BMI - it's over. Thanks for the memories Pune/Donington/Keeley/Joanna!

[SQtraveller]

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[Kyo]

When's the conference?

[milehighj]

Hmmm, this complicates things personally... I'm BD Gold and BAEC (Euro) Silver, considering a run for (Euro) Gold before the qualification thresholds change. But it would be redundant if they roll BD Golds into BAEC Gold...

[Nick C]

When's the conference?

I think it's today along with their Q3 results report.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...ionNews&rpc=43

[Kyo]

This forces my hand, I might have to make a few pre-emptive bookings today when lines open that I'd rather wait until next Tues to do (when Hilton stays credit to BD).

[9V-SIA]

Can we expect a flood of TRs from you then Kyo?

[sqdazz]

bugger. where are you planning to move your *A program to Kyo

[Kyo]

A flood, maybe not, as I've been busy burning miles the last few months and down to 33k (after Hilton credits could be 39-40k BD) left

sqdazz: Who knows, TG Plat? AK BIG HON?

Just signed up for that HSBC card someone mentioned...

[HUGE AL]

Gary wrote a nice article regarding this:

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfr...flyer-program/

The option thing would be cool. Guess if I had to choose, I'd bank over to M&M.

Other opinions welcome!

[sqdazz]

im considering TG Gold for the free roundtrip upgrade per year which would come in handy on Melbourne/London, even if redemptions on the program are awful.

[SQtraveller]

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[jhm]

http://www.iairgroup.com/phoenix.zht...284&highlight=

IAG AND LUFTHANSA REACH AGREEMENT IN PRINCIPLE ON THE SALE OF BRITISH MIDLAND LTD

International Airlines Group (IAG) and Deutsche Lufthansa AG (Lufthansa) have today reached an agreement in principle for the sale of British Midland Ltd (BMI) to IAG.

The sale and closing of the deal remain subject to conditions including a binding purchase agreement, further due diligence and regulatory clearances. It is envisaged that the purchase agreement will be signed in the coming weeks and the aim is for the transaction to be completed in the first quarter of 2012.

[milehighj]

Does anyone know what the contractual terms of BMI's membership of Star Alliance are? In particular, how long before they can withdraw?

[HUGE AL]

jhm, for the sake of us "non-knowers" here, what can we expect from the BA program? Can we redeem for one-ways? What's the stopover rule? How many mile will I have to burn from NA? Danke!

[jhm]

Does anyone know what the contractual terms of BMI's membership of Star Alliance are? In particular, how long before they can withdraw?

I think the *A withdrawal notice period may not be the determining factor but resolving the competition issues. From a post elsewhere by a competition lawyer:

(OFT = Office of Fair Trading; CC = Competition Commission)

It's traditionally been the case that European and UK regulators differentiate between leisure and business travellers. Leisure travellers are prepared to take any vaguely reasonable route from A to B as long as the cost is not too high, while business travellers are not only airport sensitive, but also time sensitive (e.g. need for peak time departures and arrivals).

Authorities have been moving away from this view in recent years (the arrival of low cost airlines on domestic routes blows the old approach out of the water). Trains are also increasingly considered as an alternative. This change in approach is one reason why BAA had to sell LGW - the 3 London airports were viewed by regulators as genuine alternatives to each other.

There will also be an examination of alliance links here - Star in particular may argue that the lack of future domestic feed will raise problems for them, with FRA et al not being a sufficient substitute. VS will also make this argument I guess.

This is all complex enough that I could see the OFT being under pressure to refer to the CC (in the interests of full disclosure, I am a competition lawyer, but work for a company in an unrelated industry sector so have no inside info or anything riding on the outcome of this case beyond my few hundred shares in IAG!). As BAA found out, a CC reference is expensive and very time consuming . We have to assume they have a package of commitments ready to go once they get to the OFT. A few thoughts:

1. Having an "airline within an airline" won't be convincing for the OFT or CC unless they keep the management entirely independent and take lots of steps to ensure this stays the case. I'd imagine the alliance agreements also contain restrictions on having affiliates being members of another alliance.

2. BA could offer non-discriminatory terms to any
airlines who wishes to interline on domestic services (so guaranteeing that no one loses their access to domestic connecting passengers).

3. A slot sacrifice is an option but the authorities have been burnt by this before and will want to be sure that it will have some benefit.

4. The focus will be on connecting business travellers. For point to point domestic travel, selling BMI Regional to someone other than flyBE was a good move, and flights into any LON airport will be viewed as competitive with those serving LHR.

5. Some potentially interesting arguments may come up about LHR capacity shortages. For example it might be argued that BMI, in any hands, would have moved away from domestic services. Also arguable that there are pro-competitive effects in having BA take more slots at LHR (looking at the broader European landscape).

The more I think about this, the more I think this may well have to go to the CC for a full examination - could mean quite some time yet in which to spend those BD miles...