... we were off to Majorca on 5th Sept and flying with BMI Baby... a new experience for us both!
** Who Are They **
BMI Baby promotes itself as "the airline with tiny fares," an off shoot almost of other budget airlines including EasyJet and RyanAir. They are owned by the more prestigious ... Read review
A review by s_jones_2003 on BMI Baby Airlines September 29th, 2004
Author's product rating:
Food Quality
Satisfactory
Customer Service
Nothing special
Punctuality
Poor
Space
Fairly Comfortable
Value for Money
Good
Advantages:
Cheap & Cheerful !
Disadvantages:
Limited Destinations, Delays, Reliability !
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
As most of you will know, just under 2 weeks ago I returned from sunny Majorca... and boy am I regretting coming back now with this Manchester weather! My tan has already started to fade and have managed to pick up a cold and a cough... who said England's a good place to be! So although you find me a little depressed with the current weather I've now felt able enough to talk about my holiday... without running to the airport to try and go back there!
** My Story **
Around the middle of August myself and my boyfriend decided we deserved a break and began looking for holidays... now if we hadn't of had a budget (that was really bordering on poverty) we wouldn't have had a problem... and it took us ages to find a decent hotel & flights that appeared to be cost effective and rather a bargain at the same time. We booked with the online company Sun4U which we later found is the English representative of a Spanish company JumboTours (Sun4U can often be found on the teletext holiday pages). After one quick phone call it was sorted... we were off to Majorca on 5th Sept and flying with BMI Baby... a new experience for us both!
** Who Are They **
BMI Baby promotes itself as "the airline with tiny fares," an off shoot almost of other budget airlines including EasyJet and RyanAir. They are owned by the more prestigious BMI (British Midland) flight company, one of the leading flight suppliers in the UK today.
** Where They Fly **
As other low cost budget airlines BMI Baby's route map is limited to destinations within Europe although currently flies to over 20 destinations within Europe. The other bonus with this airline is that it departs from 10 UK airports including Glasgow, Edinburgh, Teesside, Manchester, Nottingham, Birmingham, London, Cardiff, Belfast & Dublin so access to flights from BMI Baby is available for the majority of the public within the UK... so what's your excuse?!
Flight destinations include Majorca, Prague, Toulouse, Nice, Faro, Ibiza and Alicante.
** The Website **
Probably the easiest and most convenient way to book flights independantly is to use the website, which can be located at www.bmibaby.com. Now in my opinion anyone can use this website, it's uncluttered and simplistic - so even people like me can find what they need!
~ Booking - This is probably the most important part of the website and equally the easiest too, as soon as the main page loads the drop down menus located at the top allow you to input your destination, departure airport, dates of travel and number of passengers. You will then be presented with a list of options from which to choose, each displaying the date, the flight time & also the price for ease of usage. Once you've selected the one that's best suited to your needs you merely have to log in (see opening an account below) and oversee payment or merely continue without opening an account. You'll be asked to input passenger details followed by payment methods and then, once completed you'll be sent a confirmation email with a code on - this is your ticket, yes, another annoying airline that doesn't issue tickets!
~ Where We Fly - This drop down menu also located at the top of the page gives information as to the locations BMI Baby flies to as well as airport information. By selecting the route map option you can highlight your desired departure airport or destination airport and be shown where you can go or come from to there. The latter option is airport information that gives details on each of the destination airports including location, public transport and check in times.
~ When We Fly - The first option on this drop down menu allows you to view the timetables by selecting a departure and destination airport which clearly shows flight times and flight days for the majority of 2004. The latter option is live flight information - for those of you who have already booked flights and want to check if you're flight is due to depart on time or if you're meeting someone and want to see if there's been any delays. This is updated fairly regularly - about once an hour.
~ Your Bookings - Here you can login to your account, create an account for easy payment next time you fly and also change your booking.
~ Why Fly BMI Baby - The drop down menus here consist of benefits (reason to fly with them), deals (special offers and reductions in prices) and lastly email offers (allows you to subscribe to the previous offers).
~ Hotels, Cars, Etc. - Here you can book all the extras you may need including hotels, car hire, parking and insurance - you may find that especially with car hire you'll get a much cheaper price than you would when booking once you're at your destination so it's a good idea to check it out! By clicking on any of the options you're taken to www.travelextras.com which is actually run by BMI Baby so low prices are (supposedly) guaranteed.
Other options on the website also allow you the option to contact BMI Baby and gives you the choice of either phoning or emailing them. There's also a careers section, FAQ and news section too. Overall I'd say this website is one of the best of it's kind - easy to use, quick to use, navigation is superb and you're not overloaded with information, perfect!
** Ease of Booking **
The easiest way to book is certainly online and can be achieved with a credit card in about 10 minutes flat (for us quick typers of course)! There's also the option to book over the phone which I haven't personally tried, apparantly it is a longer process due to phone queues though.
** Prices **
Now here's the real meat of this review, the bit you've all been waiting for! Is it really all that cheap? And the answer I'd have to give you is that yes, it is pretty cheap! Myself and my boyfriend flew for under £200 return to Majorca from Manchester on day flights which really was quite a bargain, since then my friend has also flown to Prague (by booking in advance) for £40 one way. Some typical prices are shown below to give you a better idea: -
1 week in advance to Majorca - £242 (for 2)
1 month in advance to Majorca - £186 (for 2)
3 months in advance to Majorca - £104 (for 2)
So as you can see, booking in advance really will save you the most money, and those prices include all taxes and airport payments too!
** Customer Service **
I really can't fault BMI Baby at all when it comes to customer service, my confirmation email after booking arrived within an hour and my email enquiry about extra luggage was answered within 24 hours. Overall I'd rate the customer service as very good - nice and cheerful is always the way to go!
** Check In & Boarding **
Check in for our flight opened two and a half hours before departure and closed forty five minutes before departure. We chose to arrive somewhere in the middle both times and were surprised by how small the queues were. Check in was quick and easy, as there's no tickets you just need to give in your passports and confirmation number which can be found on your booking email - that's all there is to it! oarding is equally easy, the gate opens 30 minutes before departure and closes about 10 minutes before it also.
** The Flight Itself **
Now here's the actual downfall to this company and possibly the most vital too.
~ The Plane - Upon boarding my boyfriend (who is a little wary should we say over flying) almost had a coronary when he saw the state of the plane, the wings were marked and the paint was all chipped and well as several worrying panals of metal coming off the actual wings! Inside wasn't much better, the floor still had crumbs of the previous flight and the odd chair had rips in causing the stuffing to be showing. Although we hadn't paid the earth for these flights we were expecting the quality of the plane to be similar to previous flights with different airlines.
~ Safety - Another one of my boyfriend's worries, until he's seen the safety video (which is undoubtably almost identical on all flights) he can't quite relax... which is why I was walking on egg shells with him when we learnt there wasn't a safety video merely a procedure conducted by the air hostesses - somewhat old fashioned and not as effective I've always thought.
~ Air Hostesses - Okay I know all air hostesses don't look like they do on films but the turn out of the ones on our flight shocked me the most - they were wearing baggy white BMI Baby t shirts and black jeans... since when did air hostesses stop wearing the compulsory head to toe uniform that's what I want to know! They were pleasant and helpful for the duration of the journey so I can't fault them completly... but jeans I ask you?!
~ Food - As all flights are within Europe and so under a duration of 4 hours BMI Baby doesn't actually offer meals, they do however come round with the usual food trolley containing snacks, drinks and 2 choices of sandwiches but it didn't win me over!
~ Entertainment - A major downfall here... the plane we flew on both in and out of Majorca didn't have televisions or radios in the seat arms, hardly a crime but nonetheless it does make for a much more pleasant journey... by the time we arrived in Majorca I was wishing my boyfriend hadn't quite made it onto the plane!
And so my overall opinion of the actual flight is that you really do get what you pay for, that old fable that's always been taught to me by my mum!
Would I recommend them? Yes I would, purely due to the prices and the ease of booking, based alone on the flight I'd have to say you'd be wise to spend a little bit extra and travel in comfort but hey.... beggers can't be choosers!
Advantages: Reasonably priced; Good service which gets you from A to B Disadvantages: None that I came across
...Next on my list was BMI Baby – well, this was going to cost £100 less than the others – so guess which one I booked with...?
~~~A LITTLE BACKGROUND INFORMATION~~~
As many people are aware, BMI Baby is the ‘offspring’ of British Midland Airways. Founded nearly 70 years ago, British Midland enjoyed continuous growth over the years, but it was not until 2002 that BMI Baby was born. In just three years, BMI Baby was carrying more than 3 million passengers ... ...~~~MY EXPERIENCE OF BMI BABY~~~
My first experience with BMI Baby was extremely straight forward and hassle free, which in this day and age, is a rare occurrence! Our flight was scheduled to leave Manchester Airport at 11.50 am. We arrived at the check-in desk with ample time to spare for a coffee and a mooch around the duty free shop. After our flight had been called, we arrived at the gate and were very quickly boarded onto the aircraft. Our flight ...
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Advantages: Good prices, good routes & good uniforms!! Disadvantages: Barely room to breathe & lack of stock
INTRODUCTION TO BMI BABY
Bmi Baby condescends from the large airline BMI who operate flights all over the world. Bmi Baby is a brand put together for the purpose of competition. It is a part of the company that is known for "Low cost" or "No Frills" flights. They are recognised as the airline with tiny fares.
THE WEBSITE
The easiest and quickest way to book is to click on to the website www.bmibaby.com you can also call them to book but by the ... ...which is no different to Bmi Baby but they also usually, only fly to the less well-known airports as it is cheaper but Bmi use the main airports so you don't have to worry about where you are stranded.
Bmi Baby fly to Alicante, Barcelona, Bordeaux, Cork, Faro, Geneva, Knock, Lisbon, Malaga, Marseille, Murcia, Nice, Palma, Paria, Prague, Perpignan and Rome.
Bmi Baby also fly within the UK to Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, East Midlands, ...
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Advantages: Fly from local airports, low fares if booked early, friendly staff Disadvantages: It could be me but the planes seemed old
...out of East Midlands airport, BMI Baby found themselves a second passenger hub out of Cardiff Wales Airport, with the powers that be indicating an increase in passenger numbers of some 1m per year – the outcome has been that Cardiff have built a new car-park and re-organised their whole set up, and doubled short term parking charges in the process, but back to the topic in hand.
WHO IS BMI BABY?
They are the baby budget airline of BMI, more commonly ... ...About 2 years ago, BMI Baby started looking around for their second hub and decided upon, yep, you’ve guessed it Cardiff Wales Airport, they now also have a third hub at Manchester, although the best locations can still be found by departing from East Midlands – for all you lucky souls that live in the area, you have a choice of 23 European and domestic destinations, if you live near Cardiff, then you are limited to a choice of 12 including airports ...
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Advantages: Cheap, Easy to Book Disadvantages: Only within Europe, Cleanliness of Plane
...and also found flights with BMI Baby!
Now I’ve flown with BMI or British Midlands before and never had any qualms at all about the level of service so learning we were flying with an off shoot of their company for almost half the price didn’t bother me one bit! BMI Baby are the little sister almost of British Midland and endorse themselves as “the airline with tiny fairs” similar to other budget airlines like Easy Jet and No Frills Airline. Their ... ...book cars and hotels through BMI Baby and the option to log into your account (free and easy to make) to check the dispatch of tickets and flights you are booked for. And back to the point that is always at the forefront of my mind, always on the tip of my tongue… what’s the price?! The flights for my holiday to Palma were booked approximately 3 weeks in advance and cost us under £170 for the two of us to fly, return from Manchester. Typical prices ...
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Advantages: Cheap and convenient Disadvantages: No thrills at all
...host of other adverts the bmi page is simple with well spaced text and links to the various booking options of flights, hotels and car hire.
Most importantly at the top of the page is a simple search function with drop down options for the departure ad arrival airport of your choice alongside calendars to choose you flight dates. Once you have selected the number of passengers traveling then you hit the search option to see what is available. One ... ...and certainly found the bmi check in procedure fairly slow as they do allocate seats upon arrival rather than the free for all scrum other airlines favour. Despite the slowness the greeting was friendly and on the outward light I was given the option of window or aisle an option that was not given in Paris.
If you are traveling with only hand luggage you do have the option of checking in online within 24 hours of your flights departure and your ...
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Advantages: Cheap Disadvantages: Non-existant customer service
...received the confirmation I realised I had done it back to front, ie from Dublin-London instead of London-Dublin. My fault, but I thought I'd call them to see if anything could be done. The flight I wanted was actually more expensive so it would have been in their best interests to sort it out. Having finally found a phone number and got through (after trying for 4 hours), I was told they would do nothing. The girl at the other end of the phone said she would waive the 'changing flights' fee as a 'favour' even though this actualy meant that I was paying more because I was paying the telephone rates instead of the online prices. I couldn't get her to see that I was better off just rebooking online without cancelling.
I faxes Ryanair and amazingly had a reply off them. They weren't going to help me at all. I rebooked with bmibaby. Airlines are...
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Advantages: cheap, good choice of destinations, punctual Disadvantages: dodgy landing every time, boarding is chaos, lots of orange
...I've been living in France for the last year so I've made quite a few trips back and forth to the UK and have used EasyJet quite a few times. I'd heard both good and bad things about them so I wasn't sure what to expect. But I decided to go for them based on two factors, mainly price and destinations.
Note: my flights with EasyJet have all been Newcastle - Charles de Gaulle and vice versa.
Destinations
Many low cost airlines have limited destinations or go to out-of-town airports, fortunately EasyJet doesn't seem to. I'm only aware of 3 budget airlines flying to the UK from CDG: EasyJet, flybe and BMIBaby. I flew with flybe once and they were great, but they only fly direct to Manchester from CDG which isn't very convenient. BMIBaby only flies to the East Midlands.
Price
Of all the airlines, flying my route, EasyJet is...
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Advantages: Real Beautiful Place Disadvantages: Airport Security Staff - not all of course
...driving. I noticed alot of people would 'give way' to you, whereas in England - not so much! This was very nice actually and of course this meant that you would have to return the favours and let people out too.
Location
Jersey is definately located in a prime location. Situated south of England and in very close proximity of France. It gets the best of both worlds really and is sunnier than England all year round, due to it being closer to the Equator. It is easy to get to and there are a large number of flights in and out of the airport each day.
Getting to Jersey
The cost of getting to and from Jersey is not so bad, as there are many low cost airlines, such as EasyJet, Flybe and BMIBaby that operate flights almost daily. You can get to and from Guernsey (Jersey's biggest competitor) using Aurigny or even the Condor Ferry, which both take...
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A lot of people have a lot of bad things to say about Indian Airlines. They tut, shake their head, roll their eyes. Even cringe.
For many years India had just two airline, both state-run: Air India, who did the international flying, and Indian... more
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