opinion of BMI (British Midlands) Airlines
 

I have booked a flight Dublin--Heathrow with BMI and was very impressed with the rates. Someone said that they often cancel the last flight of the day if it's lightly booked. If so, I'm in big trouble because of an early flight out of Heathrow the next day.

Is there a "Historical arrival/cancellation" site I can check? This has me nervous.The fare was 18 pounds, plus tax, so I can't expect miracles. I just don't wish to be stranded and don't know of any protection like the 240 rule which requires American carriers to put you on another carrier if they're cancelling for mechanical reasons, etc.

Thanks for any information.

I love BMI! If have the choice, I will fly BMI over BA or any other inter-European airline. On one occasion, Air Canada lost my luggage in transit, and BMI upgraded me on their Milan flight, because they felt sorry for me.

I have taken them many times on the Dublin-London route. I have taken their last flight out of Dublin several times and have never had it cancelled. Even if it is, they are a reliable, tier one airline and will book you on a later Aer Lingus/BA flight.

I was impressed with them as well. No problems at all and I believe the wine was good (and gratis).

I flew them once a few years ago between Rome and London. It's a very good airline: excellent aircraft (leather seats, clean), helpful flight attendants, and best of all great sandwiches made with baguettes!

If it's a short flight and it's cheap and it's on time then so what if the service is lousy?

Hey there Pilgrim , )

Wow that's a great fare - with airport taxes?? The best thing about bmi is that they're *not* a cheapo low-cost airfare, but they have great prices. As a scheduled carrier, they have lots of resources.

For example on my last flight Heathrow/Schiphol, the Airbus plane had 'technical problems.' But no problem, they had other planes available - put us all onto busses and over to new plane . . . only 30 minutes delay.

Plus their lounges are very comfortable - you're psyched if you're a Star Alliance silver or gold member (way short lines at LHR, too).

No worries, bmi will get you there. Have a great trip!!!

Ignore m_kingdom. BMI offers some of the best service in the industry (for its market segment)

I only wish they served the west coast of the USA becasue they would immediately become my carrier of choice to the UK.

Good servoce, good food (yes, really), mostly excellent equipment. Just a good all around airline.

How kind of you to offer your experiences!
I feel at ease. When I got the web fare of 18 pounds, plus tax, I was thrilled for a summer journey. I am delighted to learn that they are very reliable and sound much better than RyanAir, the other choice from Dublin to London.
Many thanks for your assistance. I'm looking forward to my first trip to Ireland.

Never heard a story about BMI "often" cancelling underbooked flights. Never read a moan from unhappy travellers about this in the press, never seen a report on those TV shows that expose bad airline food (and such progs proliferate here like daffs in March).

But I have been booked on BMI cancelled flights and found they painlessly transferred me to another carrier.

Strongly suggest you challenge this "someone" for hard data. Sounds to me like they're causing you unnecessary worry. If they're supposed to be a friend, that's not the action of a friend, but of a loudmouth wiseguy.

If they do have evidence, you'd be doing us all a favour by publishing it here. If they don't....

The "meals" on my flight comprised sandwiches, even in business class. Furthermore, the seats were not leather and nor were they particularly comfortable and not worth the premium fare; the people in this cabin were rather obnoxious too - loud mouthed junior executive positions in regional companies (i.e. not London based) trying to chat up stewardesses. I will always fly BA from now on, which is after all The Ritz of the airline industry.

Just want to say that there are two bmi products from that company. There's the regular bmi, and there's the low-fare bmibaby. Some of the comments may be about bmibaby.

Dublin - Heathrow is on the "grown-up" one, not baby.

My flight was with BMI.

Thank you again. This flight was booked on flybmi.com. I am reassured by your experiences and the policy of transferring one's reservation to another carrier rather than simply refunding the fare.
Cheers.

I would have assume M_K has his/her own plane.

There are always rumors that flights are cancelled due to light loads. However, that ignores one basic rule of airline movement. If they don't fly the flight from Dublin then they can't fly the plane back from Heathrow the next morning. Planes normally have to fly no matter what just to get them where they need to be for the next flight which could be packed when yours is empty.

By the way M_K, how did you get past the baggage limits on BMI. They are fairly stingy and as I recall you travel with steamer trunks.

I've only ever flown BMI for short (less than three night duration) trips - I chose them due to cheaper and more convenient flight times than my usual carrier, BA. For a three night break one can manage with only an handful of outfits, and a few pairs of shoes.

I would never advise one to fly BMI if they can help it, BA is so much more classic.