BMI Diamond Club – finally, the end is near

If you’re a BMI Diamond Club member, you will have had yesterdays email announcing what is effectively the formal winding up of the club.  For the rest of you who are interested, here is a summary:

October 27th will be:

• the last day to earn and spend miles on flights with a BMI flight number (which, anyway, is the last day such flights will exist I think!)
• the last day to earn and spend will ALL other airline partners including BA.  That means no more redemptions on Qatar, Jet or Transaero.
• the last day to earn via BMI hotel partners (that is the end of the very generous 1,000 miles per night from Hilton)
• the last day to transfer Amex MR points and BAA WorldPoints to DC
• the last day to use the BMI e-store
• the last day to buy BMI miles

After this date, the ONLY way to earn BMI miles will be via the BMI credit card.  This will continue for the indefinite future, which is good news – if you haven’t got one, it is still worthwhile given the crazily generous 20,000 miles sign-up bonus.

The ONLY way to spend miles after 27th October will be to transfer them to BA.

flybmi.com will disappear after this date.  A new website will be created to view your miles balance at www.diamondclub.org

Tier matching to BA will continue, but only until 31st December.  This is also the last day to access BA lounges with a BMI Diamond Club Silver or Gold card.

After 31st December, this happens:

For UK members – your account remains open.  You can continue to collect credit card miles.  You can continue to cancel and receive a miles refund for existing DC redemptions.  You can continue to move miles to BA.

For non-UK and non-SW Pacific members – your account will be closed.  Any remaining miles will be lost.  If you cancel a redemption booking, you get your taxes back but not the miles.  Republic of Ireland residents are considered non-UK, it was confirmed on Flyertalk.

Finally, if you live in South West Pacific (and that’s not many DC members!) your account will be permanently frozen after 27th October.  BA is ‘consulting’ about what you can do with your existing miles balance and, more importantly perhaps, what happens if you cancel a redemption.

What I do not fully understand is this line:

In addition, please note that Diamond Club membership are no longer awarded Status Miles or allocated membership status. Existing Diamond Club Gold & Silver members are being welcomed to tier match into the British Airways Executive Club until 31 December 2012.

In theory, my BMI Silver card expires in November.  Does the above imply I will remain Silver for good?  In which case, I do not have to do a status match with BA until just before 31st December, which will given me 4 extra months of BA Silver.  The BA rep on Flyertalk believes that this is not the case and I would be downgraded on 9th November.

Looks like its finally time to move my chunk of DC miles over ….

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.