British Midland Airlines, any experience?
 

Hello, I wondered if anyone could tell me about British Midland Airlines. Are they a good airline, has anyone had any experience with them? Looking to fly from Rome to London <BR>Thanks

they're a totally "normal" airline for Europe (Britain) - - which means more attentive to service than most American airlines. Still serve a modest refreshment on non-plastic plates/utensils, even on a short flight from Brussels to London (admittedly, about 5 years ago). <BR> <BR>

Oh, and I forgot to add - - they offer a very good deal through their "Discover Europe Airpass" which you wouldn't find if you didn't know to look for it. Click on "site index" on their website and you'll see it there. <BR> <BR>And apparently, starting in April, they're going to start offering trans-atlantic service. for a list of every where they fly, go to www.flybmi.com/timetable/timetable.pdf (requires Adobe Acrobat).

I often fly British Midlands in Europe. I must say they are a decent airline but nothing special. It much better than Alitalia, but not as good as Lufthansa or Air France! <BR> <BR>Note - BMI (as thet now call themselves) will start service to the US but onlt between Manchester and Chicago and Washington . Not from London.

Last December, I flew on BMI from Heathrow to Edinburgh with my three children and my 78yr old mother. My flight from San Francisco, on United, was late. United had notified BMI because ten passengers on the United flight were connecting with the BMI flight to Edinburgh. United met us at the gate, escorted us to a shuttle, through security to passport control, getting us to the check in desk ten minutes before flight time. The BMI supervisor we dealt with refused to allow any of us on the plane because they "close the gate fifteen minutes before departure". We all had to wait two hours for the next flight to Edinburgh. The service in the air was good and the planes were very nice, but the "help" in the terminal left a lot to be desired.

Barbara <BR>That seem to be normal procedure for airlines, unfortunately they can't delay hundreds of people just for the handful that are late, even though of course it was not your fault. The same has happened to me before with Lufthansa when my flight into Frankfurt (to connect to Helsinki) was late. I then had to wait six hours or more and then didn't arrive in Helsinki until after midnight. But that is just the way it is. My father who until a couple of months ago flew every week to "Europe" (from the UK) always chose British Midland over British Airways. It is a very good airline.

Not that this is any help. More for the chance of remininiscing. Flew their inaugural flight. Amsterdam - Heathrow 29th June, 1986.Was great then. Still have the commemorative crystal glasses they gave each passenger. <BR>So if I can turn this post into anything relevant for you, it means that they have been in business for a while and are not "fly-by-night" (!!!) operators.

Angela: <BR> There were only about three dozen people on the flight we actually got on, and on a Sunday morning I don't think there would have been mor than that on the earlier on. So it was not a matter of not "delaying hundreds of people", but simply very poor service. On this same trip, our flight from San Diego to San Francisco - on United - was completely full. Because we were connecting with an international flight, we had to check in at the desk rather than with a Skycap. For some reason which nobody seemed to know, the line at the counter was about a mile long. (We arrived at the airport 2hrs before departure) United staff were pulling people, including us, out of line to get them on departing flights and right after we got on our plane the door closed. This did not delay anybody, but gave good service to all.

Barbara <BR> <BR>Unfortunately if an airline does miss its slot at a busy international airport it may have to wait an awful long time for a new slot (maybe an hour at busy times). So I guess I can understand why the plane would not wait, but I'm sorry that you had a bad experience.