After securing a ticket for the Champions League final less than ten days before the event at a vastly inflated price I was faced with a desperate search for an affordable flight to Paris. This was easier said than done as Easyjet wanted £323 just for the flight home on the Thursday and another £112 to fly out on the Tuesday, whilst Ryanair did not appear to fly to Paris. Finally I remembered that bmibaby fly out of Nottingham and so it was off to their website for a look.
Booking
Being a low cost airline booking for bmibaby (bmi from now on) is either online or by phone however if you go the online route it is cheaper by £5 per flight so in total you will save £10 on a return flight as you effectively get a price for each part of a return flight.
Arriving at the home page I was pleased to see a well set out site, unlike Ryanair who clutter up their page with long lists of flights for under a fiver and a 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 of the things I did like is the fact that as well as your chosen travel date you also get a list of available flights one day either side of your chosen date This allowed me to realize that I could save a significant amount of money on the flights by traveling home a day later even after taking into account the extra hotel and food costs.
From the list provided you then select the two options that suit you. It is important to remember at this stage that the prices quoted are just for the flights and do not include taxes however once you have selected the individual flights then a total price for you trip will be quoted on the next screen.
The payment screens are secure and once you have registered with the site your details are stored for future bookings. As with most cheap airlines no ticket is produced instead you print off your receipt which will have your booking reference on it and it is this along with either your passport or for internal flights some form of photo id hat you need to bring to check in.
Check In
Check in is at least 30 minutes before departure time, from watching the Easyjet programme airlines are pretty prompt at closing their gates at this deadline 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 seat will be automatically assigned to you and you go straight to the boarding gate. As I had a bag for storage I could not take advantage of this but I did speak to someone who used it and they happily sang its praises and the extra 15 minute lie I they enjoyed.
The Flight
I was pleasantly pleased that there was a decent amount of leg room (I am a short arse mind you) and the plane was very clean. I was however a little annoyed that after getting us all on the plane at the appointed time we were then told that we would have to sit there for forty five minutes as they did not have a take off slot until then however the pilot did hold out a feint hope that he could get an earlier departure time however I was not convinced when I saw drinks being taken into them, needless to say us passengers were not offered anything.
The flight to Paris was a short one and very comfortable with no in-flight entertainment apart from the six fellow Gooners, who had obviously been warming up in the airport bar, hassling some poor woman who they were convinced was the Radio 1 DJ Jo Whylie despite the fact that she did not sound anything like her.
If you want a drink or snack then you will pay for it and although overpriced it was still comparable to other airlines with a bottle of water costing £1.50 and you can pay in either sterling or euro but all change is given in sterling.
Conditions
There are no discounts for children traveling with bmi except that babies under 23 months can travel on their parents lap.
If you have to make any changes to your flights there is a £15 charge per flight plus potentially an upgrade fee and name changes to tickets cost £30 with a potential upgrade fee on top.
Passengers with special needs should contact bmi prior to booking as they do restrict the number of disabled passengers on each flight. On my outbound flight one wheelchair passenger was on the flight and although they were not boarded first but actually last I do not know whether that was because they arrived late as I did not notice them in the area around the boarding gate. Two members of staff were available to help lift them into their seat and this was done with a minimum of fuss and was handled efficiently.
Once you have booked a flight the ticket is non refundable.
Summary
I would definitely use bmi again. Bear in mind you get what you pay for and your expectations will be at a level where as long as you leave and arrive roughly on time and that you have a reasonably comfortable seat and a working toilet then you are getting your moneys worth.
The staff on both of the flights and at check in were helpful, polite and always smiling.
The booking process is easy to navigate and in my opinion is easier to use than the one offered by Ryanair particularly when it comes to looking at your flight options.
Nottingham is pretty much the main airport it departs from however it also has services from Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Leeds/Bradford, Newquay, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
In total my return flight cost £144 which was a lot cheaper than the other providers at the times I wanted t fly however you can get much cheaper deals the further in advance that you are able to book and the more flexible you are with flight times.
Thanks for reading and rating my review.
More details
Class flown most frequently
Economy
How often do you travel with this airline
First time
Where did you book
Directly with this airline
Safety
Satisfactory
How well does it cater for disabled people
OK
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