Having been enticed by the promise of 'free flights' in the summer sale, I booked myself a trip to Belfast. I'm a nervous flier but decided to take the plunge, and I have to say that, overall, I was pleased with the service.
PRICE: I booked during the summer sale, so perhaps this isn't indicative of usual prices, but the promise of free flights was certainly welcome to this student! Obviously airport taxes and charges can be quite steep, however, so this return journey from Cardiff to Belfast ended up costing about £70! Also, the flight price on the website doesn't include the price of the seat (an extra £5!) so it's a little misleading - one wonders what would happen if you didn't pay that price! (I jest). Also, if you want a checked bag, it's £3.95 per person each way, so again hidden charges, but still not *too* expensive, so I can't really grumble.
COMMUNICATION: After you book, you get a long email listing all the relevant details - your reference number and confirming your booking. I found it useful as I could just print this out and hand it over at check-in. The website is also very informative about current security regulations (if you, like me, aren't a frequent flier, then recent changes can be a bit confusing). So I was really impressed with this aspect, though I can't comment further on customer service as I had no occasion to contact them further regarding any aspects of my booking.
THE FLIGHT: Flight itself was uneventful. Check in was simple, just hand in some recognised photo-id, and answer the obvious security questions. On the way to Belfast, everything was efficient and the plane left slightly ahead of schedule, which was great! However, on the way back, boarding was slightly less efficient (anecdote: They board people with special requirements and/or children first, and all other passengers were asked to remain seated in departures till called, but it seems my friend and I were the only people who heeded these instructions, and we were last to board the plane and had to rush as a result, though I suppose it isn't the airline's fault, grr).
Once on board, the cabin crew were nice and friendly, and food and hot/cold/alcoholic drinks were offered once in the hour-long flight, which was sufficient. My only complaint was that there wasn't much in the way of vegetarian food available, only a cheese sandwich, and the hot food consisted of bacon sandwich or cheese and ham toastie -I don't think it'd be too much trouble to provide, say, a cheese and onion/plain cheese toastie as an alternative for us veggies, but it was only an hour long flight so we could wait until we got to Belfast/Cardiff...would've been nice to have the option though. Food was also overpriced, I paid 70p for a small bag of mini cheddars (ok not extortionate but still) and that wasn't the worst - 70p for a teeny can of orange juice containing only about 3 mouthfuls! Needless to say on the way back I filled up before getting to the airport!
In short, a pleasant enough experience. Plane's pretty basic as you'd expect with a no-frills airline, but I felt safe enough, the safety demonstrations were clear and thorough, and I felt overall that we got good value for money.
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Advantages: None Disadvantages: Expensive Flight for a Budget Airline, Cancellations, Damp Seats, No Refreshments, Poor Customer Service, No Communication
FlyBMIatYourPeril 09.01.2008 (09.01.2008)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
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