I decided to try out this airline for a trip from Cardiff to Edinburgh, after a friend suggested we have a long weekend there.
Online booking was very easy, you input your chosen days of travel and it returns a list of flights and prices for those days plus a day earlier & day later so ... Read review
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Advantages: Good fares, easy booking online Disadvantages: I had a cancellation & long delay on one trip
I decided to try out this airline for a trip from Cardiff to Edinburgh, after a friend suggested we have a long weekend there.
Online booking was very easy, you input your chosen days of travel and it returns a list of flights and prices for those days plus a day earlier & day later so you can compare them.
I made my selections (£5.99 outbound £7.99 return) and continued to the next page where taxes are added. This ... ...under our expected fuel costs if we were to drive up.
Finally a £2 charge per passenger was added for booking with a credit card.
You are then given a reference number and are advised to print the page to take with you to the airport. You are also sent an e mail with the same information if you should wish to print this instead.
Very good I thought, easiest booking I have ever done including the option ... more
I decided to try out this airline for a trip from Cardiff to Edinburgh, after a friend suggested we have a long weekend there.
Online booking was very easy, you input your chosen days of travel and it returns a list of flights and prices for those days plus a day earlier & day later so you can compare them.
I made my selections (£5.99 outbound £7.99 return) and continued to the next page where taxes are added. This bumped the price up considerably but still came in at under our expected fuel costs if we were to drive up.
Finally a £2 charge per passenger was added for booking with a credit card.
You are then given a reference number and are advised to print the page to take with you to the airport. You are also sent an e mail with the same information if you should wish to print this instead.
Very good I thought, easiest booking I have ever done including the option to reserve a seat online.
The day of departure arrived and we got to Cardiff airport 2 hours before departure time as advised, things started to go downhill from here on. The check in desk for our flight had the words 'Flight Cancelled' on it.
The check in staff said it was due to a 'Technical fault' but other than that had nothing to say. We were given the option of taking the later flight or have a full refund (I assume they meant the taxes too). We chose to take the later flight and were given a £5 voucher to get something to eat along with a very bad photocopy of a form which apparently entitles us to a free one way flight.
I'm waiting on a reply from customer services on this as it just says cancellation refund on the form.
We were checked in efficiently, baggage allowances are consistent with most airlines, each passenger has a limit of 20kg with a maximum of 2 bags for checked in luggage and a 7kg allowance on carry on luggage providing it fits in the basket by check in.
After a 6 hour stay at Cardiff we boarded the later flight, this was full with every seat taken. The journey was uneventful with cabin crew coming around offering drinks & snacks at a cost, I just had a tea for £1.50
The flight arrived in Edinburgh several minutes late after quite a bumpy landing due to bad weather.
Once off the flight we headed straight for the baggage reclaim area and to our suprise when we got there our bags were already on the carousel, I don't know if this is down to BMI or the staff at Edinburgh airport but full marks to the people responsible. There is nothing worse than hanging around a baggage reclaim area.
Now for the return flight, I was hoping the Airline would redeem itself by getting us back to Cardiff on time (my travelling companion rarely flies and wasn't very impressed with the outbound service).
We arrived 2 hours prior to departure time to be greeted by the departures board showing a 2 hour delay on our flight. Here we go again.
On checking in I asked why the flight was delayed 2 hours and was told it was 'Due to a late inbound aircraft'. Yes that was pretty obvious but on pushing the issue the check in staff said 'We don't know'. As far as customers service goes this answer is a big no no.
The airline makes no effort to compensate in any way for this kind of delay and this should be addressed with your travel insurers which is the norm with most airlines.
I did get quite fed up of the 'BMI Baby would like to apologise' announcements during my 4 hour stay at the airport.
With 25 minutes to go to the new departure time there was still no aircraft in sight but it landed shortly afterwards.
I think thanks once again to the staff at Edinburgh airport the aircraft was turned around in what I can only describe as 'double quick time'.
On boarding the aircraft I asked one of the staff why they were 2 hours late and again I got the response 'I don't know'. Customer service failed again i'm afraid, the cabin crew should make it their job to know why they are late.
The flight finally departed 2 hours and 10 minutes late and after an uneventful flight arrived in Cardiff 2 hours and 20 minutes late due to the fact there was a nice big storm sat over Cardiff, so we went on a bit of a tour of the west country while it moved away.
Being my first time using this airline I would say either I was extremely unlucky with their inability to run to a timetable or that they really need to do some 'growing up' (sorry for the pun).
With my current experience i'm unsure if i'll use them again, yes the fares are very good and the booking is easy which is why I have said I would recommend them to other customers but there is the temptation to spend and extra hour in the car and fly with Easyjet from Bristol at similar cost.
BMI Baby take note, improve or lose customers to your rivals.
Advantages: Got to and from in one piece Disadvantages: Lack of communication
...decide against ever flying with bmibaby again. I also know a couple of other people who have travelled with bmi and have also been disappointed. One group of people I know got on their plane to then be told they would have to sit on it for an hour before they could take off. No refreshments were offered and they would have preferred an extra hour sat in the airport wandering around than cramped up on a plane.
I shall end the negativity there - don't ... ...too much! The booking process was easy and the website was easy to navigate. You can sometimes get really cheap flights - other times not any cheaper than any other. They fly between a limited number of destinations and do no long haul flights. It is mainly city break destinations. An example in Leebd/Bradfor to Cork return fare in January in £135. There are also other things available on the website, for example car hire, travel insuranc, hotels ...
sarahl2002 08.09.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of BMIbaby
Advantages: Cheap, good Price/quality ratio Disadvantages: Don't seem to give a damn if it goes wrong.
The 26th of December 2007, this boy goes of to fly to a girl he has never seen before, scared of flying, scared of missing his flight, scared of getting lost. Then I am at Schiphol, which is just as big as the airport of London. So here I am, and what happens? a defect engine, so I got 2 hours delay, and I could wait in the lounge, and got a coupon of 6 euros, which got me a candybar and some cola, because airports are pissing expensive. However, ... ...yes, more delay, because I was not scared enough yet.
Supposed to fly at 3.40, the plane got moving ( with me in it, finally ) at 7.43, which means 4 hours of delay, which really pissed me off, luckily I got my awesome Samsung MP3 Player to keep my mood somewhat okay.
So I was mad, but all was forgotten when I landed, because there was the girl to pick me up, and that is all that matters.
Saying goodbye hurted extremly bad, so when they did nothing ...
GerlofL 06.04.2008 (07.04.2008)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of BMIbaby
I decided in January I would visit some friends in Scotland. As I did last year. I went with bmi baby I found this site great.
You tell it where you want to leave from and where you want to go. You put in the day you want to leave and the day you want to return. It works it all out for you. You can book online with most credit cards. And you can also book extras on the site like hotels car hire insurance and parking in the air port. Once you have ... ...the time your check in closes before departure, what you need to bring as ID. Also gives you your confirmation and this year I was even able to pick the seats we are going to sit on. Planes are not as big as if you were travelling abroad but all the same still comfortable. I don’t know the prices of food and drink as I didn’t bother, did not see the point as it’s only an hour flight.
Although the flights are very cheap I you can fly for as little ...
mazzybaby35 08.03.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of BMIbaby
Advantages: An affordable alternative to rail travel Disadvantages: Nothing significant if you accept that it is a no-frills airline
My experience of flying with bmibaby has been three return trips from Newquay to Manchester. The fares were excellent (better than Air Southwest's fares for the same route and rail fares for the dates of travel), particularly when I booked well in advance. There was only one significant delay, of an hour, while an indicated engine problem was investigated. I couldn't complain too much about this safety first approach except that the hour was spent at Newquay Airport where the airside facilities are dire.
With one exception, one of the older check-in staff at Manchester who seemed to have an 'attitude' with my teenage son, the staff have been generally friendly. With the exception of a flight attendant, who wouldn't let me use a digital camera to take a 'perfect' photograph the biomes of the Eden Project as the Boeing 737 banked ...
Advantages: None Disadvantages: Unfriendly and unhelpful staff
BEWARE : the BMIBABY hold luggage standard size is smaller than that of RyanAir / Easyjet etc.. so although you may be used to your regular hold luggage going on other flights without problems, BMIBABY will charge you £30 for the pleasure of carrying it !
If you do online checkin, you will only realise this once you are at the boarding gate, and the BMIBABY staff bring out a "tester frame" significantly smaller than the regular ones (my bag passed the Ryanair tester frame at the neighbouring gate AND the airport tester frame at security). So you are left with no option but to stump up the £30 or miss the flight. A total rip off. Will never fly with them again.
For info, I'm a frequent business flyer France to UK with RyanAir, Easyjet, AirFrance etc. not a holidaymaker with a bag full of souvenirs or duty-free. ...
Advantages: EMA airport convenient Disadvantages: Birmingham/Manchester NOT convenient
As a frequent flyer from Prague to East Midlands Airport I am very annoyed that there are ´no flights available´. No reason being given I then phoned bmibaby - of course, it took over 15 minutes before I was able to speak to someone other than an answering machine. I asked the american-speaking woman who is there to give out information what the reason was that on the internet booking side all it states is, ´no flights available´. Her answer was "bmibaby no longer flys from EMA to Prague". I enquired why that was - her answer, "I don´t know" but that I would have to either go from Birmingham or Manchester!!!
To save customers time and money one would have thought that it was possible to state on the booking side that flights have been stopped. Not only for myself but for thousands of other passengers it is a great inconvenience. Why ...
Tereska93 02.02.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of BMI Baby Airlines
