As some folks know bmi miles have been rather valuable since they have some great redemption opportunities.  With bmi's Diamond Club going away sometime next year, I figured it was a good time to start some redemptions. 

I decided that I wanted to use my miles for something I wouldn't be able to do with other programs.  After much debating, I decided a trip to South Africa was in order routing via South America.

After much planning ...

Based on this thread on Flyertalk, it appears that BMI's Diamond Club will cease to exist in the next few days and be migrated to Lufthansa's Miles and More.

This is truly sad but honestly I can't say that I'm surprised.

With our recent podcast on BMI and the growing interest, I figured i'd share a great promo.  Wyndham rewards has recently become a partner of bmi and is offering 5,000 miles per stay, up to a total of 20,000 miles.

Details can be found here.

In the states, this promo includes such fine brands as Howard Johnson, Super 8, Travelodge and Ramada. 

This is an amazing return for a small outlay of cash.

This year for Thanksgiving I decided to visit one of my favorite cities, London.  Yes, I realize there is a certain irony about visiting England for Thanksgiving, that's part of the fun.

On my way back, I had the opportunity to stop in the new BMI Number One Lounge.  It was an amazing lounge, even at 6am.   Parts of the lounge reminded me of night clubs in the aspect of design and features (there were even beds in one of the corners).  The true challenge was finding the lounge itself as it's as hidden as the bat cave, but in the end I did manage to find it.

For a few months now there has been a lot of speculation as to what will happen with BMI (British Midland) and its Frequent Flyer Program, Diamond Club since Lufthansa acquired the remaining shares earlier this year. 

This was one of the questions that was raised frequently at the Star MegaDO.  The answer?  None yet.

In various conversations, Lufthansa execs stated that they were "assessing" BMI.  They went so far as to say they weren't sure if they would keep it or sell it.   They also indicated it is up to the airline itself to decide to forego its own mileage program and join with Lufthansa's Miles & More. 

So, for the time being it appears Diamond Club is safe.  If Lufthansa does decide to keep BMI then we'll need to start lobbying for BMI to keep their own program but for the time being it sounds like it's safe.