LH will exercise BD options

[jhm]

Well, until Luftie decides to take over and decimate DC ...

In case anyone has missed the news today:

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5...caxQ8vj833NWLw

Start burning those miles...

FRANKFURT (AFP) — German airline Lufthansa has decided to exercise an option to take a majority stake in British carrier BMI, Lufthansa finance director Stephan Gemkow said on Friday.

"We have decided to exercise the corresponding options," he told a tele-conference following the release of Lufthansa quarterly results.

Lufthansa currently holds 30 percent percent minus one share of BMI and has the possibility of acquiring -- between December 2008 and June 2009 -- the 50 percent plus one share stake held by BMI chief Michael Bishop.

[nickbot]

Oooh blimey! Pity I joined the BD party so late (and double pity I missed out on the glory days of multiple MBNA bonuses )

[jhm]

However, SMB's speech to the Aviation Club this week:

http://flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/about-bm...424144000.aspx

The shareholder options between myself and Lufthansa have been widely reported some with more accuracy than others. None of the accounts accurately reflect all of the essential details of that private agreement between shareholders and I shall not elaborate further on them today.

If this is so and they're not simple put/call options then it's still unclear. As a hypothetical example (I know nothing), it could be the case that the options are drafted so that LH's notice of exercise requires SMB to choose within a certain time to either sell to LH or buy from LH.

[jjpb3]

I guess this would be the current incarnation of the Savage25 Effect.

Hmmm ... miles to burn, and I hope a two-year stint as SEN to compensate for it.

[HUGE AL]

Oooh blimey! Pity I joined the BD party so late (and double pity I missed out on the glory days of multiple MBNA bonuses )

I'm with you, nickbot! Looks like we have 2008 to rack up those miles and quickly use them, though.

[KeithMEL]

Hmmm ... miles to burn...

Looks like we have 2008 to rack up those miles and quickly use them, though.

Need any help?

[Savage25]

I guess this would be the current incarnation of the Savage25 Effect.

I hate to say "I told you so"...

[HUGE AL]

Looks like we have 2008 to rack up those miles...

Need any help?

Yes, please let me know when you are ready to transfer the 20k into my account.

[SQFAN]

I hate to say "I told you so"...

[demue]

While spending so much lovely time in the Nordic regions of Europe on my latest project I frequently hang out with some 'heavy' SK flyers (not weight okay )who seem to have good connections to corporate and they confirm that apparently SK is talking to LH to offload its 20% share of BD. They (SK) seem to be needing cash and the Lufties got plenty to throw around. I know this is not a new rumor and also mentioned in the article but it really seems to be shaping up.

So in relation to that, can a British carrier like BD be majority owned (or 100%) by a foreign airline or is it limited to less than 50% or so as otherwise they would loose their traffic rights etc? I guess not but don't know.

[zander]

BD - a brilliant programme!

On the topic of BD DC, does anyone have any news or updates on what is going to happen to the LH takeover? Currently have blue plus tier on it, was thinking of jumping ship over to BD from my KF EG but seems risky considering that it might get merged into M&M.

As for the miles plus cash option... how do you optimize it to reduce cost

[SQ LPP]

As for the miles plus cash option... how do you optimize it to reduce cost

Miles plus cash... hmmm how to reduce cost? You mean cost of the $$$? Each award has how much miles you have to burn and how much cash you have to pay, in addition to tax and other fees. So, if you want to reduce $$$, basically you don't use the feature of cash+miles, but merely MILES only. Thus, you pay only tax & fees.

[zander]

Miles plus cash... hmmm how to reduce cost? You mean cost of the $$$? Each award has how much miles you have to burn and how much cash you have to pay, in addition to tax and other fees. So, if you want to reduce $$$, basically you don't use the feature of cash+miles, but merely MILES only. Thus, you pay only tax & fees.

I was referring to jhm post in the TG crossroads thread where he said that there are certain ways to reduce the miles/cash requirement but on the other hand it requires one to travel considerably more. That was the part that was confusing me. How do you do that?

[jhm]

I was referring to jhm post in the TG crossroads thread where he said that there are certain ways to reduce the miles/cash requirement but on the other hand it requires one to travel considerably more. That was the part that was confusing me. How do you do that?

For example, if I want to go to HKG from LHR, I could redeem for a roundtrip zone 1 to zone 8.

However, if I redeem for a roundtrip zone 2 (e.g. Italy) to zone 8, the miles + cash cost is considerably less. So it may be worthwhile to do that and buy a cheap economy return from LHR to/from Italy to start and end your journey.

[Tanandika]

After reading all the pure awesomeness of Diamond Club... does anyone in this forum think its too late to join DC?