Just had to book a low cost flight on bmi baby for this weekend – it is the only airline that flies the route I want to travel on (and not mad keen on taking the train).
Pretty shocked at the charges! It seems others have had to follow Ryanair’s lead. Granted we did book the tickets late so they came to £320 (for 2), but I then had to pay £35 to check a bag in, £4 to book a seat (couldn’t work out how NOT to book a seat, so guess I had to pay that regardless?) and THEN £15 to pay by credit card!
Charges avoidable to some, but all of which I needed and so had to pay. Point is, with all the bad press that Irish airline gets and all the bad mouthing people here give it, it’s not the only one that grabs money from you unexpectedly!
By: T5 - 9th November 2009 at 01:16
I recently saw bmibaby featured on the Welsh consumer TV show, X-Ray. Several customers had complained that the airline was charging £10 to those customers who turned up at the airport without first submitting their advanced passenger information. Of course, these passengers should have submitted the required information, but bmibaby’s useless email reminders were sometimes sent days after the departure date, meaning that forgetful people had no chance of avoiding this fee.
Fortunately, where I am originally from, there is the option to travel with a full fare airline – one which doesn’t charge extra for checking in baggage, checking in online or at the airport etc. It is these extra charges that put me off of travelling low cost. It is simpler to pay one fee – even if it is ever so slightly more – and to not have to worry about how much the everyday ‘extras’ are likely to add to your supposedly cheap ticket.
By: aidoair - 8th November 2009 at 23:18
I agree with you about the charges and like you say its the same with all low fare airlines today, and now even some of the scheduled ”full service” airlines are adding them.
As for the seat booking option with baby, if you just choose next step it moves on from the seat selection page without having to choose a seat. There was until recently a clearer option on screen to not choose seats however probably able to con more people into using this service. I do have to admit though, baby’s website/booking process is one of the easiest and clearest to use out of alot of LCC in my opinion.
Sign In
November 8, 2009 at 10:46 pm