bmi Diamond Club – the final curtain for members down under

It’s hard to believe, but for anyone unlucky enough to live in Australia or New Zealand (not that there is anything unlucky per se about that!) and a member of bmi Diamond Club, their miles have now been frozen for almost a year.

Here is a quick reminder of what happened.  As part of its deal with Qantas when BA and Qantas had a joint venture on flights to Australia, BA agreed to ban residents of Australia and New Zealand from joining the Executive Club.

bmi, of course, had no similar rule with regards to Diamond Club.  When BA acquired bmi, it was not able to offer these people the chance to transfer their miles across to Executive Club, unlike the rest of us.  And, of course, all of the other redemption options from Diamond Club were removed!

When the BA and Qantas joint venture ended in March 2013, most people thought that BA would allow Australian and New Zealand residents to join BAEC once again.  However, it seems that the legally binding contract between the two airlines does not break even if the flying joint venture is broken. 

Anyway, the following compromise has now been posted over at diamondclub.org:

As a South West Pacific (Australia and New Zealand) based Diamond Club member, what will happen to my account and destinations/status miles?

As we do not have an Executive Club programme in Australia or New Zealand, we advise you choose one of the following options available:

Existing Executive Club Members

If you are already an Executive Club Member registered at an address outside of Australia and New Zealand, or would like to register as a new member with a valid address in a country where we have an Executive Club programme, you can transfer your destinations miles to Avios using the Combine My Avios tool by logging into your Executive Club account on ba.com.

Temporary Enrolment in the Executive Club

If you do not have an address outside of Australia or New Zealand, we will be happy to enrol you as a temporary member so that you can transfer your destinations miles to Avios, which you can then spend on flights, upgrades, hotels and car hire. Your temporary membership will be valid until 31 December 2013 and all destinations miles must be transferred to Avios and used before 01 January 2014. After this time any unused miles and Avios will be expired and your temporary membership will be closed. To enrol in the Executive Club, please contact us using our online query form with your full email and date of birth and we will create your temporary membership for you.

Transfer your destinations miles to another Executive Club member

If you would prefer to transfer your destinations miles to another Executive Club member please let us know using our online query form, providing your name, Diamond Club account number and the name and Executive Club number of the person you would like to transfer these to. When the destinations miles are transferred to Avios in the account of the Executive Club member you nominate the Avios will belong to them and only the member can spend them under the Terms and Conditions of the Executive Club.

If you do choose to enrol on a temporary basis or transfer your destinations miles to another member, please allow 7 days for us to process this for you. Any destinations miles not transferred to Avios using one of the options detailed above by 31 December 2013, will expire and the Diamond Club and temporary Executive Club accounts will be closed.

This is certainly a bit of a fudge.  However, at the same time, if you know someone with a bmi account in Australia or New Zealand, this is a chance to a deal with them so they agree to transfer their miles to your Avios account!

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

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:

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

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.

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, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

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.

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