WillTravel

I read this on FlyerTalk.com and Pprune.org . If you go to their site, you see you can't book flights after March 25. I know that BMI was offering these bookings far in advance a short time ago. However, BMI has now decided to use their slots to fly to Moscow instead of Paris.

So now if you want to get from London to Paris, or vice versa, after March 25, you have one less option. But you can fly EasyJet (but Luton is not terribly convenient), or take the Eurostar (tickets booked in advance for roundtrips can be cheap), or take the Eurolines coach (long bus ride), or no doubt some other combination.

JN

For some reason, your pprune.org link didn't work. Try this one-- http://www.pprune.org/forums/

shellio

WillTravel, can you give a more specific link to where you read it on these websites? United uses BMI for connecting flights from SFO to Paris via London and my May flight is still shown as confirmed on the United site.

shellio

I just got off the phone with United after checking the BMI website, which does indeed indicate a suspension of service between LHR and CDG as of March 27, 2007. The US based United rep didn't know about the suspension of flights yet, and the supervisor checked the BMI website at my urging. So far, they won't make any itinerary changes without charge, saying merely that we'll "be protected" when they're officially notified by BMI.

Since my reservation is a United codeshare, made through United, I assume they'll put us on another carrier flying that route, such as Air France, even though they're not partners. Is that a reasonable assumption?

WillTravel

Shellio, you're probably best asking in the United forum on FlyerTalk, unless someone here has the answer. But just guessing, I know that routings are never guaranteed, so I think United could give you a completely different set of flights, maybe even routing through the US, to get to Paris. Whether that is likely, or whether it's more likely they will put you on a non-partner flight, is something I haven't a clue about. Please post back when they do fix this for you.

rkkwan

UA have their own daily flight ORD-CDG and IAD-CDG. They'll most likely put you on one of those.

shellio

rkkwan, I think you're probably right and that's annoying since I deliberately book a longhaul to Europe with a short connecting leg to try to get some rest on the flight from the west coast. Also, I'm using miles to upgrade and they probably don't have upgrade seats available on the same day. Aargh!

W9London

BA still flying LHR-CDG several times daily. For me, the best kept secret is AF sub/affiliate flying between London City and Orly. Both airports are so much easier to navigate and less prone to delays.

ms_go

Don't overlook SFO-FRA-CDG as an option if they try to rebook you through ORD or IAD.

It sounds like UA hasn't loaded bmi's schedule changes yet, but they probably will soon. I had changes to a UA itinerary for June just show up this morning.

WillTravel

W9London, isn't Air France between London City and Orly rather expensive, or do they have some cheap options too?

W9London

Good question. Most of the time, I see more business people in suits than obvious tourists at least for morning outbound flights. So, the price is probably slightly higher than BA/bmi out of LHR, which is usually priced at a comparable rate to Eurostar (though ends up more expensive if you consider LHR express and RER train). But not ridiculously high--got GBP130 vs around GBP90 for LHR-CDG BA/AF/bmi on Expedia.

WillTravel

I had a ridiculously cheap one-way LHR-CDG flight a couple years ago, so those prices look very high, but that's ancient history now.

In any event, the new date for BMI cancelling this service is Feb. 26.
http://tinyurl.com/2v6hss

shellio

I'm reporting back on the resolution of the problem caused by United Star Alliance partner BMI's suspension of the LHR-CDG route.

Well, United finally dealt with the dropped BMI service as we had worried they would, by re-booking us through ORD and losing the upgrade on the domestic leg while giving us a very tight connection. This despite my stated preference to a reservations agent last week to keep the London route and end the journey there if they couldn't get me to CDG.

After quite a bit of discussion today they found an earlier flight to ORD with upgrades available and after even more discussion made a "good-will gesture" crediting back some miles.

I must admit, we're not coming out any worse in terms of upgrades, but I deliberately chose the longhaul to London and wanted to keep it, even at the cost of needing to make the cross-channel connection on my own. The frustration is not having anyone hear you.

Oh well, getting to Paris is the important thing!

kerouac

The Eurostar & Thalys and the increasing speed of rail travel between London and Paris are killing the air links, exactly as has already happened with Paris-Brussels, Paris-Lille and a number of other routes.

WillTravel

Shellio, thanks for the update. I know it makes a very long day to connect through the US.

shellio

What's most annoying is that passengers who booked BMI directly rather than as a United codeshare are being accommodated on AF or BA flights; that's a simple solution that would have made me happy. Instead, United totally ignored our preferred routing and in effect says shut up and be happy we're still taking you where you want to go, never mind how you wanted to get there. Oh well, that's off my chest.

rkkwan

Well, but let me tell you that you'll have better rest on the SFO-ORD-CDG than your original SFO-LHR-CDG. The London flight leaves too early (12:30p I believe), and I doubt anyone can sleep for 7-8 hours at that time unless you don't sleep the night before.

In contrast, the ORD-CDG flight leaves around 6pm (4pm West Coast time). You can sleep longer on this flight despite its shorter flying time.

And ORD is easier than LHR for transit, at least on the outbound.

shellio

You're right, rkkwan, about the timing. Aside from the sleep issue, I really like to try to replicate a non-stop as much as possible since the SFO-CDG nonstop disappeared. I like to get on board, settle in, and think "next stop Europe".

In addition, in the event there is a weather or mechanical or other issue at the connecting flight point, I'm only a train trip or other airline hop from my final destination.