Lufthansa plans to sell BMI

[sn26567]

And BA has already started codesharing on BD flights to Africa, Asia and the Middle East. That's fast !!!

[sn26567]

Message from Star Alliance:

As you may have already heard, Star Alliance member airline bmi will soon be bought by IAG. bmi is planning a smooth exit from Star Alliance in the next few weeks and has released a Q & A that explains what the sale will mean for customers and frequent flyers. You can find this on www.facebook.com/flybmi or www.flybmi.com.

[Comet]

Where is the info on the bmi website? I have been trying to find out more info via that website for weeks and I don't know where it is. Surely it would be appropriate to have a link on their home page to more info!

And I would like to know if bookings made for Regional flights via flybmi.com are safe, but no mention of that, all anyone seems to be bothered about on the bmi Facebook page is what will happen to their frequent flyer miles and Star Alliance bookings. Information for passengers who have booked flights for later this year is very scarce!

[sn26567]

Information for passengers who have booked flights for later this year is very scarce!

If there are modifications, you will be warned well in advance and alternate soljutions will be offered, for sure. BA should certainly take care of that in a good manner: they have a good reputation and want to save it.

[tolipanebas]

If there are modifications, you will be warned well in advance and alternate soljutions will be offered, for sure. BA should certainly take care of that in a good manner: they have a good reputation and want to save it.

What will likely happen is that as BD is closed down, pax will be reverted back to the booking airline:
if that happens to be BD itself, pax will indeed be rolled over to BA; if they were booked through a STAR alliance partner, they will likely end up on an alternative LH/SN/OS/LX/SK/etc. flight.

Mind you however, since BD will be stripped of much of its slots at LHR, it may actually be the BD/BA customer who'll have to endure a schedule change or even a rerouting onto a combination of existing BA flights as some of the ex-STAR partners will simply take over the codeshared BD flight and thus fill its slot.

Complicated and confusing indeed, so unless schedule isn't very important to you, I'd advice you to avoid booking on a BD flight because you are very likely not going to fly out as you had planned it.

[Comet]

For the flight I am booked on (LBA-BRU), there are no alternative carriers - the flight is done solely by bmi Regional. There has already been a time change on our inward flight but that is not a major problem. When we booked our bmi Regional flights via the bmi website we were under the impression that a buyer had been found for bmi Regional and that routes and aircraft would be transferred to the new buyer with no major changes. From what I have been reading, BA have no interest in keeping on bmi Regional, but trying to get past those on the Facebook page rabbiting on about their sodding Diamond Club miles is like mission impossible.

[sn26567]

Virgin Atlantic plans to bid for all of the 12 remaining slot pairs that competitor British Airways needs to give up as a result of its acquisition of bmi british midland. BA had been forced to give up 14 slot pairs (one departure, one arrival slot) to be allowed to take over bmi and has leased out two of these slots to Transaero Airlines already.

Source: CH-Aviation

[sn26567]

When we booked our bmi Regional flights via the bmi website we were under the impression that a buyer had been found for bmi Regional and that routes and aircraft would be transferred to the new buyer with no major changes.

It seems that the potential buyer of bmi Regional didn't have the right financial situation. LH is actively looking after a new buyer.

[Comet]

When we booked our bmi Regional flights via the bmi website we were under the impression that a buyer had been found for bmi Regional and that routes and aircraft would be transferred to the new buyer with no major changes.

It seems that the potential buyer of bmi Regional didn't have the right financial situation. LH is actively looking after a new buyer.

That's what concerns me. Flights on bmi Regional can still be made via the bmi website but I think more info should be made available to anyone booking these flights. It's OK bmi saying that the summer timetable will still be flown but they are not making it clear whether or not that includes Regional. If the LBA-BRU flight is affected (certainly before we are due to fly on it) then we would have to try and get on the LBA-AMS flight. If anything happens after September then we will know not to book anything else from LBA, which would suit me down to the ground because I hate the place!

[RoMax]

Miles & More ends its cooperation with bmi:
With effect from 19 April 2012, Miles & More’s cooperation with bmi will end by mutual agreement. This is the result of the sale of bmi to IAG and the consequent withdrawal of bmi from the Lufthansa Group.

As of that date earning miles on bmi flights will unfortunately no longer be possible. Until then the current terms shall apply.

Miles & More flight awards issued prior to this date can be used as planned on bmi flights.

Status-related benefits on bmi flights can still be used until 31 May 2012.

If you have any additional questions, please contact your Miles & More Service Center.

Source: Miles&More website

[fets]

This is the mail I got from BMI today:

Dear XXX

We'd like to advise you of some forthcoming changes to the bmi Diamond Club programme.

From 19 April 2012, the ability for Diamond Club members to earn Status and Destinations miles and to redeem miles will cease on the Lufthansa Group airlines (Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, and Brussels Airlines).

Any redemption tickets issued prior to this date for travel will be honoured.

All Star Alliance status benefits will remain unaffected by this change.

We are working with British Airways to offer Diamond Club customers the ability to earn and redeem miles on British Airways and its oneworld partners following completion of the sale. We will do everything we can to communicate more detail as soon as possible.

Regards

Keeley Downing signature
Keeley Downing
Diamond Club Manager

So you can no longer earn on LH airlines, but other *A should still work.. strange!

[RoMax]

So you can no longer earn on LH airlines, but other *A should still work.. strange!

I'm sure this will change too, and fast. Maybe it was better for the customer when they announced the end of the Miles&More and the Star Alliance FFP at the same time...

[tolipanebas]

STAR Alliance exit by 31st of May... after that, it's all over for BMI.

[sn26567]

British Airways to cut 1,200 Bmi jobs

BA announced its plans to integrate Bmi’s mainline operations which will include up to 1,200 redundancies and has started consultation with trade unions on the job losses (see BA press release: viewtopic.php?p=263018#p263018).

The company said that around 1,500 Bmi staff would be transferred to BA including 1,100 cabin crew, pilots and engineers based at Heathrow and 400 passenger services roles would be secured at Heathrow’s Terminal 1.

BA said that most of the redundancies would be at Bmi’s current head office at Castle Donington as well as staff based at regional airports.

BA also confirmed that discussions were continuing with potential buyers for both Bmi Regional and Bmibaby.

More from ABTN

[sn26567]

Virgin Atlantic to appeal against BMI sale to BA

Virgin Atlantic is to appeal the European Commission's decision to allow the owner of British Airways to buy the airline BMI. Virgin said that the Commission "seemingly ignored all of the strong cases" made against the deal.

Sir Richard Branson, president of Virgin Atlantic, criticised the Commission for reaching its conclusion in 35 working days.

"This deal was agreed with lightning speed and we think the number of slots offered is derisory - representing less than a quarter of BMI's former network," he said. "The European Commission has seemingly ignored all of the strong cases made by politicians, business groups and airlines, to enable one big company to become even more bloated."

Virgin will bid for all the 12 slots that BA has been forced to give up, the airline added.

More from BBC

[Comet]

This is the mail I got from BMI today:

Dear XXX

We'd like to advise you of some forthcoming changes to the bmi Diamond Club programme.

From 19 April 2012, the ability for Diamond Club members to earn Status and Destinations miles and to redeem miles will cease on the Lufthansa Group airlines (Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, and Brussels Airlines).

Any redemption tickets issued prior to this date for travel will be honoured.

All Star Alliance status benefits will remain unaffected by this change.

We are working with British Airways to offer Diamond Club customers the ability to earn and redeem miles on British Airways and its oneworld partners following completion of the sale. We will do everything we can to communicate more detail as soon as possible.

Regards

Keeley Downing signature
Keeley Downing
Diamond Club Manager

So you can no longer earn on LH airlines, but other *A should still work.. strange!

That's the only info that is available from bmi - the sodding Diamond Club. I know that there are passengers who booked with bmi Regional who are concerned about their bookings but no info is available for them, and I think it is more important to provide info for those who have forked out money for a ticket sometime this summer than just concentrate on providing info about the future of the damned Diamond Club.

[Boeing767copilot]

International Airlines Group completes bmi acquisition
British Airways' parent gets 'significant' discount after two unwanted subsidiaries – bmibaby and bmi Regional – were folded into deal

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012 ... sfeed=true
viewtopic.php?p=263398#p263398

[Boeing767copilot]

Austrian Air Forces Lower-Cost Tyrolean Contracts on Pilots

Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA)’s Austrian Airlines unit said it will implement plans to transfer air-crew contracts to regional operator Tyrolean Airways in order to deliver a 220 million-euro ($289 million) cost-savings program.
Austrian Air’s supervisory board, chaired by Lufthansa’s Stefan Lauer, voted to shift 600 pilots and 1,500 cabin crew to less-lucrative contracts from July 1 after no agreement could be reached with their union, the Vienna-based company said today.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-1 ... ts-1-.html
viewtopic.php?p=263397#p263397

[Comet]

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/bm ... blic/en_us

As usual, no information whatsoever for those who have booked flights on bmi Regional Plenty of info if you have a flight with bmi mainline (from LHR) or bmi Baby

[RoMax]

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/bm ... blic/en_us

As usual, no information whatsoever for those who have booked flights on bmi Regional Plenty of info if you have a flight with bmi mainline (from LHR) or bmi Baby

Probably they have no f*cking idea themself about what to do with BMI Regional and their pax...

Does anyone has more information on the two RJ145's SN is using? Will they be returned? I saw that for the winter season the flights seem to be loaded with RJ85's again...but that was the case several times before and I tought the RJ85's will be gone by the end of October...