JamieLei wrote:Since noone actually flies BMI (although they do fly direct to some interesting tiny markets, such as Kazakhstan, Sierra Leone and Ethiopia)
Actually, bmi still do have a reasonably decent domestic network, although it's a shadow of its former self. It does, however, provide essential Star Alliance connections for the likes of ABZ, EDI, MAN, BHD and DUB - with most *A carriers being in Terminal 1 in Heathrow, I can just hop off my BD flight and then head straight for my connecting flight's gate. If I still wanted to fly *A but had to get a BA connection down, I'd have to change terminal, which I would very much like to avoid! Luckily up here in ABZ, Lufthansa has just started a direct ABZ - FRA service 3 times daily, which will provide some decent connections.
Otherwise, yes, bmi's network is very much a niche network to "volatile" regions, which potentially can be profitable (oil traffic), but are risky to fly to. There's been a bit of a running joke on FlyerTalk regarding the fact that any route bmi launches lately seems to get delayed or cancelled because the respective destinations then undergo revolutions! (They were meant to start flying to Tripoli in March or so, it's still not started now.)
JamieLei wrote:the actual big story is that BMI frequent flight holders will most probably be incorporated into oneworld and BA's rubbish "Avios points" system. We all knew it wouldn't last forever...
Well, as you might expect, I've been looking into BA's programme, and it's not all bad these days. The redemptions are still more expensive than BD, but there's a reason Diamond Club was (and still is) the most generous frequent flyer programme in the world! (I recently flew a domestic first class segment in the US, and earned a grand total of 625% of the actual distance flown in miles, due to the 300% class of service bonus, 25% gold member bonus, and the fact that I have over 55,000 status miles resulting in effectively my miles doubling!) I am hoping I can try to book something in the next few months to clear my balance, though, as I have about 130K miles left, with which I can take the family somewhere nice in business class - with BA, I could take myself somewhere nice in business class, but not Jen or Olivia!
There's still a chance that Lufthansa may offer Diamond Club members status with their own frequent flyer programme, Miles and More. Lufthansa may not want the many DC members to be sent off to a rival alliance that easily! M&M is even worse for redemptions than BAEC, though, and for people mostly flying in discount economy like myself, so I'd rather end up with BA, I think.
Anyway, there's still a chance things might change - Virgin is (as usual) not happy about the deal, but they're not exactly in great financial shape themselves, so it seems unlikely that they will have a better offer. I guess my 'dream' solution for all of this would have been Virgin to buy bmi and join the Star Alliance, but I guess it's just lucky that bmi's staff will still be in jobs, and that miles should be safe (if devalued).
In other news, bmi Regional (based in Aberdeen) is likely to be sold to a group of business leaders up here, some of whom were involved in the original "Business Air" that were bought by bmi in the 90s. It seems they're intending to rebrand the airline and attempt to turn it into a national airline for Scotland, or similar. Good to know that they'll all still be in jobs, too - being in ABZ now, I've been flying quite a few bmi Regional planes in the past year!
Current rumours for bmibaby, bmi's low-cost airline, is that it may be sold to Monarch, but that's really just speculation at the moment.
Much more detailed information and speculation on
FlyerTalk (bmi and British Airways forums) and
PPrune if anybody is interested.
