Bmi

[chip&dale1]

Has anyone flown BMI from Manchester? If so what did you think? Cheers!

 

[JohnnySharp2]

I haven't but a mate recently did, no problems with flights and quality of service but one big drawback is the flight is via Chicago making it a very long day.

 

[wayneg]

Done it twice. Don't agree it makes it a long day if its all on time, leaves mancheaster at a perfect 11am 2.5 hours in Chicago which is great to not rush thru, then arrive in Orlando at 7:30pm but immigration already done in Chicago so straight to your car rental which is very quiet, not like when Virgin plane arrive. So from landing to exit car park we can do in about 30 mins compared to over an hour when you arrive with Virgin. All in if it goes to plan its about 2 hours longer from your door to hotel/Villa.
As for service, its way better than Virgin, cleaner planes, happier staff, better food and better entertainment on the transatlantic leg, internal flight depends which plane you get, last one we had was a great, never had as much legroom.
This August we are flying out with Virgin using Miles and coming back with BMI again.
Would not hessitate to use them if price is right.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

I will re-phrase that a very long day with a young(ish) child.
When you are up at 5am in the morning getting there as quickly as possible (for us) is the only option.

I would love to try BMI they seem good value for money but a direct flight is the only way we like to go.

 

[TracyK]

We thought they were great. Agree with all that wayneg says. Hope to fly with them next time.

Tracy

 

[chip&dale1]

Thanks for the responses! We're hoping to go to Orlando next year but have only ever flown direct before so feel a bit nervous about taking the indirect route. Don't need to worry about collecting a car at MCO as we take ME to SSR. Just researching best flight prices as we now have to pay for 3 adults and 1 child!

 

[jmagla]

We are flying with BMI for the first time from Manchester via Chicago in August this year , the price was just so much cheaper than Virgin. We have a 5 year old, so I think it will be a bit more of a struggle than direct but am not particularly worried. We have to travel to Manchester from Newcastle anyway so we will be staying in a local travelodge (£9!) the night before.

A question for anyone who has done this recently, do they now do online checkin? if yes what was your experience, we were planning to checkin the night before (any extra cost for this?), but online would possibly be more convenient.

Thanks Michael

 

[Babyboo]

I would love to try them but when pricing the flights they always seem to be around the same price as Virgin's / BA which doesn't seem worth it for an indirect flight.

Who do you book with to get them cheaper ?

 

[wayneg]

I would love to try them but when pricing the flights they always seem to be around the same price as Virgin's / BA which doesn't seem worth it for an indirect flight.

Who do you book with to get them cheaper ?

No set rule to finding best price. It could be direct on their website.
August 2006 we booked via Airline Network (now netfilghts.com) at £330 each Direct with BMI was £530, Virgin was £650.
As I said coming home with BMI this August direct with BMI was £450 just for one way booked it with Orbitz.com at $470 (£235)
We go upto 4 times a year so have to find best prices possible, when looking for flights I spend upto 2 hours every day looking, searching 3 and 4 times every day. Its very time consuming but saved a fortune compared to frightening prices I see some paying.

Never done online check in with BMI, only Virgin.
Anyone flying BMI remember you get 100% miles added to your Virgin flying club account.

 

[Babyboo]

No set rule to finding best price. It could be direct on their website.
August 2006 we booked via Airline Network (now netfilghts.com) at £330 each Direct with BMI was £530, Virgin was £650.
As I said coming home with BMI this August direct with BMI was £450 just for one way booked it with Orbitz.com at $470 (£235)
We go upto 4 times a year so have to find best prices possible, when looking for flights I spend upto 2 hours every day looking, searching 3 and 4 times every day. Its very time consuming but saved a fortune compared to frightening prices I see some paying.

Never done online check in with BMI, only Virgin.
Anyone flying BMI remember you get 100% miles added to your Virgin flying club account.

I've just been playing around on the Orbitz site and came up with $1808 for LHR to ORL on Virgin with a stop over in Washington. Connecting flights are with TED and it's saying we have to pay for hold baggage - not sure how this works. Similar timings to the BMI flights but LHR works better for us.

Can seem to get any of the UK sites to give me the option of flying indirect from LHR. Arn't the Virgin LHR planes meant to be better?

 

[wayneg]

I've just been playing around on the Orbitz site and came up with $1808 for LHR to ORL on Virgin with a stop over in Washington. Connecting flights are with TED and it's saying we have to pay for hold baggage - not sure how this works. Similar timings to the BMI flights but LHR works better for us.

Can seem to get any of the UK sites to give me the option of flying indirect from LHR. Arn't the Virgin LHR planes meant to be better?

Did a search on Moneysupermarket.com no luck with the route thru Washington then tried Expedia again did not offer the route but then changed the preference of Airline to Virgin and it then gives you the route.
Not heard of the extra charges with TED before, used them 2 or 3 times for connections, must be a new thing will look out for that in future.
Only time we have used Virgin from Heathow was to LAX, don't know any other route, I believe v-flyer website helps with which plane for routes.

 

[hogwartsdropout]

BMI were really great and even upgraded us to Premium for free when we checked in.

 

[Babyboo]

Did a search on Moneysupermarket.com no luck with the route thru Washington then tried Expedia again did not offer the route but then changed the preference of Airline to Virgin and it then gives you the route.
Not heard of the extra charges with TED before, used them 2 or 3 times for connections, must be a new thing will look out for that in future.
Only time we have used Virgin from Heathow was to LAX, don't know any other route, I believe v-flyer website helps with which plane for routes.

I'm going to be in so much trouble with DH I've done nothing this morning other than look for Feb flights and we haven't even been this year yet

I now can't find the $1800 flights but that's OK as DH said he would probably rather go from Heathrow, it's only 1hr to 1:30hr closer to home but makes a difference on the way back. The BMI flight from LHR is about the same price for our dates as a direct flight from LGW but gets into ORL earlier.

So the big question is which to book - the direct flight from LGW which will get us into ORL at 17:20 or the indirect flight getting us into ORL at 14:57 . I've read alot on hear that people prefer BMI to Virgin

I would think the total travel time would be about the same - we always leave really early for LGW even though the flight isn't till noon so we can miss rush hour

 

[wayneg]

So many decisions
I can only comment on Manchester routes, BMI anyday over Virgin only problem from Man BMI is via Chicago for us, Virgin Direct apart from that everything is better with BMI.