The Thoughts of Darren Mak

There has been much discussion over the past year about what would happen to the UK Based airline bmi and their Frequent Flyer program, bmi Diamond Club, since they are now a subsidiary of Lufthansa.

Last week bmi made some announcements regarding the removal of Business Class from flights from London Heathrow within the UK and to Ireland, as well as some changes to their Diamond Club frequent flyer program.

Today I just received an email from bmi Diamond Club, indicating that my account has been credited with 3000 status miles to make up for the elimination of the Blue Plus tier in their program.

This totally makes sense, as Diamond Club resets your status miles, and your qualifying year every time you cross a new threshold. The threshold for moving from their lowest level of status Blue, to Blue Plus was 3000 miles, so basically with the elimination of the Blue Plus level they are giving you back the 3000 status miles they have taken from your account, and are saying keep collecting to get to the next level, which is Silver.

Below is a copy of the email I received from them today...

Dear Darren

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I read a story the other day, that I bookmarked to blog about in the future, which outlined how Verizon Wireless in the United States was lowering its' ETF or Early Termination Fee, based on how much time is left in your contract.

Speculation in the article on Engadget was that pressure from the FCC was what brought about this change of heart, however today I am wondering if it also might have to do something with trying to increase market share, or at least hold on to existing custmers.

Basically on Verizon, as well as my carrier in Canada, Rogers Wireless, because the phone you purchase is subsidized, they charge you an Early Termination Fee if you cancel your contract early under the guise that because the phones are very expensive, unless you keep your contract and your phone for the full term, the carrier is losing money. I agree with that to some extent. However what I have never agreed with is that on the last month of your contract, your Early Termination Fee is the same as in the first month. Verizon has changed their contracts now, for new signups, to prorate this amount, based on the length of time you have had the contract in force. This in my opinion is how it should work, and how I remember it working at Rogers in the past, when I first became a customer of theirs.

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