Half term holiday my parents booked return flights to Jersey with BMI Baby. They were recommended to the sight by a number of friends who had gone to Prague for £1.99, etc etc. Although they have access to the internet, they haven`t got a printer, so I was given the honour of booking the tickets. After careful analysis and costings, we chose a time when a) my daughter was at school (and therefore unable to pull the plug) and b) my youngest was asleep and therefore unable to bite/annoy anybody for at least 5 minutes.
The website was informative, easy to use and very helpful and I have to say that the booking process was an experience in itself; forget the playstation, this was amazing - you clicked on the exact seat you wanted on each flight and little computer simulations of male and female passengers popped up complete with noises. My 67 year old Dad commented on the wonders of modern technology, which led to a debate on how things had moved on since my first introduction to BBC computers in the early 80`s.
Anyway, fastforward to departure date......... Taxi to airport, flight at around 11 am.
My mum rung at 5pm and I asked how the hotel was, weather and all the usual pleasantries you can muster when you`re stuck at home making tea and they`re on a balcony overlooking the bay. I was told that the weather was fine and that they were at that precise moment sitting outside on the patio drinking tea: their patio I hasten to add. The flight had been cancelled and they were back home.
Whilst they were at Manchester airport waiting for their flight, each hour an announcment came that there was fog in Jersey and that the flight was delayed. At 2pm the metallic voice announced that the flight was cancelled.
Alright, you say, when was the next one? 5pm, 9pm, the next morning? The answer I`m afraid was Monday. They had booked and paid for their hotel from Friday evening and the soonest BMI baby could get them there was Monday.
My parents are, like me, fairly restrained sorts and trust people. When questioning BMI the 120 passengers on their flight were informed that there were only 2 places on the next one (Sat) and they had already been allocated.
They paid £69.00 return each and when enquiring with British Airways would have got to their destination for £200 single.
I know that many people have had great deals from BMI and I know that if there are no problems encountered, then their service is great, however I wanted others to know the problems my mum and dad have encountered over the last few weeks.
They asked for their money back. This was refused. They can have another flight at another time in exchange, but understandably, they don`t really fancy getting all excited, packing and everything to get to the airport and end up back home a few hours later. I`ve told them that this won`t happen, but they don`t want to try it out and see. They were told that they still had a seat on the return flight and therefore if they didn`t use it , so be it.
My parents are both retired and spent about £800 on this holiday, with hotel bills, taxis and all the rest. Hopefully they will get some of this back throught their insurance, but they`ve still had a disappointing and upsetting couple of weeks. The last sting in the tale goes to the fact that when my dad rung up BMI baby to have some confirmation sent to the insurance company regarding the cancellation, they had the audacity to ask him for a fiver for sending it. He declined, by the way.
As it stands I don`t think that I`d risk booking with them. When you take a seat, you take a gamble.
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Good review. I'd just like to say the exact same thing happened to my mate ! He was flying from Durham Tees Valley to Jersey. The flight wasnt cancelled but they cudnt land due to flog. He had to divert to Bournemouth and then Manchester due to fog on the island which unabled them to land. He eventually had to get a coach from Durham Tees Valley airport to Jersey. He arrived 3 days later !!
Overall good review. Thanks
chizster 17.07.2004 13:08
A nice detailed review of your experience, however I don't feel that one delayed journey could paint a picture of the whole airline. I've flown with them many a time and experienced some problems, but they were all hastily sorted out asap and I had great service from all of the staff. To reitritate, a good review, but this flight could have just been that 1 in 1000.
AnitaM 21.06.2004 01:22
That's a pretty poor showing from BMI Baby. This review might be better in the Buyer Beware section. For a review of the airline generally I would have liked to have seen some information about check-in efficiency, comfort of plane and facilities on board.
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Jun 20th, 2004
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