BMI Baby at London heathrow

Simply put, all bmi are doing is offering their cheapest fares under the “baby” branding even though the flights will still be operated by bmi-mainline. This may be a clever move on their part if they are determined to appeal to the masses and compete against the low-fare operators (rather than BA), as a significant body of public opinion still believes BA and bmi are high fare, and the likes of EasyJet and bmibaby are low-fare. By rebranding bmi’s cheapest fares, they may effectively get them noticed by far more casual travellers.

Even though the passengers who book baby will be travelling on bmi on these routes, they won’t get FF miles, they won’t get through check-in, they won’t be able to use lounges, etc. although those benefits will be retained by those who book through bmi, pay higher fares and travel on the same airplanes.

Of course, the danger is that they end up diluting the bmi brand so much that the entire operation becomes regarded as baby / low-fare and all the premium traffic goes to BA. Or maybe that’s what they want an excuse to do anyway, and this is a way of breaking it to their loyaly higher-paying customers.

Andy

Elgan is right, the flights are operated by bmi but are bookable on the Baby website.

Have just read on the bmi baby site that thay are going to start up flights to:

I don’t think so mate, all they are doing is offering those routes on the baby site, as they said they would use baby type fares of those routes. bmi will still operate um

Sorry, me again…

If you take a look at some of the flight reviews on CarSurvey.org, you’ll see a lot of passengers who have travelled with Aer Lingus have not been so proud with their decision to switch to a low cost airline.

Although this is one airline that does offer genuinely low cost fares from Heathrow (such as Shannon for £36 return!), I believe that the majority of passengers want a full-frills carrier to operate certain routes.

I’m convinced that this move could see a lot of passengers wanting to get to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester etc switching to British Airways – it will be their only option.

Unfortunately, if that is the case, I for one will not be using bmi again. I am not a huge fan of a low cost air travel and like all the frills when flying – something to eat and something to drink plus a nice, clean aircraft.

I am not impressed by what bmi claim to be offering. Their website does talk about fares that will be offered from Heathrow to their low-cost destinations, but I cannot see any difference between them and what they used to be. The only difference is that you’ll not get anything but a seat for your money, so its even more money in bmi’s pocket. 😡

Have just read on the bmi baby site that thay are going to start up flights to:

Aberdeen
Alicante
Amsterdam
Belfast City
Brussels
Dublin
Durham Tees Valley
Edinburgh
Glasgow
Hanover
Inverness
Leeds Bradford
Madrid
Manchester
Milan
Naples
Nice
Palma
Paris (CDG)
Venice
From Heathrow
rgds

As part of bmi’s new strategy, all but 4 short/medium routes will be flown using a simplified LCC format.

Hopefully this will force another BA/bmi price war on the MAN – LHR route.

Full details can be seen at http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/planandbook/newbusinessmodel.aspx

~gb~

andrewm

I see where you’re coming from – I know the Baby moving to BHD rumour has been mooted in the past – if the two combine under the one operation then surely it would be more costly to operate from both BHD and BFS. If the present Baby routes were to go to BHD, then presumably the same terms currently granted to BMI would apply. The only possible problem would be BHX where they would compete directly with Flybe.

Others have tried working from both in the past (Jersey European as they were then & BRAL) and discontinued due to costs.

Of course, there is the possibility that BMI could transfer back to BFS although rumour has it that their departure from there in 2001 was less than amicable.

There was a rumor that bmi would move back in 2003 but that was due to bmi paying for their own airbridge. Otherwise unfounded rumor.

bmibaby could not get a better deal at BFS than they do a BHD. BHD cant beat it but i think did offer the same thing. BFS is more central to Northern Ireland whereas people from outside of Greater Belfast see Belfast City as a hassle to get to. BFS on the otherhand due to its more central location is favoured by them esp since its for leisure purposes whereas bmi is business 95%. If they moved to BHD would just be more expense moving down when its going good for them at BFS.

As for bmi moving to BFS or double ops, it wont happen. Tried and failed before. Only time it worked was when BHD was at old terminal which was crap and BFS terminal way better.

But one very interesting point is that they have upgraded the route map on thier website to incorporate all bmi routes and airports as well as baby!

I know it is a very crowded route map!

andrewm

I see where you’re coming from – I know the Baby moving to BHD rumour has been mooted in the past – if the two combine under the one operation then surely it would be more costly to operate from both BHD and BFS. If the present Baby routes were to go to BHD, then presumably the same terms currently granted to BMI would apply. The only possible problem would be BHX where they would compete directly with Flybe.

Others have tried working from both in the past (Jersey European as they were then & BRAL) and discontinued due to costs.

Of course, there is the possibility that BMI could transfer back to BFS although rumour has it that their departure from there in 2001 was less than amicable.

Today baby started selling winter tickets for EMA & BHX, and tomorrow they start selling CWL, MAN and MME. But one very interesting point is that they have upgraded the route map on thier website to incorporate all bmi routes and airports as well as baby!

If the two become one again, will be interesting to see what happens at the Belfast end – BFS or BHD or both?

Considering they already said they will keep Business Class on BHD LHR route (their most profitable business route) BHD will be staying for a long time. Im sure the better bmi baby routes will still stay also as it would cost too much to move to BHD and this is all about cost cutting!

If the two become one again, will be interesting to see what happens at the Belfast end – BFS or BHD or both?

I agree Mark L. I think the baby is about to grow up and become just bmi again.

Low Cost airlines are not “asked” to use LTN, STN, and LGW, its simply a case of what slots they can acquire.

As has been said bmi are using a “baby” style service on all their operations. I cant imagine it will be too long before we see the end to bmi or bmi baby, considering both are pretty much exactly the same thing now.

Thats what i said Will :p

This could be being confused with the fact that some bmi flights from heathrow are now single class…in line with the bmi baby business style. Correct me if im wrong 😀

Surely the thing to do in this situation is to check the website AO, you will see that bmi Baby do not fly out of LHR.

Marseille and a few other destinations.

Is Marseille a new route out of LHR then or just a mistake by someone

What I dont get is that apparently low cost airlines are asked to fly to STN,LTN,LGW…

Except Virgin Express. How did they get into LHR?

I should think its summat to do with bmi’s new strategy. It said in the press release that they are going to use “bmi baby’s tiny fares” out of LHR i.e cheaper fares