Flights within USA using BMI miles

weejenny

We've bagged a cheapflight to New York and were hoping to use our BMI miles to make onward journeys.
In a previous post there were details how to do this which persuded me to hang onto my miles and use then in the States.
My problem is actually getting a flight to ANYWHERE from JFK. When I ring Diamond Club to redeem the miles they say that no flights are available. I am trying to book for March.
Does anyone have experience of booking flights within the USA and how far ahead did they have to book them. Also if I wait a bit longer is the situation likely to change. Feel really annoyed as I haven't found the staff at Diamond Club very helpful.

Burtie_2

Can't comment of the availability of these so I assume BMI check all Star Alliance operators in the US (United and US Airways).

But did they also check flights from Newark and La Guardia?

weejenny

Didn't ask about La Guardia. Will try tomorrow thanks Burtie

amf

You could check availability yourself before calling bmi. Here's how - sign up to the ANA FF scheme http://www.ana.co.jp/eng/. It costs you nothing and you don't need to fly with them.

Once done, log in and check Star Alliance award availability through the links.

BTW if you used your bmi miles for flights accross the pond - booked as two one way awards, mind - you could have done a stopover each way for free. In other words it would have been a straight Zone 1- Zone 3 one way and a Zone 3 - Zone 1 one way. eg LHR-JFK(stopover)-LAX out LAX-ORD(stopover)-MAN-LHR back, all for 45K miles in economy.

IMHO miles used for internal US travel might be a bit of a waste - check how much the flight would cost you cash before booking.

For general info re BD's FF scheme, why not visit http://www.flyertalk.com/milesfr.shtml

blindman

I assume it was my post about how to use the BMI Miles?

Good tip from amf this post on flyertalk has the tip + the link to the ANA tool.

I've created an ANA login (crap web-site!) and have searched availablity in March and there are seats (for example) from JFK to SFO.

So I suggest you do the same.

List of partner airlines with BMI.

ANA Tool (log in first)

I booked my Hawaii single trip in January for this October so about 9 months ahead.
I had no problems with the CS staff at BMI but some people on Flyertalk have had issues.
Once you've found availabilty, call BMI CS with the flight details so they can look them up.
This is what I did with the Hawaii trip, didn't use the tool (didn't know it existed) I just looked at United and US Airways schedules to see how I could get to Hawaii. I found a flight that suited and rang BMI CS.

If you get nowhere with one CS then hang up and ring again, or ask for a supervisor.

The 20K miles it cost were got for FREE so not a waste.

weejenny

Thanks AMF and blindman.
Have registered with ANA and will be spending this evening trying to get flights sorted.
Was hoping to get to Hawaii but we may have to re-think our plans. Got 20,000 free miles so one way is totally free wherever we go.
Thought blindman's origional post was really useful so perhaps this thread might help someone else and not just me.

blindman

weejenny wrote:

Thanks AMF and blindman.
Have registered with ANA and will be spending this evening trying to get flights sorted.
Was hoping to get to Hawaii but we may have to re-think our plans. Got 20,000 free miles so one way is totally free wherever we go.
Thought blindman's origional post was really useful so perhaps this thread might help someone else and not just me.

Can't see any:D

blindman

weejenny wrote:

Thanks AMF and blindman.
Have registered with ANA and will be spending this evening trying to get flights sorted.
Was hoping to get to Hawaii but we may have to re-think our plans. Got 20,000 free miles so one way is totally free wherever we go.
Thought blindman's origional post was really useful so perhaps this thread might help someone else and not just me.

Why?

If you cancel the BMI card, wait about 2 months and then reapply you'll get another one with another 20K miles:j

weejenny

We're now booked via San Francisco to Honolulu, then back from Maui to spend a few days in New York.:j
Boy are we happy. Reason may have had to re-think plans was not because of lack of miles but because at the time just couldn't seem to get the right flights. However with a little re-jigging of plans we're sorted.
Return flights plus taxes = 40,000 miles + £10.50 each A real bargain.(we both got 20,000 free miles)
Thanks again blindman and amf (that site was really what made the difference in getting the flights we wanted)
Just got small details like hotel bookings, car hire etc to fix up, happy days.:T :j

blindman

weejenny wrote:

We're now booked via San Francisco to Honolulu, then back from Maui to spend a few days in New York.:j
Boy are we happy. Reason may have had to re-think plans was not because of lack of miles but because at the time just couldn't seem to get the right flights. However with a little re-jigging of plans we're sorted.
Return flights plus taxes = 40,000 miles + £10.50 each A real bargain.(we both got 20,000 free miles)
Thanks again blindman and amf (that site was really what made the difference in getting the flights we wanted)
Just got small details like hotel bookings, car hire etc to fix up, happy days.:T :j

If you need advice on hotels etc in San Fran, Honolulu or Maui, then just ask or search this forum;)

I'll be in Honolulu on 31st October staying here for $52 thanks to Priceline

In Maui we're renting a condo for a week.

Stayed in San Fran for $70 at the Parc 55 on new Years eve.

amf

weejenny wrote:

We're now booked via San Francisco to Honolulu, then back from Maui to spend a few days in New York.:j
Boy are we happy. Reason may have had to re-think plans was not because of lack of miles but because at the time just couldn't seem to get the right flights. However with a little re-jigging of plans we're sorted.
Return flights plus taxes = 40,000 miles + £10.50 each A real bargain.(we both got 20,000 free miles)
Thanks again blindman and amf (that site was really what made the difference in getting the flights we wanted)
Just got small details like hotel bookings, car hire etc to fix up, happy days.:T :j

Great news Jenny:j

I've just used 165,000 of my bmi miles today so I'm in the mood for celebrating:beer: One thing I did not touch on in my first post was bmi's really useful awards using miles plus dosh:T Award table http://www.bmi.flyer.co.uk/spendmiles.html...copyright Barella's really useful site. Now with a little bit of money added to some miles you can chose to travel in First Class or Business, subject to availability, for a treat. Using miles plus money helps eke out the miles and is a real bargain for premium class travel, when you compare with the actual cost of premium tix.

In case I've tempted you to change to a premium cabin bmi charges £20 per change to award tix.