bmibaby officially operating from Heathrow

I tried to book abz – pml 3 weeks ago for the family in oct and got quoted £840 for 3 pax,went back last week to try again got quoted £2483,went in today through bmi baby and for the same dates in oct got quoted £931.Have booked elsewhere because to be honest i dont have a bl###y clue what they are up to as when you book bmi baby you still get connected to bmi website.I am reasonably sussed in booking flights but pity poor joe blogs booking his yearly trip.To be honest i think they hav lost the plot a little.

Or alternatively, a better example would be a British Airways flight from Gatwick, an airport also served by easyJet. Why do you get these insane passengers who would prefer to pay twice as much as an easyJet fare to go to exactly the same airport? Its because they want all the extras offered by the full-fares airline.

Not necessarily, many passengers going to London who are going for work related reasons have no say who they fly on. Most companies have deals with British Airways/bmi for internal UK flights. So there company puts them on a BA flight and they have no say.

Flex 35

Except the bmi fares have not come down as a result of this change…

I’ve said exactly that.

London Heathrow to Glasgow and Dublin is one example of a route being offered now at £25 one way. Correct me if I’m wrong, but since booking my first ever flight with bmi early last year, the same routes have been offered at the same price?

If you want the snack and drinks inflight, you’re going to pay typical low cost airline prices for them i.e. £3.50 for a sandwich and another £1 for a small drink. That is potentially £10 extra to get what they currently offer, but on one of their supposed ‘tiny’ flights.

So, realistically, bmi should be offering London Heathrow to Glasgow (for example) from £45 return, so that with the snacks as well, you’re paying about £55, the same price that you could easily pick up a similar flight for but with inflight service.

This is one big rip-off and bmi are going to be making even more than they are at the moment.

I’m not convinced that it is going to work in their favour. Regardless of what people say, there are people out there who fly with an airline because of what they offer, including complimentary meals during the flight. Why else would some passengers choose to fly with bmi over easyJet for example? Or alternatively, a better example would be a British Airways flight from Gatwick, an airport also served by easyJet. Why do you get these insane passengers who would prefer to pay twice as much as an easyJet fare to go to exactly the same airport? Its because they want all the extras offered by the full-fares airline.

I am almost certain that passengers flying out of Heathrow on one of the low cost services will take their custom elsewhere and for domestic flights for the business traveller, the only real solution is to fly British Airways. I dread to think what would happen if British Airways followed in the foot-steps of bmi.

Or fly bmi regional. 😀 My flight to MAN on bmir was a bmibaby fareclass when I booked, £7 plus tax etc. What happens when an Embraer operates a bmi mainline LHR service to MAN/EDI/GLA, regional or mainline cabin product?

If a regional aircraft is operating ex-LHR it will be a mainline cabin product.

The fares have come down for example the cheapest fare on ABZ-LHR has dropped from £15 to £9 one-way (excluding the usual taxes/charges) on certain sectors.

As to whether the change in business model is a good/bad thing, only time will tell.

As far as I can tell, if you want the same service on board any future bmi flights as they are offering at the moment, you can have it, but you pay for an Premium Economy service which is going to add a lot more onto the fare?

I had a look today and found £4.00 flights available, exclusive of any taxes.

Or fly bmi regional. 😀 My flight to MAN on bmir was a bmibaby fareclass when I booked, £7 plus tax etc. What happens when an Embraer operates a bmi mainline LHR service to MAN/EDI/GLA, regional or mainline cabin product?

It’s stupid if you ask me. They should either have 2 operations- a loco & a full service- or just 1 whether it be loco or full service. Having 2 brands with exactly the same fares and service that even share websites is just more expensive to manage and more confusing to customers.

Except the bmi fares have not come down as a result of this change…

They swicch to airlines who offer free food, drinks

You dont get anything for free, all in the cost of the price you pay. 🙂

What effect do you guys think this will have on the future of bmi?

For us, its good in a way, as we get to fly from LHR, for less, well that’s what bmi tell us :p

For the buisness passenger, one of the main sources of income, its a turn-off. They swicch to airlines who offer free food, drinks, and comfortable seating i.e say ur a buisness pax going to MAN, you;d switch over to BA, for the food, drink, seats, and also frequent flyer miles!

bmi will suffer i’m the long term, as the buisness pax leave them for other carriers

What effect do you guys think this will have on the future of bmi?

I am convinced that its going to lose them customers. Those customers who want inflight service will have no choice but to fly with other airlines. Mind you, a lot of airlines are going this way now.

No bmibaby are NOT operating from LHR.

The website is very misleading then, becuase yesterday the big home page advert read- “Tiny lands at Heathrow”- whereas it should have said- “Tiny fares land at Heathrow”

As far as I can tell, if you want the same service on board any future bmi flights as they are offering at the moment, you can have it, but you pay for an Premium Economy service which is going to add a lot more onto the fare?

I had a look today and found £4.00 flights available, exclusive of any taxes.

We’ve had this thread so many times lately, as Darren says, bmibaby are not operating flights from LHR, the website is selling flights on mainline service with the same service levels and terms and conditions of a Baby flight.

No bmibaby are NOT operating from LHR. The change is that bmi have re-structured the ‘product’ they offer to their customers.

There is confusion as bmi have classed their lowest fares as ‘Tiny’, which basically means the customer would receive the same level of service and terms & conditions that you would expect on a bmibaby flight. People are then jumping to the conclusion that bmibaby are going to start operating out of LHR.

When you go and book a ‘bmi’ flight through the bmibaby website you are re-directed to the main bmi site.

It is a very very silly situation, but as said, bmi operate the routes, bmi baby can sell the tickets

BMI are using the baby brand to sell their lower priced fares on BMI mainline. If you try to book say GLA-LHR on bmibaby you are then re-directed to the BMI mainline website where the fares are displayed.

Best thing BMI could do is keep the Baby fare structure and roll everything back under the one brand again.