BMI cancelled flight

baranes

sorry, this is a bit long-winded...I had pre-booked 5 seats on the heathrow to palma mallorca service next spring. I received an e-mail telling me the service is to be withdrawn. I was told by an advisor that i could either have a refund or a rearranged flight. The rearranged flight was to be with Lufthansa via Munich with a travel time of over 7 hours instead of 2 1/2. When i said this was unnacceptable, i was told to rebook with another airline, take the refund and claim for any additional cost. When i tried to claim the difference i was told i was entitled to nothing but the refund. Anyone know how i stand???

jamesbrownontheroad

BMI have done everything they are obliged to. They can only offer you a full refund or the best available re-routing option. Since BA have also pulled flights to Palma, and the low-costs won't liase with the full service airlines in these situations, the only thing BMI could reasonably do is offer an alternative routing through their Star Alliance partner airlines, either Lufthansa or maybe Swiss.

Sorry. But that's the way it is. If you book with Ryanair or Easyjet and they decide to cancel an entire route (as BMI have done in your case) all you'll get is a refund, and no alternative.

PS. The BMI Diamond Club forum on FlyerTalk, and specifically this thread may be of help. The Diamond Club forum has many helpful users and some detailed FAQs.

baranes

I did have a feeling this would be the case. I had been offered conflicting advice as to what rights I did have, considering the alternative flight I was offered wasn't a like-for-like replacement (ie a direct london to palma service).

jamesbrownontheroad

baranes wrote: »

I did have a feeling this would be the case. I had been offered conflicting advice as to what rights I did have, considering the alternative flight I was offered wasn't a like-for-like replacement (ie a direct london to palma service).

Sadly the like-for-like argument seems tenuous when dealing with airline t+c's. They'd get you to Palma... eventually

On the (very optimistic) plus side, a connecting flight with LH or LX would mean a longer route and therefore you'd earn more BMI Diamond Club miles

TuftyMatt

I too was booked on the same route next May and have gone for the refund. This was done over the phone on October 4th but as yet I still do not have my money back.

Anyone else in the same boat?

baranes

apparently bmi operate what they call 'a queueing system' when dealing with refunds. If you call 01332854534 one of the very nice ladies on that number will bypass the queue and action your refund immediately.