Bmi drops Heathrow-Inverness air link
Bmi is dropping a daily link from the north of Scotland to London and trimming frequency between Leeds/Bradford and Heathrow.
The airline's Inverness to Heathrow service will disappear from the March 30 start of summer flying schedules as will a late evening flights between London and Leeds/Bradford, leaving four flights a day.
Passengers with reservations on services which are being suspended will be offered a full refund or re-booked on another service.
However, the new timetable will see the introduction of an additional late evening service between Heathrow and Manchester, taking the total to eight flights a day, as well as an improved schedule for the three times daily service between Heathrow and Durham Tees Valley.
Summer-only services to Alicante and Nice will not operate in 2008 but Bmi is to double the number of flights between Heathrow and Moscow Domodedovo to twice daily.
Bmi managing director Peter Spencer said: "Charges such as the punitive air passenger duty that affect domestic travellers in particular have made fares higher, and the inflation-busting airport charge increases that have been implemented at Heathrow over the last few years - which are set to grow even faster from April 2008 - puts further pressure on short haul services like Inverness.
"We are very disappointed that there has been insufficient demand to operate a viable profitable operation on this route but load factors have not been sufficiently high enough to sustain the service.
"We acknowledge the efforts that Inverness Airport has made to assist Bmi in the continuation of the route through the level of fees at Inverness Airport.
"We also appreciate their lobbying regarding proposed fees and increases at Heathrow and the disproportionate structure of charging adopted by BAA.
"However, despite these efforts the route is just not a viable proposition due to the cost of the operation and the limited passenger volumes that it attracts."
With permission from Travelmole
I've been looking at flights from Gatwick to Las Palmas for xmas 2008 and many of the flight web sites are showing British Midland flights. However when I go to the British Midland site there's no mention of that being one of their routes.
Can anyone shed any light on this ?
Can anyone shed any light on this ?
Crockett,
Bmi are a schedule airline focussing mainly on the business travel sector. As a sideline, they are chartered by tour operators to operate flights to holiday destinations on their behalf. That's why it doesn't show on Bmi's schedule, it's a charter flight.
Darren
Bmi are a schedule airline focussing mainly on the business travel sector. As a sideline, they are chartered by tour operators to operate flights to holiday destinations on their behalf. That's why it doesn't show on Bmi's schedule, it's a charter flight.
Darren
Just travelled on BMIbaby for the first time today and I must say i'm impressed, I was over my baggage allowance and wasn't charged, checked in 35 minutes before departure bag still arrived- first off belt and cabin crew great- dealt with some bloody awkward and ignorant passengers very well. Definately changed my opinion of low cost flights. Having never flown low cost before.
well done!
well done!
As reported some time ago in this forum of potential major news on BMI - it appears that Lufthansa are increasing their interest in acquiring Sir Michael Bishops majority share holding in the carrier.
It is unknown if this will include Baby operations and (in my opinion) highly unlikely - so the future of the Baby operations may be also subject to seperate take-over or even left alone to get on with things.
Interesting times.
Nivsy
It is unknown if this will include Baby operations and (in my opinion) highly unlikely - so the future of the Baby operations may be also subject to seperate take-over or even left alone to get on with things.
Interesting times.
Nivsy
Hi Does anyone know if you are now allowed to take more than 1 piece of hand luggage on board, I'm flying BMI from Manchester.
I believe that economy passengers on bmi are only allowed one piece of hand baggage. You could check their site http://www.flybmi.com That's assuming you mean the schedule bmi service and not bmibaby.
luci
luci
Scouse mags,
As Luci says, even though Manchester Airport is one of those who are now allowing 2 pieces of hand luggage per passenger, Bmi are still only allowing one piece per passenger depending on your travel class and destination. There are slight variations so it's worth checking the latest policy, details of which are on Bmi's website.
Darren
As Luci says, even though Manchester Airport is one of those who are now allowing 2 pieces of hand luggage per passenger, Bmi are still only allowing one piece per passenger depending on your travel class and destination. There are slight variations so it's worth checking the latest policy, details of which are on Bmi's website.
Darren
I flew with BMI last year and I had a handbag and a slightly larger shoulder bag with all my paperwork in as I always book DIY. I was stopped but they were fine about it and they just asked me to pop my handbag inside the other bag so this year I shall just take the one bag.
On checking again on bmi's website, economy passengers are only allowed one piece of hand baggage, but they are also allowed one personal items such as a handbag or laptop so you should be OK with both bags Shell.
I will be taking a handbag and a laptop with them in April.
luci
I will be taking a handbag and a laptop with them in April.
luci
Bmi to lease B757s for mid-haul expansion
Bmi is to lease two Boeing 757-200 aircraft to further expand its mid-haul network from Heathrow.
The aircraft will be used to increase capacity and improve schedules to the existing destinations of Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Freetown, Sierra Leone.
They will also be used to increase capacity on its new Heathrow to Tel Aviv service, starting on March 13. This will initially be operated on an Airbus A320, but will upgrade to B757 shortly after the route is launched.
From May 1, non-stop links from Heathrow to both Almaty in and Freetown will be introduced.
This will reduce flying times to Almaty by two hours each way, while journey times to Freetown will be reduced by over an hour and a half.
Bmi is also adding an extra flight to Freetown, taking the schedule to four flights a week.
Bishkek, previously operated via Yerevan, will now operate on the larger B757 and will fly via Almaty, reducing the onward flight time.
The introduction of the two B757s will also allow bmi to increase capacity to existing Airbus A321 operations.
Services from Heathrow to Ekaterinburg and Yerevan will now not operate to destinations beyond, increasing their point to point capacity and improving flight schedules.
A daily schedule between Heathrow and Tehran will also be introduced.
But the changes will result in the suspension of services between Heathrow and Dakar.
Chief executive officer Nigel Turner said: "The delivery of suitable Airbus A330 aircraft is a little way off and we do not want to delay the range of service enhancements unveiled today.
"By leasing the two Boeing 757s, pending the sourcing of suitable A330 aircraft, we are able to accelerate our Heathrow growth and ensure that we can maintain the momentum of our mid haul route strategy, laying strong foundations for future developments in this important market."
With permission from Travelmole
Bmi is to lease two Boeing 757-200 aircraft to further expand its mid-haul network from Heathrow.
The aircraft will be used to increase capacity and improve schedules to the existing destinations of Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Freetown, Sierra Leone.
They will also be used to increase capacity on its new Heathrow to Tel Aviv service, starting on March 13. This will initially be operated on an Airbus A320, but will upgrade to B757 shortly after the route is launched.
From May 1, non-stop links from Heathrow to both Almaty in and Freetown will be introduced.
This will reduce flying times to Almaty by two hours each way, while journey times to Freetown will be reduced by over an hour and a half.
Bmi is also adding an extra flight to Freetown, taking the schedule to four flights a week.
Bishkek, previously operated via Yerevan, will now operate on the larger B757 and will fly via Almaty, reducing the onward flight time.
The introduction of the two B757s will also allow bmi to increase capacity to existing Airbus A321 operations.
Services from Heathrow to Ekaterinburg and Yerevan will now not operate to destinations beyond, increasing their point to point capacity and improving flight schedules.
A daily schedule between Heathrow and Tehran will also be introduced.
But the changes will result in the suspension of services between Heathrow and Dakar.
Chief executive officer Nigel Turner said: "The delivery of suitable Airbus A330 aircraft is a little way off and we do not want to delay the range of service enhancements unveiled today.
"By leasing the two Boeing 757s, pending the sourcing of suitable A330 aircraft, we are able to accelerate our Heathrow growth and ensure that we can maintain the momentum of our mid haul route strategy, laying strong foundations for future developments in this important market."
With permission from Travelmole
The two 757 aircraft have been damp-leased from Astraeus for an initial two year period with an option to extend. Two separate cabins will offer 28 business class seats with a 50 inch seat pitch and 138 seats in economy with a 32 inch seat pitch.
Nivsy
Nivsy
Bmibaby adds Manchester routes
Barcelona, Lisbon and Madrid have been added as routes by bmibaby from Manchester.
The airline is also raising frequency to Knock in Ireland.
Madrid will be served four times a week from Jun 16 with fares starting at £24.99 includes taxes and charges.
Flights to Lisbon will run twice a week on Tuesdays and Sundays from June 17 with fares starting at £24.99 one way including taxes and charges.
Barcelona will be served four times a week from September 8 with fares leading in at £24.99.
A daily service to Knock will be expanded with an additional Sunday flight.
The airline's managing director Crawford Rix said: "Bmibaby is continually looking to offer even more attractive destinations from Manchester airport to add to the existing 14 places currently fly to. Plus we are committed to offering low fares."
With permission from Travelmole
Barcelona, Lisbon and Madrid have been added as routes by bmibaby from Manchester.
The airline is also raising frequency to Knock in Ireland.
Madrid will be served four times a week from Jun 16 with fares starting at £24.99 includes taxes and charges.
Flights to Lisbon will run twice a week on Tuesdays and Sundays from June 17 with fares starting at £24.99 one way including taxes and charges.
Barcelona will be served four times a week from September 8 with fares leading in at £24.99.
A daily service to Knock will be expanded with an additional Sunday flight.
The airline's managing director Crawford Rix said: "Bmibaby is continually looking to offer even more attractive destinations from Manchester airport to add to the existing 14 places currently fly to. Plus we are committed to offering low fares."
With permission from Travelmole
Hi all
A cautionary tale not to book early with bmibaby
As always on the day bmibaby released their winter flights, 7th June 2007, I booked my tickets to fly to Malaga in the winter school holidays. Easyjet released their winter flights 13 July 2007 and I checked the price of their flights for the same days to ensure we were still receiving good value. In the past while I have always found bmibaby slightly more expensive the difference has never been significant. The cost of our flights (2 adults and 2 children) with bmibaby was £740.03, to my horror the cost with Easyjet would have been £359.92. So I had paid more than double after taking the advice from bmibaby to book early with 'the airline with tiny fares'
Needless to say I complained to bmibaby to be told that this was the way it was, I was not offered any compensation and curiously reminded to book early for the best prices. I then checked bmibaby's web site again and alarmingly the price (same flights etc) had come down to £325.52 in line with easyjet.
I wrote again to Crawford Rix the MD of bmibaby to be told again sorry tough.
Clearly it is not prudent to "book early" with bmibaby better to wait for easyjet then check the price unless you can afford to pay double the going rate.
Regards
Paul
A cautionary tale not to book early with bmibaby
As always on the day bmibaby released their winter flights, 7th June 2007, I booked my tickets to fly to Malaga in the winter school holidays. Easyjet released their winter flights 13 July 2007 and I checked the price of their flights for the same days to ensure we were still receiving good value. In the past while I have always found bmibaby slightly more expensive the difference has never been significant. The cost of our flights (2 adults and 2 children) with bmibaby was £740.03, to my horror the cost with Easyjet would have been £359.92. So I had paid more than double after taking the advice from bmibaby to book early with 'the airline with tiny fares'
Needless to say I complained to bmibaby to be told that this was the way it was, I was not offered any compensation and curiously reminded to book early for the best prices. I then checked bmibaby's web site again and alarmingly the price (same flights etc) had come down to £325.52 in line with easyjet.
I wrote again to Crawford Rix the MD of bmibaby to be told again sorry tough.
Clearly it is not prudent to "book early" with bmibaby better to wait for easyjet then check the price unless you can afford to pay double the going rate.
Regards
Paul
Sorry to hear that you feel hard done too, regarding your flights but at the time you booked them you must have felt that they were good value for money, unfortunately the difference between what they were later available for is so significant, I recently saved money when BMI cancelled my flights offering to rebook unsuitable dates and times, I later booked with Easy Jet and saved £50.00 on what I had already paid. Although you should book early more often than not BMI Baby have lately been very expensive when first releasing their flights you should learn from this experience and throughly research the market, preferably having a limit to what you are prepared to pay. I do understand that with young children this is not always possible.
Dave
Dave
One idea would be to keep an eye on what the "going rate" is if you are planning well ahead. Although you were waiting for winter to be released you could have kept an eye on prices as summer fllights (of all the airlines) were sold to get an idea of what your target price should have been. So if the autumn half term week was £80 and they wanted £180 for winter it would have rung alarm bells.
reading the easyjet thread, I think if you had booked with them and they had reduced their prices by 50% later you might have stood a chance of something back, if only vouchers.
But the real moral of this story is never go back and check prices later - it just ruins the holiday!
reading the easyjet thread, I think if you had booked with them and they had reduced their prices by 50% later you might have stood a chance of something back, if only vouchers.
But the real moral of this story is never go back and check prices later - it just ruins the holiday!
I booked my flights for this summer when they were relased last year, I've checked the prices on them now and I'm glad I booked as they have now gone up, so I guess it works both ways 
Booked our flights in Oct 07 with BMIBABY Manchester to Palma Aug 08 2 Adults 2 Children,seats also booked for £520, Just had a look for same flight now at £765 so im happy.
For anyone interested, my outbound trip report, flight BD721 from Manchester to Antigua with Bmi is now available on airliners.net. I'll get the inbound report done sometime soon.
Darren
Darren
Hi,
Had a look at the BMIBABY review site and not very happy with what I am seeing as we are using this airline in Aug 08 for the first time. A lot of the reviews are saying how bad they are ie when you arrive at check-in staff are not helpful also if you pre-book seats they say they are not available and a lot of the flights are delayed or cancelled, any good reviews about this airline to give me a bit of hope that our holiday will not get of to a bad start.
Pete,
Had a look at the BMIBABY review site and not very happy with what I am seeing as we are using this airline in Aug 08 for the first time. A lot of the reviews are saying how bad they are ie when you arrive at check-in staff are not helpful also if you pre-book seats they say they are not available and a lot of the flights are delayed or cancelled, any good reviews about this airline to give me a bit of hope that our holiday will not get of to a bad start.
Pete,
Post a Reply
Please sign in or register an account to reply to this post.
Similar Topics
-
MyTravel V British Midland - to Salou - which would you pick
Posted by shell820810 in Flight Only / Airline and Airports
-
Urgent Message about British Midland to Mumbai
Posted by Ginlizzy in Goa Discussion Forum
-
BRITISH AIRWAYS (BA)
Posted by carolynn in Flight Only / Airline and Airports
-
baby food/milk/nappies/Taking baby to Turkey
Posted by icexx in Turkey Discussion Forum
- Taking a baby to Tenerife, buying baby products, etc.