Flights out now from October to March 09

just booked some for school holiday week ,watch out though they charge 20 quid per bag ,8 quid per bag per journey plus 4 quid to check in per person ,so its cost me 100 quid for 5 people ,1 bag each

Not long till my holiday
4 July

Flying down to Manchester from Glasgow
Flight departing 10:10

What is the latest time I can check in

Hi, Hoping for some help ......
I am booked onto a return abdn - man flight in december to connect with our FCA holiday flight. I made these booking separatly, FCA holiday via the local shop and the BMIBaby flights online.
Last week i received an email from BMI advising of a change to our flight times. The abdn to manchester flight is only changing by about 5 mins so no probs there however the return leg is changing by nearly half an hour (earlier). My concern is that we are now cutting it very fine to land, collect luggage, run from one terminal to another and still check in on time, and thats assuming we land on time with FCA into Manchester!
The email doesnt say if we are now able to change our flight to a later one at no cost, it just gives a very expensive tel no for you to call.
What would happen if our FCA flight was delayed coming home meaning we missed our BMI flight?? Would we just have to stump up for the cost of the next flight (assuming it had seats!). Would we be covered by the travel insurance for this??
Of course FCA would say not their problem as the connecting flight is nothing to do with them and BMI would say not their problem as they didnt get as into Manchester late!!!
A solution would be to try and book onto the later flight but assuming we land into Man on time that would mean us waiting around manchester airport for something like 6 hrs following a 10.5 hr flight, not ideal.
Any help or suggestions greatfully received!
Katie.

Hi Ya Katie,

You seem to have summed up your situation well, to be on the safe side you must make the decision to change your connecting flight for a later one or not. The cost online is £20 per person plus the difference in cost to that already paid of the flight with no refund if the cost is lower on the telephone an extra £5 per person.

Dave

Katie

Very unlikely your insurance policy would cover you in this scenario, in fact many would not cover you if a problem with the southbound BMI flight caused you to miss the outbound FCA - when I did a survey of small print a few months ago I only found 2, Nationwide BS and Marks & Spencer, who counted internal flights as public transport and gave cover under the "Missed Departures" section.

I'd definately get the flight changed now but I would try the phone line, there is a chance they'd do it without the alteration charge (which I assume is per person unlike the phone bill!).

Steve,

I wish I could be as optimistic as you in suggesting that BMI may change Kates flight for nothing, although I hope that I am proven wrong, her FC flights have no bearing on her flights booked with BMI.

Good luck Kate,

Dave, it's being so cheerful that keeps me going.

I wouldn't say optimistic but it must be worth asking them when you compare the cost of the phone call against what the amendment charges will be. If they say no it's £1 or so down the drain, if they agree it would be at least £40 saved.

Hi guys,
Thanks for your replies. Im going to try to phone tommorrow and see what they say. I will be very annoyd if i have to pay to change to the later flight, after all if i had wanted that flight i would have booked it in the first place, plus i dont really want to have to sit around at the airport for six odd hours, however thats better than missing the flight home. Should have no probs on the way down as we are flying down the afternoon before our outbound FCA flight and staying over in a hotel. Im going to go online just now and see what the current difference is in flight cost as when i booked they were quite cheap as i booked early ...........
Fingers crossed!
Also Steve it is interesting to note about the insurance companys, i always get my own insurance as i find it cheaper that way ....... guess i will be looking at using one of the two you mention!
Katie

OK, the price isnt that much different at the mo, though i still dont think i should have to pay anything extra.
As it stands at the moment we are due to land in Manchester terminal 2 at 07.10 and due to leave terminal 3 at 10.10, that gives us exactly 3hrs to collect luggage run 15 odd mins to the terminal and then check in, if all flights are on time it should be ok, its just if FCA is late....
Alternatively i could change to the next flight which isnt until 13.35, that means a wait of 6.5 hrs.
This is the third holiday we have done this whole connecting flights thingy, never had a problem with FCA getting us in late yet, infact mostly they have landed early.
Hmmm what to do....

Hi Darren
Thanks for reply about Sardinia flight - sorry haven't acknowledged sooner. Do you have a seating plan for this type of plane?

thanks
Jazza

jazza101,

Bmi don't publish a seating plan for the A319 I'm afraid. The aircraft desciption over on Airliners.net has a generic seating plan though, as well as technical information about the aircraft.

Darren

hi
flying on 4 october with british midland we did not pay to sit together does anyone know if we can check in online flying from aberedeen and if so where can we do this and how long in advance can it be done also anyone have any opinions on where the best place is to sit on a plane
thanks

Is it bmi scheduled or bmibaby?

luci

not sure what you mean just booked the other day not got confirmation in yet just ask when booking who i was flying with and the guy said british midland
thanks

Yes you can check in online with both http://www.bmibaby.com or http://www.flybmi.com You will need your booking reference number.

Who did you book with, was it not direct with the airline?

luci

i booked a package holiday with direct holidays
thats great news could you explain to me a wee bit about this online check it not sure what it means is it basically so you can pick your seats and be sure to get them then when you arrive at airport what do you do
thanks again for your help

just tried that link pity does not have an option to check in at aberdeen

Ah I thought it was flight only and not a package. It appears that Direct Holidays have chartered a bmi flight. In that case I'm pretty sure you can't check in online, but I'm happy to be corrected.

luci

no i think you are right on that one
so no online check in boo hoo will now have to arrive hours before hand would you say middle of plane be my best bet
thanks