BMI 'free flights' - be wary.

Kasino_2

I notice a reference to the BMI 'free flights' credit card today on the home page. Be very wary of this card if you have a family and can only fly during the regular holiday periods. I was taken in by the BMI card. What people need to know is that on the BMI card you are earning 'redemption' miles not 'air miles'. So while you will be able to book pay seats at will BMI only release a hanful of 'redemption miles' seats on flights.

In corresponding with BMI over this I was informed not to to even attempt to book flights during the following - School holidays, bank holidays and weekends!!!

If you want to go with this card maybe it would be adviseable firstly to phone BMI and ask them when they would allow you to go on holiday?

The_Boss

Every airline has a certain number of 'airmiles' seats, its nothing unique to bmi.

I am others have also warned of this in many other threads.

Decadent_Fool

For those of us who haven't been around for so long, and who haven't had the time to read every thread, it's a very helpful post

pjbltd

Thanks for highlighting that, I have another question about these "redemption" miles

Would I be able to give them to another person? Or say put them on ebay? :rolleyes:

Or would I be better off getting the shirt from FA and selling that

Cheers

chalky_bertie

For all the worries people are having about this card, I would say go and use the miles. We have just recently had a wonderful week away in Poland thanks to BMI. Taxes were £100 for the 2 of us. We travelled on Good Friday and returned the following Friday however the plane was full. It will also depend on where you want to go - obviously Spain etc will be full due to kids being off but try somewhere a bit "different" and you may have chance of getting on the flight you want.

gkf

We swopped our miles for virgin ones and had a flight Manchester to Orlando. Daughter is going Manchester to Vegas with hers in 4 weeks time. You just have to have a few choices of dates available when you phone, but we were both lucky and got our first choice.

The_Boss

gkf wrote:

We swopped our miles for virgin ones and had a flight Manchester to Orlando. Daughter is going Manchester to Vegas with hers in 4 weeks time. You just have to have a few choices of dates available when you phone, but we were both lucky and got our first choice.

OK, you obviously have built them up elsewhere since you would need 45,000 to fly to America.

pin

for people who want information about the best way to spend your miles i suggest you go to www.flyertalk.com forums. these forums are packed with information on flying related matters. There is a specific forum just dealing with BMI.

fiona_mcmack

this has been a really interesting read. i was looking for some advice. i recently got the bmi credit card really pleased with the prospect of a free return flight to Russia cos my sister works there. only to discover that the bmi free 20000 airmiles falls short of the number of airmiles the bmi people tell me i need to get there. apparently you need 27500 airmiles to do this plus there being a connection charge. i knew there would have to be another airline carrier as bmi do not fly to Russia. very disappointed with this. has anyone got any advice about this or do i have any recourse with bmi as i was sure it was advertised that the credit card could give you a free return flight to Russia(apart from taxes)? thanks in advance

chalky_bertie

fiona_mcmack wrote:

this has been a really interesting read. i was looking for some advice. i recently got the bmi credit card really pleased with the prospect of a free return flight to Russia cos my sister works there. only to discover that the bmi free 20000 airmiles falls short of the number of airmiles the bmi people tell me i need to get there. apparently you need 27500 airmiles to do this plus there being a connection charge. i knew there would have to be another airline carrier as bmi do not fly to Russia. very disappointed with this. has anyone got any advice about this or do i have any recourse with bmi as i was sure it was advertised that the credit card could give you a free return flight to Russia(apart from taxes)? thanks in advance

Find out which UK airport they fly from to get to Russia (eg if you are flying from Manchester to Russia and the flight is in 2 parts via LHR then try from LHR to Russia and then the connection miles may go). Make sure the flight is "direct" aswell and not via another country eg Germany.

We had the same problem when we were trying to spend the points.

fiona_mcmack

thanks for that. i would be travelling from Glasgow and so there are 2 parts to the flight. the woman in the bmi advice line said it would have to be through Germany which is why the flight falls short in airmiles and costs more in taxes. however i will look at flights 'direct' from other parts of the UK it may be cheaper to get a budget flight down and then use the airmiles. i just felt a bit disappointed it wasnt as straight forward as i hoped. also the shortfall in airmiles. thanks for the reply anyway. i guess you must of go your airmiles sorted i hope.