I want to start my review with a statement that I am very dissatisfied with British Midland Airways; moreover, I will try to avoid flying with bmi, and I would highly recommend people to stay away from this airline. Unless you want your baggage to get lost several times during the trip and your flight to get delayed by 12 hours... Good luck flying with British Midland Airways!
I am an international student at a college in California from Kyrgyzstan. I fly home to Kyrgyzstan once a year for a couple of months to visit my family and friends. I booked a flight from Los Angeles, CA, to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. I flew with United Airlines from LAX to London Heathrow (flight: UA # 934), and then with bmi from London Heathrow to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (via Almaty, Kazakhstan, flight: BD # 991). The service onboard of the United Airlines plane was great, no complains; whereas, the bmi service seemed to be a little below satisfactory. To be honest, it was pretty alright except the food did not look or taste any good. However, those things are not worth mentioning in comparison to what had happened to me later on. When I finally got to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, after my 24-hour trip, I was told by the bmi Representatives in Bishkek that my baggage got lost somewhere in Heathrow Airport. I got very upset since all my stuff that was supposed to arrive on the same plane as me was gifts to my family and friends. There was nothing else to do and the bmi Representatives told me to go home and promised to contact me as soon as they get any information about my baggage. I live 60 kilometers (approx. 37 miles) away from Bishkek, the capital. I got lucky that my baggage was found and rescheduled for another flight in two days. Meanwhile, I had to go to a store to buy a couple of t-shirts and shorts to wear in the following two days. The bmi office contacted me to pick up the baggage but it was in another city. I asked them if they could deliver it to my address since I had some transportation problems. First, the bmi office refused to deliver my baggage but after several minutes of me persuading the bmi Representative on the line that it is bmi's responsibility to deliver the baggage to me. I simply told the Representative that it was not my fault that the baggage got lost in Heathrow. Finally, several hours later, there it was my baggage in front of my parents' house.
I spent two lovely months at home with my family and friends but when the time came for my flight back to Los Angeles, I did not even suspect how much more trouble was coming up… I had a flight booked from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan to London Heathrow (via Almaty, Kazakhstan, flight: BD # 992), London Heathrow to Denver, CO (flight: UA # 939), and then Denver, CO to Los Angeles, CA (flight: UA # 1223). My flight was supposed to depart from Bishkek on August 8, at 5:20AM. Once I got to the airport two hours before my flight (at around 3AM), I looked at the screens and there it was - my flight got delayed by 12 hours! I was just speechless! The bmi Representatives offered me and my family to stay in a hotel until the next available flight. I decided to drive home since the hotel was almost as far as the city my parents live in. The whole night turned upside-down for me and my family. When I called the bmi office in Bishkek in the morning, they asked me to come to their office which was located at Hyatt hotel in Bishkek. When I got to the bmi office, it was around 11AM. There were approximately 15-20 people waiting for their tickets to be re-booked. Lots of them with kids - that was what really made me feel angry at British Midland Airways. There was a bmi poster hanging on the wall, "Service. Flexibility. Punctuality. That's bmi Time!" Everyone laughed at those three words and took pictures of that poster trying to cheer up, knowing that all of their plans simply got screwed up by such delay. When the line came to me, it was already 2PM (three hours later). I was exhausted, thirsty, and, of course, angry. Surprisingly, the bmi Representatives stayed calm and polite in such hard times. Well, I think they better have stayed calm! Apparently, there was a group of 40 people (plus or minus 5) who were flying transit through London Heathrow to places like Canada and the United States (including myself). Nobody ever tried to explain to the group what really happened to the flying crew. One of the versions that I heard from the bmi Representatives was that the crew got sick after eating something at a restaurant in Bishkek. In my opinion, that is very possible. However, doesn't the Heathrow's second largest airline have another flying crew that can be a replacement in case of emergency? Finally, I got my tickets re-booked to another flight. It was the same flight but one day later, which meant that I had to stay in London for at least 12 hours. Our transit group was promised to be met at Heathrow by the bmi Representatives as soon as we got off the plane. Then, we were promised to be issued a 24-hour visa and to be taken to a local hotel for a night. I looked pretty upset and one of the Representatives told me that now I had a great opportunity to see London. "Aren't you lucky?" - she said. "I would have been lucky if I was on that flight this morning. I don't want to see London. I just wanted to get to Los Angeles on time since I had some plans planned months ago and now, they are gone!" I think it should make a perfect sense to anyone, who plans things far ahead… and it feels terrible when something goes wrong and the plans get screwed up. Anyway, our transit group departed with everyone else flying to London that same evening at 5:30PM (Bishkek time). We got to London Heathrow at 10:20PM (London time) and there was nobody to meet our transit group. We spent twenty-thirty minutes figuring out what to do next, asking Heathrow workers where the bmi Representatives are. Apparently, we had to go through the Immigration and Boarder Control to get a 24-hour visa and then we had to find the bmi Representatives somewhere… I thought they were supposed to find US? After about 30 minutes of standing in line for the Immigration and Boarder Control, I got a 24-hour visa. No one from the bmi office dared to meet our transit group. We had to travel through the whole Terminal 1 searching for the bmi Representatives. What a "great" service and punctuality! I spent approximately 50 more minutes standing in line at the bmi Customer Service desk (after we had finally found it) just to get a transportation coupon for a shuttle that takes us to the hotel and back to the airport the next morning. I really think it would have been easier for everyone if the bmi Representatives in London had the coupons ready when we got to the airport. They could have simply given them out to the group. I am 100% sure that the bmi Representatives in London knew the exact number of customers who were flying transit through Heathrow and needed a room for a night. When our group was given out the coupons, we were told to wait for the shuttle outside. As one of the bmi Representatives told me, the shuttle comes every 15 minutes. Well, guess what? Our transit group had to wait from 12:30AM till 1:30AM for the "bloody" shuttle (as English people like to say). During that hour waiting outside of the airport for the shuttle, I managed to go back into the airport and ask the bmi Representatives how long more we had to wait. Unfortunately, there was nobody there to ask. The lights at the bmi Customer Service desk were off and the Representatives were gone home to their families while we were waiting outside for the shuttle. Our hopes were dying and we were not sure any more if there was a shuttle at all since we got "raped" by the bmi too many times already… everyone got a feeling that the whole airline was a fraud. At least I was happy that my next flight carrier from London to Denver, CO was no longer bmi - it was United Airlines; actually, all the way to Los Angeles. That was the only thing that brought the hope back to my heart… Our transit group stayed at the IBIS hotel close to the airport. As soon as we arrived to the hotel, we had some leftovers at the hotel buffet. Well, it was 2AM. What else could we expect, right? I went outside for a walk. It was freezing there and I was tired, so I went to my room and got some rest. I had to be at the airport by 10AM the next morning. I got up, had a breakfast at the hotel, got on the shuttle and headed up to the airport. I was happy that bmi is no longer my carrier for the rest of the trip. When I went to get my boarding pass at the United Airlines Check-in desk, I was told by the UA Representative that my baggage was lost. "Jesus! Not again!" - I said. The United Airlines Representative asked me who I flew to London with and I showed her my tickets. I told the Representative shortly about the hell of a trip I had and she promised to find my baggage and try to board it on the same plane to Denver. FYI, my baggage did get boarded - thanks to United Airlines! How does bmi work anyway? Do they ever remember that they also have to receive and transfer the baggage sometimes? What a "terrrrrrrriffic" service! I think I will stop right here since after this point my trip was great and the United Airlines woke me up from that horrible nightmare having any kind of business with the British Midland Airways (aka bmi). However, I still want to mention that my overall trip turned out to be 48 hours instead of 24. In addition, I think I will still have nightmares about those three blue little letters that represent the Heathrow's second largest airline for a long-long time…