bmi British Midland flights to become part of oneworld on phased basis from 23 May

Flights operated by bmi British Midland will become part of oneworld in a series of phased moves starting on 23 May, as its planned integration into British Airways moves a step closer following its purchase last month by British Airways and Iberia parent IAG.

Nine bmi routes from its London Heathrow hub will have their current BD flight code and number replaced with BA codes in the initial phase, on 23 May, bringing them into oneworld.  So these services will offer the alliance's full range of services and benefits from then.

All but one destination involved is already on the oneworld network - with Norway's Stavangar the newcomer.

The other destinations concerned in this first phase transfer are:

• Agadir, which is already on the oneworld network through airberlin.
• Basel, BA and airberlin.
• Bergen, Finnair.
• Casablanca, airberlin and Iberia.
• Hanover, airberlin.
• Marrakech, BA and Iberia.
• Nice, BA, airberlin, Finnair and Iberia.
• Vienna, the home hub of new affiliate member NIKI and served also by its group partner airberlin along with BA, Finnair, Iberia and Royal Jordanian.

Further bmi routes will be changed over to BA code in the coming weeks - moving them also into oneworld. 

All these services will continue to operate for now from and to bmi's London Heathrow Terminal 1 base, with no changes to their departure or arrival times.  Customers will be able to check-in for these routes via ba.com

In the coming months the exterior and interior design of bmi's aircraft, as well as the on board experience, will gradually transform into BA's style.

From today, all bmi flights will be available for sale exclusively through ba.com or BA call centres or travel agents.

Customers who have already booked a bmi flight will be able to service their booking via flybmi.com

Any new bookings made from today for the nine routes that will operate under BA flight codes from 23 May will use British Airways' baggage policies. 

British Airways' policies covering hand baggage, check-in times, medical clearance, unaccompanied minors and customers travelling when pregnant will apply to any bookings for bmi flights moved to a BA code irrespective of when they were booked.

For full details, see http://www.britishairways.com/travel/bmi-information-news-hub/public/en_gb