BMI Cancels Manchester - Vegas/Chicago and Barbados

Cade_Foster

Jasper27 wrote: »

The guy at Trailfinders thought it was all a bit shortsighted of BMI as they sell a lot of BMI flights out of Manchester and people will just choose KLM or some other airline rather than go to Heathrow. I have read reports that BMI can not fill their flights out of Heathrow so I think this at the root of it. I'd rather have a refund and be free to go with who I chose so I'll be investigating my options. I chose BMI direct flights for a reason and it's just a pain in the neck to re-arrange now when I have already booked car hire and hotels. Once everything is sorted I'll be writing to them to let them know what I think and why they've lost a regular customer.

Well Ive flown on the MAN-LAS route before and its always been pretty much full, and overbooked once coming back so you may be onto something. I chose direct too as the last time I went via chicago because of delays at Las Vegas I ended up coming back and having to go to heathrow as well and the whole journey took an age.

richardw

BMI website info http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/flight-and-airport-info/flight-information/travel-news.aspx#180

Jasper27_2

Got offer from BMI via Trailfinders today. They offered to put me on a Delta flight that arrived much later than my original one thus losing the first evening of my holiday. All flights arriving earlier were booked up and only flights with Delta were offered (the only other alternative being to fly a day earlier). So I have taken a refund and rebooked another flight on Expedia. As I've had to pay for the new flights and wait 8 to 10 weeks for a refund I'll be losing interest on my savings. Also the flight I booked was £60 cheaper at the same time last week but I couldn't do anything about it until I heard from BMI. Overall I'm going to lose money and I have a less convenient flight but I don't see BMI offering any compensation or any real apology. They never even bothered to get in touch, I only learnt what was happening when I saw it on the news then went to check the website. I will be writing to them to tell them I'm not happy with the way it was handled and I will go out of my way to avoid flying with them in future. Maybe if enough people complain they might handle these things better in future.

blindman

Jasper27 wrote: »

Got offer from BMI via Trailfinders today.
They offered to put me on a Delta flight that arrived much later than my original one thus losing the first evening of my holiday.
All flights arriving earlier were booked up and only flights with Delta were offered (the only other alternative being to fly a day earlier).

They never even bothered to get in touch, I only learnt what was happening when I saw it on the news then went to check the website. I will be writing to them to tell them I'm not happy with the way it was handled and I will go out of my way to avoid flying with them in future. Maybe if enough people complain they might handle these things better in future.

Which is why I said in my post

If I were you I'd take a proactive approach and contact bmi directly to ask what your options are.

If you leave it to the TA they will just take an easy option which may not suit.

BTW

and I will go out of my way to avoid flying with them in future.

Won't be too difficult as bmi are being sold to Lufthansa on 15th Jan 2009

Jasper27_2

Blindman I did contact BMI but they are basically the only options on offer. They told me that they would provide my TA with the info ASAP although it ended up taking a week. It was either accept the re-routing offered or have a refund. They would not let me go for the re-routed flight of my choice, it was either Delta or nothing. My preferred alternative flight was with American Airlines but BMI would not provide me with this as it was more expensive than Delta. Basically they have gone with Delta because they are cheap and have a poor reputation for punctuality and service. If BMI had to pay to transfer to your choice of flight it would cost them too much and with the numbers involved they won't pay it. The TA told me that the BMI Manchester flights are popular so couldn't understand why they are being discontinued. It seems BMI fought for a long time to get slots at Heathrow and now it has them can't fill the flights. Therefore I suppose they figure people who now can't fly from Manchester will go to Heathrow and fill those planes up. If this doesn't work and people just choose another carrier out of Manchester then Heathrow flights could end up discontinued. As you point out when Lufthansa take over I'm sure they will want to rationalise routes and there will be a lot of changes.

blindman

Jasper27 wrote: »

Blindman I did contact BMI but they are basically the only options on offer.

Well I'm glad you tried.

It is a shame about bmi "marketing" and their back end CS.

The ground staff and cabin crew IMHO are really good and I've enjoyed my flights with them.

I'm not sure that the LH take over wil be a good thing and am totally confused as to why they pulled the MAN-ORD\LAS flights as they were always full.

Paradise_Found

Can anyone provide a summary of the remaining non-stop flights
from Manchester to the USA/Canada from next May onwards?

As far as I can tell:

- Newark (Continental)
- New York JFK (Delta)
- Chicago (American)
- Philadelphia (US Airways)
- Atlanta (Delta)
- Orlando (Virgin)
- Orlando Sanford (various charters)

Have I missed any?

MARK

Cade_Foster

Jasper27 wrote: »

As I've had to pay for the new flights and wait 8 to 10 weeks for a refund I'll be losing interest on my savings. Also the flight I booked was £60 cheaper at the same time last week but I couldn't do anything about it until I heard from BMI. Overall I'm going to lose money and I have a less convenient flight but I don't see BMI offering any compensation or any real apology.

Is what im understanding correct it will take 8-10 weeks for you to get your money back for a refund that is a absolute joke they take your money straight away so should give it back straight away, if thats the case it may be easier to contact my credit card company.

BMI are being really crap about this I still havent had any contact from them yet and they dont seem to have infromed expedia eithier.

blindman

Cade_Foster wrote: »

Is what im understanding correct it will take 8-10 weeks for you to get your money back for a refund that is a absolute joke they take your money straight away so should give it back straight away, if thats the case it may be easier to contact my credit card company.

BMI are being really crap about this I still havent had any contact from them yet and they dont seem to have infromed expedia eithier.

Do not wait for them to contact you, be proactive

This post on Flyertalk shows what bmi have in place to offer you.

The earlier you hound them the better offer you may get.

Persoannly I'd be calling them every day!

richardw

Paradise_Found wrote: »

Can anyone provide a summary of the remaining non-stop flights
from Manchester to the USA/Canada from next May onwards?...
Have I missed any?

Thomas Cook to LAS Vegas Charter

and worth keeping an eye on https://www.charterflights.co.uk and http://www.manchesterairport.co.uk/MANInfo/AllDestinations