Free BMI Silver status = Star Alliance Silver = free bags, etc.

As Gary points out, BMI (British Midland Airways) is offering free Silver Status (plus 2000 miles) for anyone that creates a new account at this link.

Gary however, mentions “Silver status doesn’t get you much,”

On the contrary, for the Causal Flyer, this gets a lot. BMI is a member of the Star Alliance, and BMI Silver also gets you Star Alliance Silver.

For anyone with Star Alliance status, and in particular, for the Casual Flyer, this waives baggage fees on Star Alliance flights, which is a significant benefit. This should get your baggage fees waived, among other things, on any Star Alliance partner airline (i.e. US Airways, Continental, United). Those of us who fly frequently often overlook these little benefits for Casual Flyers. While I won’t benefit much from this, my mother, sister, aunt, cousin, etc. all benefit a good deal from it because they only fly 3-4 times a year.

Among other things, you also get priority standby, check-in, and boarding.

If for some reason you already have a BMI (British Midland Airways) account, just sign up for a new one.

Now that you've signed up, here's how to put this to work: Next time you are flying United, Continental, or US Airways (the three US based Star Alliance airlines, and the only ones that charge baggage fees for domestic flights), put your new BMI account number in as your Frequent Flyer number when making the booking. At check-in, the check-in agent should know to not charge any baggage fee, but if they don't, just mention your Star Alliance silver status.

What's even better, you can still earn miles on your main account. For example, lets say you are flying Continental or United and want to earn Continental miles (they never expire, so eventually you'll earn enough for an award ticket!), but you don't have status with Continental. At check-in use your BMI account number to get your baggage fees waived, then either at check-in or anytime after check-in but before boarding, go up to any agent and ask them to put your Continental number in the reservation. Don't worry, you won't be retroactively charged for your bags (they only charge baggage fees at check-in), but you should be able to earn miles to the account you want (in this example, Continental).

Thanks BMI!

UPDATE: It appears the promotion has been pulled. Great to anyone that got it! Depending on your own Casual Flying pattern, this

UPDATE 2: Michael, who will benefit from the Status, but won't use the 2000 miles, mentioned in the comments on Gary's blog that you can donate 2000 miles to one of BMI's charity partners.

This struck me as a great idea and I looked into it! The charity "CLIC Sargeant" benefits families dealing with cancer, and will accept a 2000 miles donation (the minimum for Save the Children is 5000 miles). To do this, log into your newly created BMI Diamond Club account, click ways to spend miles, select "treats" and select "CLIC Sargeant" as your charity. It costs you nothing, and hopefully a charity in the UK will gain a few extra $$.