Beat Budget Airline Charges Discussion: BMI Baby

ask66

I just checked-in online for our BMI Baby flight next week, the first time I've used BMI Baby's online check-in. Did not want to pay £17 to guarantee particular seats for myself and travelling companion (£8.50 per person each way, for standard seats, £11.50 if you want extra legroom), so I left the allocation to them. I do think it was a bit naughty of BMI Baby to then allocate us seats in different parts of the plane... I don't particularly care where I sit, but I think it's reasonable to expect to be seated with my travelling companion(s)! Unless, of course, we are among the last to check-in and there are no seats together - but as our sequence numbers on the boarding passes are 19 and 20, that surely can't be the case! Looks to me as if BMI Baby have hit on a sneaky new way of raising extra revenue...

MumOf2

@Ask - in my experience there shouldn't be any problem. This has happened to us before and we just ask (very, very nicely) one of the air stewards if we can move to sit together once either everyone has got on or the plane has taken off. Never been refused so we get to sit together even without paying the £17 extra.

Good luck with this.

MumOf2

budgetflyer

Not only a bit naughty but very cynical too. Thats almost like blackmail -if you dont buy an upgrade then we guarantee to force you and your companions apart. Very shady practice imo.

ask66

MumOf2 wrote: »

@Ask - in my experience there shouldn't be any problem. This has happened to us before and we just ask (very, very nicely) one of the air stewards if we can move to sit together once either everyone has got on or the plane has taken off. Never been refused so we get to sit together even without paying the £17 extra.

Good luck with this.

MumOf2

Thanks MumOf2, that was our plan, as long as the plane isn't full! It shouldn't be necessary though.

ask66

Well - I decided to try e-mailing BMI Baby's Managing Director to tell him I wasn't happy. Successfully guessed the e-mail address, and was both surprised and impressed to get a response within a couple of hours:

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I was under the impression our reservations system allocated seats next to each other by default, and while this is normally the case it does seem that depending on certain rare circumstances this may not always be the case.
You will be able to change your seats at the airport to sit together, and I've asked a note to be added to your booking to ensure this goes smoothly when you arrive.
We'll also get onto our system provider to ensure any necessary modifications are done to remove this unintentional issue.
Thanks for raising this."

We got good seats near the front of the plane - well done BMI Baby!

emmilee

Just to forewarn people who like me maybe didn't realise this, but I recently booked flights with BMI baby for myself, husband & 2 children and was charged a card fee PER PERSON. I thought that the card fee should be per transaction, how on earth do they justify charging £10 per person for using a credit card? Not impressed.

To add: I had found a very good deal on a Disney break and wanted to get the flights and everything booked at once as it was fairly short notice. I do have a prepay mastercard as I believe Ryanair don't charge for using them, but when I looked at the BMI baby website it appeared that there was at least a £7 charge whichever of my cards.

I have to say the added £40 has really left a sour taste in my mouth :cool:

Neil49

emmilee wrote: »

Just to forewarn people who like me maybe didn't realise this, but I recently booked flights with BMI baby for myself, husband & 2 children and was charged a card fee PER PERSON. I thought that the card fee should be per transaction, how on earth do they justify charging £10 per person for using a credit card? Not impressed.

To add: I had found a very good deal on a Disney break and wanted to get the flights and everything booked at once as it was fairly short notice. I do have a prepay mastercard as I believe Ryanair don't charge for using them, but when I looked at the BMI baby website it appeared that there was at least a £7 charge whichever of my cards.

I have to say the added £40 has really left a sour taste in my mouth :cool:

The only way to avoid charges with BMI Baby is to pay with a Visa Electron card (available from Halifax amongst others).

You are a little out of date re Ryanair as your prepaid Mastercard now incurs their standard 'Admin' charge (as do all cards).

Ryanair recently introduced their own card which has so many limitations/ restrictions/ requirements that it is virtually not worth the effort of obtaining one. There is a separate thread on this subject which you should read.

Have an enjoyable holiday and forget about the charge this time around.

amisiura

Recently I booked three return flights to Amsterdam and thought I had got a good deal at less than £60 each until the £10 cc fee was added/person. This respresents an outrageous 17% surcharge when the cc company only charges them 2%. I would have thought that their hidden charges within taxes and taxes would be enough. This is the first and last time I will book with bmibaby. Does anyone have the MDs email so I can complain on behalf of all customers. Interestingly Thomas Cook made no charge for using by debit card on three flights to Turkey and similarly Monarch only charges a maximum of £5 per booking using paypal.

amisiura

I have emailed the MD ([EMAIL="julian.carr@bmibaby.com"]julian.carr@bmibaby.com[/EMAIL]) and the Senior Customer Services Manager ([EMAIL="sarah.newcombe@bmibaby.com"]sarah.newcombe@bmibaby.com[/EMAIL]) today about the credit card charges and await their response.

amisiura

amisiura wrote: »

I have emailed the MD ([EMAIL="julian.carr@bmibaby.com"]julian.carr@bmibaby.com[/EMAIL]) and the Senior Customer Services Manager ([EMAIL="sarah.newcombe@bmibaby.com"]sarah.newcombe@bmibaby.com[/EMAIL]) today about the credit card charges and await their response.
See feeble reponse of bmibaby. No surprises here perhaps but they clearly do not mind losing customers which of course is potentially the road to ruin as other businesses have found out. No wonder the government wants to legislate against such practice.

[FONT=&quot][/FONT][FONT=&quot]Dear Dr Misiura[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Thank you for your e-mail. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I was sorry to read of your disappointment regarding the credit card fees applied to your booking. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]To help cover the administration and financial costs incurred when processing bookings made using credit and debit cards, a fee is applied. As you are aware, the fee when making payment by a credit card is £5.00 per person per flight. This is advised during the booking process and also in our terms and conditions. I can confirm that no fee is applied for passengers making payment by Visa Electron. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]On behalf of bmibaby may I thank you for taking the time to contact us and I apologise for any dissatisfaction caused. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Yours sincerely[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Sarah Newcombe[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Senior Customer Services Manager[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]bmi[/FONT][FONT=&quot]baby[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][EMAIL="sarah.newcombe@bmibaby.com"]sarah.newcombe@bmibaby.com[/EMAIL][/FONT]