Beware: BMI Baby credit card

runnergirl178

Beware when signing up for a BMI Baby credit card which is what I did at the end of last year. They lure you with the promise of a free return flight to Europe when booked within the next 6 months when first using your credit card. I did this then received an email saying I could book a flight subject to availability. I travel to and from Nice frequently so thought I would take advantage of a flight in April. When I went through the procedure of typing in my email address and promotional code the website then showed which promotional flights were available up to the end of 2007. Lo and behold, there were none for Nice (only March)! Neither were there any for Portugal, Spain and other popular overseas destinations. What was available mostly were for flights within the UK, e.g Belfast, Edinburgh, London, etc. Now, I feel this is a bit of a con on behalf of BMI Baby and am very annoyed to be led into signing up for the credit card with the hope of claiming a free flight in return. So, I would say think twice if you are ever thinking of signing up for what sounds like a good deal. I doubt whether I will be able to take advantage of what's available but I certainly won't use this credit card again and it is now cut up and in the dustbin.

SoozyJ22

Have you told them you want to close your account? Just cutting up your card won't close the account and when the card expires they'll send you another one. Having theoretical available credit still on the card may have a bearing on other credit decisions that are made about you too.

gazza007

I have one & not really worth it as you can get flights for £0 + taxes when the offers come on. I use BMIbaby reg but prices going up all time with extra's. At one time seat booking was free & now they also charge for luggage. In addition we have Gordon Brown's so called green tax. To be fair to BMI baby all Loco's are getting more expensive.

marc291

I read the promtion for free flight on MSE newsletter.

I signed up for the credit card and searched 6 months for flights to Spain, in the six month period not one flight from any airport any time to Spain was available.

This whole promotion was a con as these flights never existed.

This was featured on BBC Watchdog program this week.

No response from BMI BABY, time to ditch the card I think.

Wyndham

As marc291 said, this was on Watchdog this week. They did a test on all the destinations they could, with a team of people. The ONLY flights they could get were within the UK, not to anywhere in Europe.

I think it's another Hoover situation

bdh_2

My wife and I signed up for the BMI Baby credit card. Like others we searched and could not find any flights. We wrote to them cancelling the card and told them that their as call centre is non UK using 0870 numbers and the fact that no flights were available meant it was a con. We had to waited for a few weeks and eventually had to ring (say no to 0870 gave us the number) to confirm it had been cancelled. We then cancelled our direct debit payment for the card. A few days later they wrote to tell us the DD had been cancelled and was that correct!

Enigmatist

Yes, indeed...no such thing as a free flight. Not only is the availability of dates and destinations limited, but you have to pay all taxes and charges. Given that these charges make up most of the cost of a flight, there is nothing free here. I too will be cancelling this account, cutting up my card and sending it back.

rockrat

well, as the old saying goes, "if it looks too good to be true, it probably is".
i too was hoping for a quick free flight over to the sun, but not to be.

however, the card is still good - offering 9 months at 0% BT facility, with a CAPPED fee of £75 making it a valuable card in the arsnel.
so anybody looking to BT more than £3700 (assuming the lowest 2% fee, in reality most are now 2.5 or 3%) will benefit with lower fees.

YorkshireBoy

rockrat wrote: »

however, the card is still good - offering 9 months at 0% BT facility, with a CAPPED fee of £75 making it a valuable card in the arsnel.
so anybody looking to BT more than £3700 (assuming the lowest 2% fee, in reality most are now 2.5 or 3%) will benefit with lower fees.

Changed recently. Now 12 months 0% on BT's with a 3% uncapped fee.