalk.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/bmi-diamond-club/1022404-family-membership-thread-launched-1-dec-successes-bugs-comments.html
You can take the miles of up to 8 family members and combine them in a family account, so this is an opportunity to add miles from other family members.
Rob Burgess said,
Do not underestimate how good this is as a stepping stone to Star Alliance Gold, given that BMI already has the lowest *G threshold in the first place.
GoldCircle said,
This offer was to a closed group and not open to the public. Further, that universe was Jewish Chronical and (all female) wizo.net members (ironic since bmi pulled off the TLV route not long ago…)
However, don’t be surprised to see the status revoked and the miles removed by a de-duping process – there have been a few quiet instances of this happening recently – and bmi are watching transfers via the family account system VERY closely after the self-inflicted stupidity of recent times. You’ll find that the T&Cs surrounding sign-up miles require that they only be used in the name of the signed-up member…
bpoe19 said,
Gary,
http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/diamond-club/diamond-club/promotions/2500-miles-welcome-bonus-terms-and-conditions.aspx
If you are just looking to boost your HOA account, then this 2500 offer I pulled from the bmi sight may be better if you don’t think you’ll need/use the silver status.
arye said,
if i’m flying co in 4 days, not enough time to get my silver card, does anyone know if a printout of my status will be enough to waive the baggage fees?
How to avoid checked baggage fees for one year on Star Alliance airlines | Upgrade: Travel Better said,
[...] to avoid checked baggage fees for one year on Star Alliance airlinesPosted by: Mark Ashley Via View from the Wing, an interesting offer from bmi, the British member of Star Alliance: instant Silver membership [...]
Sign up for Diamond Club and get bmi Silver status and 2,000 miles - One Mile at a Time said,
[...] of the hat to Gary) var addthis_language = 'en';var addthis_options = 'email, print, twitter, facebook, digg, [...]
Kevin T said,
How long does it take for the silver to be added because mine still says Blue?
Patrick said,
@Kevin T… same situation here. I believe in the T&C it says to allow for a month (or longer, I cant recall) for the miles to be added. Probably at the same time is why they add the status as well. Just a guess
Michael said,
I got my miles and silver status instantly. Just in case it gets revoked, I spent the miles on a donation they have that costs only 2000. Hopefully at the very least the donation goes through!
Sandy said,
Is this dead?
John said,
it is officially dead
Larry said,
Signed up yesterday but mine also still says blue and no miles registered.
George said,
Thinking of doing it today and I guess I am too late.
GoldCircle said,
Word on the bmi street is that promo was pulled because they received several hundred applications in a short space of time from mostly American IP addresses, when the defined universe for this closed promotion was a list of about 400 Jewish ladies from England who are part of a particular business network. Same source has said that they will now be de-duping the lists and revoking all the applications made ‘fraudulently’.
NoBMI4You said,
Your Diamond Club application
Dear XXXXX
Thank you for enrolling into Diamond Club, account XXXXX, via our promotion with JCWIZO.net.
With reference to your application, I need to request further information in order to proceed.
Accordingly, I would be grateful if you could send in your JCWIZO.net membership number, your Diamond Club membership number
and a copy of two forms of photographic ID, such as your passport and driving licence, to:
Diamond Club
PO BOX 50 50
Annesley
Nottingham
NG15 0DL
If you do not know your JCWIZO.net membership number, please contact them directly.
If we do not receive your JCWIZO.net membership number, your Diamond Club membership number and clear proof of identity within 28 days,
your account will be deleted and any miles associated with your account will be forfeited in accordance with the terms and conditions of bmi Diamond Club membership.
brandon said,
I got the same email…
David said,
I got the email but I also got my *A Silver Card from BMI. I think I will be able to use this to get my baggage fees waived and still earn Asiana miles until I manage to get enough Asiana miles to use that one as *A silver.
Jon Garside said,
Same as David, I have the card, will use to remove fees when travelling. My legitimate Virgin Gold Card gets me in the BMI lounge at Heathrow Intl dep anyway, so this card is a bonus purely for the fee’s. traveling MAN-EWR-LAS-HOU-NAS-EWR-MAN over past 3 weeks was wonderful – a printout of screen login page saved me $250
JJ said,
Oh no
“We’re pleased to see that you recently joined our Diamond Club frequent flyer programme. However, I’m writing to you because unfortunately the link you used to join was an exclusive by invitation only offer and as noted in our terms and conditions was non transferable.
Regrettably, we will not be honouring the Silver status, and over the next few days your account will be downgraded to Blue status. Our decision is final, and we won’t be entering into any further correspondence on this. On a positive note though, our frequent flyer programme is one of the most generous programmes around, and you only need to earn 16,000 membership status miles to earn a Silver membership. When you fly with us, or any of the Star Alliance airlines, you’ll reach Silver status in no time at all. You’ll also have access to all our offers and promotions, as well as being the first to hear about our great sale fares. We hope you’ll still enjoy the benefits of your Diamond Club membership.”
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