Reports of the death of BMI Diamond Club are greatly exaggerated

31st August was the last day to redeem BMI Diamond Club miles for flights on Virgin Atlantic. Not surprisingly, once BA had bought BMI, it was keen to extract itself from this partnership with a core competitor as quickly as possible.

Since July, it has been possible to move your BMI Diamond Club miles into British Airways Executive Club (a one-way move only).

If you have done this, you may be forgiven for thinking that Diamond Club is now useless. However, it continues to contain some real gems:

1. You can still earn BMI miles on flights operated by BMI Regional – even though BA has now sold the airline. (This partnership will end on 30th September 2012.)

2. You can still earn and redeem BMI miles on three partner airlines:

• Qatar
• Transaero (a Russian carrier)
• Jet Airways (an Indian carrier)

BMI has conveniently removed the reward table for flights on these partners from its website (the earning chart for partners is here). Only return flight redemptions are allowed on partners, not one ways.

Qatar in particular has an excellent reputation – here is their business class seat on their new 787’s:

3. The BMI credit card remains the biggest ‘no brainer’ in the UK loyalty sector! 20,000 Diamond Club for spending a paltry £250, no income requirement (my minimum-income pensioner Mum got one) and no annual fee. The earning rate of 1.5 miles per £1 on the Amex is also very good. Full details are on the ‘September Credit Cards Update‘ page. If you’ve already got one, get one for your Mum, your partner etc. You can transfer their miles to yourself by starting a BMI Family Account.

4. You can contain to earn via BMI’s hotel partners. Most important is the super-generous earnings rate at Hilton Group properties. Credit your stay to British Airways Executive Club and a Hilton stay gets you 500 Avios per stay. Credit to Diamond Club and you get 1,000 miles per night (max 3 nights).

5. Transferring your BAA Worldpoints into Diamond Club miles is more valuable than converting directly to Avios. 500 points get you 750 DC miles but only 600 Avios (unless there is an Avios transfer bonus on).

Is there anything I’ve missed?

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios?  Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)