British Airways buys BMI

[Flashback]

A little O/T now....

A3 for fast status, and that's pretty much it. Balanced options can include TK and OZ.

None of those have a local Amex to credit points towards, I believe. Not sure if UA or LH have such a credit card in the UK, otherwise they are also options. UA has decent award redemption; *G is pretty solid level to obtain. LH is even harder for *G, but if flying lots of *A C particularly some long haul / medium long haul and especially on LH group airlines, it is worth considering (top tier redemptions are expensive but very good range and options).

Basically check the status accumulation rates and see which will get you *G faster, as a start. I know that, for example, OZ only ranges status mile accumulation up to 1.5x (I believe) for F, perhaps 2.0x - quite small. LH is very generous on J and F - usually 2x and 3x respectively, and also gives some points for even cheap intra-Europe fares in Y (which others will give you little or nought). I can't remember A3, although I think from memory they semi-nerfed it a bit from the *A membership commencement.

Also keep in mind that TK has a cheap requalification, and OZ and LH give status for 2 years (OZ gives you 2 years to get your status again, LH gives you 2 x 1 year (chances)).

Quick status is probably not a biggie as I'll be flying C anyway, which means lounge access (plus I have my Priority Pass anyway). So the main thing to be looking at is earn/burn ; maybe UA might be the way to go (might try to status match over).

 

[StevePER]

Will be interesting to see what happens to Diamond Club status out of this - maybe QF Gold is coming my way?

 

[Flashback]

Will be interesting to see what happens to Diamond Club status out of this - maybe QF Gold is coming my way?

How would you get QF gold out of it... unless you status match? If it goes over to BA, then surely BD Silver would match to BA Silver (which is OWS, hopefully):!:

I just had a look at A3, interesting. Flat mileage per flight regardless of miles flown. I wonder if it's per sector, e.g. xx_-xx_-xx_ is 4,000 in C, rather than 2,000 for the whole journey.

If so, 2 return flights would get me *A Gold. Nice.

 

[kamchatsky]

How would you get QF gold out of it... unless you status match? If it goes over to BA, then surely BD Silver would match to BA Silver (which is OWS, hopefully):!:

I just had a look at A3, interesting. Flat mileage per flight regardless of miles flown. I wonder if it's per sector, e.g. xx_-xx_-xx_ is 4,000 in C, rather than 2,000 for the whole journey.

If so, 2 return flights would get me *A Gold. Nice.

Australian residents cannot join BAEC. BA would simply ask you to join QFF instead. This is an agreement between QF and BA. That's why QF Gold can be on the way.

 

[pauly7]

Well hopefully it does go ahead and we have another member of OW!

 

[travellerqff]

Are they buying and and joining it to the BA brand, or do they just own and operate it?

How much does this effect Star Alliance? :?:

 

[pauly7]

Are they buying and and joining it to the BA brand, or do they just own and operate it?

How much does this effect Star Alliance? :?:

Bye bye star alliance for sure if it goes ahead

 

[The Rok]

Are they buying and and joining it to the BA brand, or do they just own and operate it?

How much does this effect Star Alliance? :?:

Willie Walsh has not confirmed yet in public but I suspect that BA will want to integrate it into their own brand however as stated above, regulation issues are their biggest hurdle. Even of the deal goes ahead they might not be allowed to integrate it into BA and might be forced to operate it as a separate entity.

Either way, I think its fair to say Star Alliance is gone......

 

[elbarto]

If its a separate brand it will be unaligned, like JQ, or in OW.


Sent from an Apple iPad wireless device

 

[The Rok]

Virgin Atlantic has made a formal complaint to the European Commission

Well, somebody's not happy

Virgin claims Bmi deal will put fares up - RT News

Virgin Atlantic has made a formal complaint to the European Commission about IAG's purchase of Bmi.

 

[anat0l]

Re: Virgin Atlantic has made a formal complaint to the European Commission

Well, somebody's not happy

Virgin claims Bmi deal will put fares up - RT News

If at first you don't succeed, try and try again!

 

[amaroo]

Re: Virgin Atlantic has made a formal complaint to the European Commission

If at first you don't succeed, try and try again!

Grizzly Adams should have offered more!

No use whingeing about it now....what a knob!

 

[anat0l]

Re: Virgin Atlantic has made a formal complaint to the European Commission

Grizzly Adams should have offered more!

No use whingeing about it now....what a knob!

Well, the whinge is more in the view that the IAG purchase is patently anti-competitive, not that he (Branson or Virgin Atlantic) should get it at a lower price (though if the regulator says there is no way IAG can possibly have BMI or give up its slots, then I'm sure Branson will gladly scoop up what IAG cannot have at the lowest bid possible - a win in either circumstance).

Call it a whine or not but it's not just about survival of the fiscally fittest - it's legal now.

 

[amaroo]

Re: Virgin Atlantic has made a formal complaint to the European Commission

Well, the whinge is more in the view that the IAG purchase is patently anti-competitive, not that he (Branson or Virgin Atlantic) should get it at a lower price (though if the regulator says there is no way IAG can possibly have BMI or give up its slots, then I'm sure Branson will gladly scoop up what IAG cannot have at the lowest bid possible - a win in either circumstance).

Call it a whine or not but it's not just about survival of the fiscally fittest - it's legal now.

Typical low ball offer....Virgin Atlantic Not Giving Up On bmi Deal | AviationBrief – Your Daily Aviation Intelligence Brief

All they have to do is put more money on the table.

 

[anat0l]

Re: Virgin Atlantic has made a formal complaint to the European Commission

Typical low ball offer....Virgin Atlantic Not Giving Up On bmi Deal*|*AviationBrief – Your Daily Aviation Intelligence Brief

All they have to do is put more money on the table.

But this is precisely it. By trying to prove that the deal is anti-competitive, they can try and lock out IAG as a bidder at all. Thereby allowing them to help themselves to BMI at the lowest bid (unless some other group wants a bit of it, which is doubtful).

In a perfect world of capitalism, the rules of competition and the role of the state would have no relevance. But, this isn't perfect capitalism (and, to some degree, thank God for that...)

 

[amaroo]

Re: Virgin Atlantic has made a formal complaint to the European Commission

But this is precisely it. By trying to prove that the deal is anti-competitive, they can try and lock out IAG as a bidder at all. Thereby allowing them to help themselves to BMI at the lowest bid (unless some other group wants a bit of it, which is doubtful).

In a perfect world of capitalism, the rules of competition and the role of the state would have no relevance. But, this isn't perfect capitalism (and, to some degree, thank God for that...)

All you need to do is look back a couple of years and review CBA's purchase of Bankwest to see that the state will bend any rule to save a situation. BMI's real worth is the landing slots at LHR.....IIRC, valued around 500million quid.

A low ball offer by some bearded bloke is really not going to cut it....I'm sure the bean counters & lawyers at LHAG.DE have already worked out a plan to let the business & therefore, employees go & then sell the slots.

 

[samh004]

Re: Virgin Atlantic has made a formal complaint to the European Commission

Well, the whinge is more in the view that the IAG purchase is patently anti-competitive, not that he (Branson or Virgin Atlantic) should get it at a lower price (though if the regulator says there is no way IAG can possibly have BMI or give up its slots, then I'm sure Branson will gladly scoop up what IAG cannot have at the lowest bid possible - a win in either circumstance).

Call it a whine or not but it's not just about survival of the fiscally fittest - it's legal now.

I don’t see it as anticompetitive, especially in europe, considering the following:

The deal will leave them with 53 per cent of the spaces at Heathrow - which compares with Lufthansa's 66 per cent hold at Frankfurt airport and Air France KLM's 59 per cent grip at Paris's Charles De Gaulle airport.

If those other airlines are allowed to hold a higher percentage of landing slots in their country, there’s no reason why BA should be disallowed a similar advantage.

 

[kamchatsky]

Re: Virgin Atlantic has made a formal complaint to the European Commission

Merger Approved. Bye Bye BMI.

EUROPA - Press Releases - Mergers: Commission approves acquisition of British Midlands (bmi) by IAG subject to conditions

Of course all main actions in FT overnight .....

IAG and LH agree sale of British Midland Airlines Ltd; BD 'to exit *A on completion' - Page 83 - FlyerTalk Forums

 

[pauly7]

Bye bye star hello more OW destinations and flights

 

[notzac]

It would seem that the completion of the sale is due April 20 - two days after my last booked *A flight!

One wonders if there will be any status match offers from other *A airlines?