Bad news from BMI

[Major Tom]

Just had an e mail from BMI stating Winter flights to Palma will stop
on the 3rd November, I guess the trouble in Palma has put people
off having breaks there.

 

[James]

I received the same email yesterday regarding BMI flights to Palma from Heathrow and now have to try to sort out alternative flights (some of which I had booked in place of the withdrawn BA service!), however I don't think it has a thing to do with the recent bombings.

Both BMI and BA have tried to compete with Easyjet on price in the south-east and they have just found it uneconomical. BA was often much cheaper than Easyjet from Gatwick (and they offer a far better service and comfort in my opinion).

Sadly from November Easyjet will effectively have a monopoly for off season flights from the south-east and, with the withdrawal of their own Luton service, there will be an awful lot of people chasing a very limited number of seats.... Expect prices to rise dramatically.

P.S. Even though the email from BMI only refers to a withdrawal of winter flights (unlike BA's total withdrawal), summer flights from May 2010 onwards which were previously available on BMI's website no longer appear.

 

[eleanor]

Is this anything to do with the take over of BMI by Lufthansa perhaps?

 

[roig cat]

Hi,

I have flights booked for April, no email yet. I have phoned BMI and they were non commital. They said the flight would probably be cancelled and were looking to put passengers on different flights! Did they offer you any alternatives or just cancel the flight?

 

[James]

No. BMI have been outragously crafty.

They have withdrawn the service and prevented people from making new bookings but for people (like me) with existing bookings over the winter these flights still appear as "active" flights in the "manage my bookings" section of flybmi.com. BMI have therefore placed us all in limbo where we do not have a flight but they are not yet refunding our money.

Their email simply says "If you have a booking on one of the affected services, our immediate priority is to secure alternatives for you with the minimum of disruption. We will contact you in the next few weeks to discuss your options."

In the context of only one alternative for someone like me equidistant between Heathrow and Gatwick there is only one alternative - Easyjet - and with only one Easyjet flight per day from Gatwick off season it would be madness to wait for BMI to do the decent thing and refund my money because, by the time they eventually do, the single Easyjet flight will probably be fully booked or at an extortionate price - particularly at Christmas.

 

[roig cat]

I have just spoken to BMI and they said I may get moved to East Midlands BMI Baby flight but may not be same day and he didnt know if I would need to pay difference! I have therefore booked an Easyjet flight as I too do not want their prices to escalate! I await their phone call and hopeful refund!

 

[Sun Properties]

Annoying thing about my cancallation was their requirement to 'phone a premium rate (0870) number to get my money back plus it took them 7 days to put the money back on my card. Suggested I email in to complain - which for the hell of it I did - when you email their complaints department you get an acknowledgement saying "we endevour to respond to 1 in 3 complaints"!

 

[James]

When did they notify you?

I only received an email about the withdrawal of the service on Friday 4 September and I can't yet get a refund! No mention of even the luxury of an 0870 number!

 

[roig cat]

I see BMI Baby no longer flying to Palma from Cardiff or Birmimgham over the winter! This will increase Easyjet prices from Bristol. Infact I booked my flights this am and price went up £40 in 8 hours for family of 4 with 3 bags to check in.

I still havnt had my email! How lucky I feel to have read this thread!

 

[its cd]

Is this all BMI flights or just certain airports

I am flying from manchester in november and as yet have had no email

 

[James]

BMI LHR Flights

The email I received from BMI relates to the withdrawal of BMI flights from London Heathrow from 3 November 2009.

Given the comments above it appears that BMIBaby may have also initiated cutbacks from other airports but I'm not aware of these myself.

It's slightly ironic that BMI flights appear as the sponsored link on this thread - at least their ad appears on my computer!

 

[roig cat]

Re Manchester

If you can still book your flight you may be OK, if its withdrawn from sale watch out!

See also thread on Trip advisor

 

[Rangers1]

Only a little thing to help 0870 numbers are not premuim rate they are local rate numbers. doesnt maker things better though.

 

[Sun Properties]

Only a little thing to help 0870 numbers are not premuim rate they are local rate numbers. doesnt maker things better though.

Dialling a number starting 0870 or 0871 should ring alarm bells as well as the phone. While named NationalCall rate numbers, they're more akin to premium rates, costing up to 10p/min, massively more than a normal call.

 

[Disorderly]

Just a thought for those of you with cancelled BMI Baby flights. This happened to us in the summer and BMI happily returned the flight cost but retained the credit card charges of £7.00 per person X 4!

We wrote and complained and initially were told that credit card charges were non-refundable - RUBBISH! Anyway, after much persistence we got our £28-00 back. There's since been a fair bit in the travel press about this and, hopefully, BMI have seen the error of their ways. They were investigated by the Office of Fair Trading over it

Very naughty!

 

[Rangers1]

Dialling a number starting 0870 or 0871 should ring alarm bells as well as the phone. While named NationalCall rate numbers, they're more akin to premium rates, costing up to 10p/min, massively more than a normal call.

Premuim rate are in my view 90p or £1.50. I was only trying to find a small positive out of this mess i will keep my thoughts to myself untill i think im 100% correct.

Happy hunting for new flights via a cheap phone rate

 

[Sun Properties]

Premuim rate are in my view 90p or £1.50. I was only trying to find a small positive out of this mess i will keep my thoughts to myself untill i think im 100% correct.

Agree Rangers1 - just a word of warning though that if you 'phone at peak times you could be kept hanging on for ages plus in my case BMi had my money for 6 months (in their bank - not mine) before they cancelled and there was no interest re-payment (as if) and no apology.

 

[Major Tom]

More bad news from BMI

Further to my last post just had another e mail from BMI looks
like there will be no more flights from Heathrow to Palma,ending
on 3rd November.
I suppose Easy Jet are the winners, now watch their prices go up !!

 

[car77]

Apart from Easyjet and Monarch, do any other airlines fly direct from any of the London Airports in the summer? I'm struggling to find any others.

Car 77

 

[roig cat]

Try Opodo, they are great for finding who fly's where.

They often sell flights before you can buy them with the operator! Good early deals with Iberia but you have to change at Barcelona or Madrid!

You could always book Thomsonfly! Not cheap though.