This Jan we went on a package holiday with Neilson to Swedish ski resort Are. The charter flight that came as part of the package was operated by British Midland and took us to the nearest airport, Ostersund.

I was pleasantly surprised that we weren't flying Rynair or Easyjet as I'm not a fan. The biggest benefit over the budget airlines was that we could fly from Heathrow - no trekking out into the sticks for Luton or Stansted at 5am.

The check-in staff were efficient and there was only a very short queue. The flight left on time in both directions and everything was really easy. Despite opting out of paying for an in flight meal we still got fed! The in-flight staff were polite and helpful too.

The one scary moment was the realisation on final approach that we were going to land on ice and snow! A little scary but nothing went wrong. It was one of the smoothest landings I've ever experienced in fact.

Our entire package holiday was £300 each including transfers and the accomodation so I think this representing great value with the flight probably accounting for less than half of that.

I have used British midlands for many years for my son to fly to England and am now concerned that you can give bank details on the phone and errors can be made. It is a matter of trust, however this error was probably a human error. I have spent all morning sorting this out on the phone being passed from departure to the other and also ringing my bank.

New BMI Baggage check-in policy
http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/planandbook/throughcheck-in.aspx

As a result of our recently announced new short haul business model we have made some changes to our through check-in and baggage tag policy. Through check-in means that any baggage is labelled through to your onward destination, and your boarding card is issued for your next flight.
Previously customers arriving at BMI check-in with separate tickets for connecting journeys were allowed to go through check-in to their onward flight, providing the airport minimum connection criteria were met.
This service has always been provided on a courtesy basis. Greater availability of low fares to book online has resulted in more customers using separate tickets for interline journeys, and the demand for through check-in has increased. In the majority of cases, the fare paid does not cover the costs of the transfer facilities and the liability costs that can arise.

New through check-in policy:
If you have booked connecting journeys using separate tickets, we no longer offer the facility of through check-in or through tagging of baggage. Only passengers with flight itineraries issued on a single ticket with one booking reference will qualify for the through check-in service, subject to minimum connection times. This policy applies to all connecting flights (BMI to BMI, BMI to other carriers and all codeshare flights). Passengers choosing to purchase separate tickets should allow sufficient time to collect any baggage, and check-in again for onward flights.
Our decision to amend this policy has been driven by the desire to continue interline flights whilst recognising the cost of providing these services.


What a travesty!! The following is a shortened version of the letter of complaint we have sent to BMI, the ticket supplier, and MME management on arrival in the USA, to which there has been a very limited response - indeed BMI have not even acknowledged receiving it!

This letter is a complaint of poor and unacceptable service, and is for the attention of the chairman of BMI and his equivalent at Travel Counsellors. We would preface our remarks by saying that this experience contrasts with the excellent service we have had in the past.

On the morning of the 14th October we arrived well in time at Teesside Airport (now named Durham and Tees Valley Airport, but we'll call it Teesside for now) to catch the 7:05am flight to Heathrow, to commence one of our twice yearly visits to San Francisco to see our children and grandchildren.

We handed the E ticket booking reference to the man on the BMI desk who frowned at it and referred it to someone else, who gave him the go ahead and told him how to deal with it. We handed over our passports, and all seemed well until we noticed that the labels being attached to our hold luggage had LHR on them and not SFO. We asked if the luggage was going to be checked straight through as usual, and his reply was that we would have to pick it all up in London and recheck it, and be ticketed at the UA check in desk at Heathrow. We became quite alarmed at this in view of our knowledge of Heathrow and the time involved in this sort of activity. So we asked why this was the case, as it had never happened before in the previous 10 trips through the same routing, and he said we had two tickets. We said it's one ticket, and he said it had two code numbers on the paper which was indicative of two tickets, and refused to discuss the matter further. We have two comments on this. One he did not tell us - we had to ask - and if we hadn't noticed the luggage labels, we would have happily walked through Heathrow assuming the luggage would be passed through the internal Heathrow baggage transfer system, until at some point we would have also realised that we had no UA boarding cards either. The second point is that we can only see one code number on the ticket.

Whilst Dr Walker was trying to sort this out Mrs Walker spotted a leaflet on the desk issued on the 1st of August by BMI, which attempted to explain all this. No-one had offered this to us by way of explanation. We were not happy, so spoke to the lady at the BMI information desk at Teesside, who confirmed what the man had said and her hands were tied. She actually said that Heathrow baggage transfers in the past had been done as a favour to customers, and was not part of a contract! We find this unbelievable, and it seems to us that a few people at Teesside need more training. This is of concern to us, as others on the same flight had had their baggage transferred.

We talked to the stewardesses on the plane to Heathrow, who are becoming quite harassed about the frequency of this question arising, as many people seem to be getting the same treatment and it is not clear to everyone as to what constitutes a single ticket which would allow the luggage to be automatically transferred. There is a reasonable assumption from the Star Alliance literature that transfers between associated airlines are one of the major advantages of travelling within this group. Anyway the stewardesses were helpful and found out, and explained to us the best way of getting our luggage from the conveyor belt at Terminal 1 to the UA check in desk at Terminal 3. So on landing we followed their instructions, which were confirmed when we asked a member of the ground staff how to do this after we arrived at the Terminal 1 conveyor belt.

We then found that the distance involved, and the slopes with two heavy trolleys, and the necessary use of two elevators is still very testing for two people aged 67, but who fortunately are reasonably fit. You should try it! It was also actually faster to walk than use any of the people conveyor belts which exist, which in any case were mostly moving in the opposite direction. However, the corridors were very busy, and with all the queues and people traffic, we were pushed for time all the way. People less fit or not confident about directions and so on, would have had extreme difficulties. In fact they would have missed the UA flight. Fortunately a man at the UA check-in area rescued us from the long check-in queue and we managed to check in quickly, but we were at this point 15 minutes to take off time, and the check-in lady advised us that the flight was about to close. Once away from there we joined a passport control check line up, and then the line up for security. Both of these we see as necessary, but if the luggage had been checked straight through the following jog trot to the departure point, passing signs which said the flight was closing, which added to our anxieties, could have been avoided. Even with the help of the UA check-in people it took an hour from getting our luggage from the Terminal 1 conveyor belt to reaching the UA departure lounge. We were the last people to board the plane due to another security check at the gate because of our late arrival, and of course the overhead bins were a problem for storage as they were pretty full.

We have to point out that the ticket was issued by a reputable travel agent, and under proper baggage transfer management would have allowed plenty of time at Heathrow, even with a delayed flight.

We arrived at the UA plane feeling harassed, anxious, and we were soaked in perspiration.

We would like you to know that we are already booked for the same journey in January, but his time we booked directly with UA not through a travel agent - by which time we hope the BMI organisation has improved its procedures. We are also going to check out what might happen on our return journey from this trip in four weeks time, as there is no way we can make the Terminal 3 to Terminal 1 move to connect with the planned Teesside flight if these current procedures are followed. This will cause a totally unacceptable wait at Heathrow. We hope better sense prevails by that time.

During our lives and travels we have had many awkward situations to deal with, but not many have raised our anger to this level, as BMI's pointless and easily accessible customer information is almost totally lacking.

BMI Targets Children in Latest Price Hike!

The introduction of a so-called "Tiny" fare structure by BMI has imposed yet more hardship on long-distance parents who already pay a premium for the privilege of flying their children as unaccompanied minors.

BMI does not take unaccompanied minor (UM) flight bookings on their web site. This meant that UM bookings could not take advantage of the cheaper, internet-only fares. Up to now, BMI have honoured internet-only prices with, of course, the additional UM premium of £35 per sector.

Now, BMI have replaced their "cheapest" fares by what are known as "tiny" fares. Comparisons between the two fare structures show absolutely no difference. So why have BMI made this rather cosmetic change? The answer to this question lies buried deep within their travel information literature:

*If you are making a booking for travel from 01 August 2005, following a policy change, this service will be available if you book a 'standard' fare or higher (excludes 'tiny' fares) . Again, as this service cannot be booked online, we will waive our call centre reservations fee.

This appears to be a good way of appearing to keep prices low, whilst at the same time increasing prices for those who have no alternative but to make a telephone booking. These are underhand, back-door price rises for the very people who can least afford it; divorced parents, distant grandparents, an incapacitated parent who desparately wants to see the children have some kind of holiday with caring relatives.

I did attempt to find out what a "call centre reservation fee" comprises. A search of the BMI web site drew a blank, but a close match appears to be:

Should you choose to book and pay via our telephone reservations our online price will be re-quoted to include an offline supplement of £5.00 per ticket each way.

Generous indeed, but this also seems to be a new additional charge. In my four years of booking my 9-year-old son on BMI flights this supplement has never ever been mentioned by call-centre staff. In fairness though, many BMI call-centre staff command of both the english language and the booking of UM flights is, at best, poor.

Congratulations, BMI. You have successfully increased childrens' fares whilst at the same time giving the appearance of keeping fares down by changing the name of an existing fare structure, penalizing parents who have no alternative but to make telephone reservations, and actively discriminating against what might have been your passengers of the future.

They offer free upgrades if you fly with them a lot, excellent idea.

1. British Midland Flight London to Nice on Sunday 25th January due for departure at 16:35

Booked in ok
Boarded flight
Sat on aircraft for 1 hour before being told by the captain that we were waiting for a slot to depart. 10 mins later, told that there was possibly an engine problem and that it needed investigating. Another hour later, we are finally offered a drink and advised that the plane is faulty but that another flight would be arriving at approx 6pm. Told that we would now have to change plane and depart at 7pm.

Kicked off flight, waited for new details of departure gate. Finally advised on departure gate. Told at departure gate that flight would board at 7pm.

All BMI staff disappeared. Once they retured they advised us that the flight would board "soon". Finally boarded flight at 7:40pm and plane took off at just after 8pm.

Arrived in Nice collected baggage and finally arrived in Cannes at Midnight, missing a meeting that was set up for 8pm. 2. Return flight from Nice booked for 28th January at 20:20.

Snow hit London, and flight was shown as "delayed". Booked in and sent through to departure lounge. After approx 1 1/2 hours flight announced as Cancelled.

Returned to check in to be told "you have to book another flight". When asked what that meant, was told that as it was an "act of god" we would have to book another flight. We requested information as to when / how BMI were going to deal with 200 passengers who were stranded at Nice airport. We were quite rudely "shooed" away and sent to reservations desk to reserve a new fligt.

Queued for approx 1/2 an hour in reservations queue when an Air France staff member told us she had spoken to BMI who said they would lay on a larger plane to soak up the extra people for the 11am flight from Nice. Told to return to airport at 9am the following morning.

No information on where / how to book a local airport hotel. Everyone left stranded with no information or assistance and no BMI representative available or staged at Nice airport.

200 passengers showed up at 9am to be told that we were all on standby but that it was OK BMI had laid on a larger plane.

Plane showed up and was a Fokker 100 not the promised 747.

BMI were telephoned and reassured us that the flight only was overbooked by 3 people and that we would ALL be on the 11am flight.

Queued up at check in to be told on reaching check in that we were all on standby and therefore unless we had booked a seat the night before (which we had been stopped from being allowed to do by Air France reps) we would have been allowed on the flight.

BMI were contacted again and still reassured us we would be taken care of.

An hour later BMI said Air France would take us home.

An hour later still were told we would be flown to Paris and would be routed onto the 18:30 from Paris to London.

200 passengers were split across 2 flights to Paris and routed there after some delays.

Arrived in Paris. Flight listed as being "on time". Attendent at check in said "flight may be cancelled"

At 6:30pm flight still listed as "on time" but no boarding gate is listed

7:00pm reliably informed from someone on flight who has a friend at BMI that flight has not left London and will not do so for at least another 3 hours.

Contacted travel agent and requested availabilty on Air France flight at 8:00pm. Paid for another ticket and went to BMI to retrieve baggage. Told baggage retrieval impossible and that baggage would be removed from flight unless we were on it.

Suggested they shove that where the sun does not shine and that 24 hours to return from Niece was rediculous. Finally had agreement from BMI that baggage would travel without 4 passengers.

Went to Air France in another terminal who had already closed check in for our flight. By contrast they especially re opened check in for us and allowed us to board the flight which was half empty. Why couldn't BMI re-route the passengers from their failed flight onto Air France flights which had been flying hourly all day from Paris to London with only minor delays?

The flight was a good start to our holiday, good service, friendly flight crew, nice food. I would recommend BM