BMI US flight sale

[wayneg]

Just had email from BMI, our fave transatlantic carrier, OK you have to fly Via Chicago but IMHO a better service than BA or Virgin (Economy)
Florida from Man from £289
You have to book before 18th Nov.
http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/special-offers/sale-fares-to-the-usa-and-caribbean.aspx?&LinkID=4375
Just checked some dates for next Aug as Virgin are so expensive, there are plenty of dates from £533

Hope its some use to someone.
If anyone books to return on the 25th Aug I will be on that flight.

 

[Merylj]

Thanks for the link, priced up 31/8 - 18/9 £384 each from Manchester. Thats a good price we`ll have to make our minds up!
Does anyone know if Virgin prices can be this low for Sept?

 

[minnie29uk]

Thanks for the link, priced up 31/8 - 18/9 £384 each from Manchester. Thats a good price we`ll have to make our minds up!
Does anyone know if Virgin prices can be this low for Sept?

Hi!
I have baught for £300 for Sep from Virgin and £149 from Thomson for September - that was before kids at school!!September always cheap,

lynn

 

[irenep]

thanks for the info.
Just priced up when we want to go in July - and comes out almost over £900 cheaper than virgin and BA!(three of us travelling)
Now I have to persuade everyone its worth it - we have to do an extra leg from Aberdeen.

 

[scottishsue]

thanks for the info.
Just priced up when we want to go in July - and comes out almost over £900 cheaper than virgin and BA!(three of us travelling)
Now I have to persuade everyone its worth it - we have to do an extra leg from Aberdeen.

You can pay just as much for the extra leg from Aberdeen though Irene.
At least with BA there are no added extras - and you only have the one change at Gatwick.

 

[matty624]

Aaaaarrrrrggghhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just paid over £600 more for flights with Virgin, same dates in July/August, admittedly direct, but still wouldn't have minded saving that amount of money for an indirect flight. Only booked them yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!
With the £500 deposit, we'd lose, it's not worth cancelling!

 

[wayneg]

Aaaaarrrrrggghhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just paid over £600 more for flights with Virgin, same dates in July/August, admittedly direct, but still wouldn't have minded saving that amount of money for an indirect flight. Only booked them yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!
With the £500 deposit, we'd lose, it's not worth cancelling!

That has happened to me more than once. At least you are going direct. I have a £100pp rule its worth stopping for a couple of hours somewhere for £100+ saving.

 

[matty624]

That has happened to me more than once. At least you are going direct. I have a £100pp rule its worth stopping for a couple of hours somewhere for £100+ saving.

Same here. Good rule to have. Just looked into it, Dialaflight may (not that they are answering the phone now) let us change the flights, and we'd be charged £30/person. If they can sell the BMI flights at a similar cost, may be okay. But lets face it, I'm in an incredibly weak bargaining position now!!!!!!!!!
Still, if we do have to go Virgin, at least it's direct, and we can take advantage of the DTD check in.

 

[wayneg]

Worth a try if it saves you £600, let us know how you get on.

 

[irenep]

You can pay just as much for the extra leg from Aberdeen though Irene.
At least with BA there are no added extras - and you only have the one change at Gatwick.

Believe it or not - I took that into account. BMI does the whole thing i.e. aberdeen-manchester-chicago-orlando, and all on same day so no hotels to pay for. It does make for a very long day though start at 08:45 and finish 19:26 at MCO.So one extra stop, 4.5hrs extra travelling, and £900 in pocket -is it worth it?:

 

[wayneg]

£900 in pocket -is it worth it?:

Is it worth it If someone said to me I will pay you £200/hour to sit about doing nothing I would snatch ther hand off.

No question I would do it but I don't like parting with my money unless I have to.

 

[irenep]

Is it worth it If someone said to me I will pay you £200/hour to sit about doing nothing I would snatch ther hand off.

No question I would do it but I don't like parting with my money unless I have to.

Yeah - I already did that this last trip Our flight from Gatick to Aberdeen (BA) was overbooked - they offered us £175 each to take the later flight - less than 3 hours later!! yes please

 

[Jakey Rowling]

Believe it or not - I took that into account. BMI does the whole thing i.e. aberdeen-manchester-chicago-orlando, and all on same day so no hotels to pay for. It does make for a very long day though start at 08:45 and finish 19:26 at MCO.So one extra stop, 4.5hrs extra travelling, and £900 in pocket -is it worth it?:

Some really good prices for Man to MCO for 1st to 22nd July - £1415 for the 4 of us.
BUT when I include EDI to MCO (via MAN) it comes up with a total price of £2541 i.e. £1126 for the EDI to Man hop as it insists on flying us business class from EDI.
I can book the EDI to MAN flights separately for around £300

Just had a similar prob with BA, if I booked EDI to MCO as a journey it cost much more than booking the exact same flights separately.

I like having the luggage booked through but not that much

 

[jmagla]

Hi Wayne,
The prices look very good compared to Virgin, I have priced up for August, £538 per adult (United Airlines, not BMI's own), a couple of questions:

1. Do all seats have seat back screens?

2. Can you pre book and choose seats online (at no extra cost)?

3. Can you check in on line as you can with Virgin?

4. Are all extras included i.e. food, drinks etc?

5. Do you have to pay the full amount up front?

6. Do the sale prices vary?, i.e. if I dont book until next week are the prices likely to have gone up?

Thanks Michael

 

[meryll83]

Just subscribing to this thread as I'm on the watch for cheap times to book flights in preparation for a whole posse of us going over in October 2009!
You can never begin researching too early I say!

 

[wayneg]

Hi Michael

1) Yes http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/pla...to-expect-on-board/onboard-entertainment.aspx

2) Yes "advance seat selection at time of booking"

3)Not sure, I only started using online checkin this year, Does not look like it after a very quick read of this page. https://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/planningandinformation/check-in/onlinecheck-in.aspx

4) "a choice of fine international cuisine
complimentary soft drinks
complimentary newspaper
complimentary comfort kit on inbound sector
on services from Manchester, wines, spirits and beer are available to purchase"

5) Yes if you book direct, thru an agent might offer different terms.

6)No-one can predict any flight prices, if they are not selling they will drop, if they are they will increase. With the strong £ I guess many will be going to the states again next year and keep the prices high thru school hols.

 

[jmagla]

Hi Wayne,
Thanks for the info, have booked four seats next August, Manchester to Orlando via Chicago for £2058 which is the cheapest I have seen so far. Would rather have flown direct with Virgin but their prices at the moment are £900 dearer. It wouldnt let me choose seat numbers etc during booking process but I have called them direct and got two lots of two window seats (to and from Manchester only). Also claimed Virgin air miles for the trips.

One further question, once at Chicago on outward leg will they have allocated us seats together?, or is it a bit of a scrum for that leg?

Cheers again Michael

 

[wayneg]

When you check in at manchester they should give you boarding cards for your 2nd leg, so you go direct to your gate without checking in again. Thats what AA did last month for us, if I remember rightly BMI did the same last year. Only thing you have to do is claim your luggage and hand it back in again.
What dates are you going?

 

[Jakey Rowling]

When you check in at manchester they should give you boarding cards for your 2nd leg, so you go direct to your gate without checking in again. Thats what AA did last month for us, if I remember rightly BMI did the same last year. Only thing you have to do is claim your luggage and hand it back in again.
What dates are you going?

I thought these days the only way you can get a boarding card for the 2nd leg is if you are on the same booking, therefore you can get your luggage checked all the way through.

This worked ok for me in Sept although my indirect was via gatwick but still a different airline combination.

 

[wayneg]

I thought these days the only way you can get a boarding card for the 2nd leg is if you are on the same booking, therefore you can get your luggage checked all the way through.

This worked ok for me in Sept although my indirect was via gatwick but still a different airline combination.

I was booked from Man to Las Vegas with a change in Chicago all AA flights. Always had collect luggage and go to security for re-check on outbound journey, only takes a few minutes to do.
On inbound you don't, you do 1st check in and don't see you bags until home destination.
Maybe its different if you change in UK airport, but US you have to collect and recheck luggage