Day before check in?

[matty624]

I've just been reading an older trip report which mentioned that they checked in the day before, went home and then the day they travelled didn't have the hassle of the luggage. This was at Birmingham.
I know about Virgin's twilight check in at the London airports. Does anyone else know whether you can check in the day before with any other airlines. We're flying with United in a couple of weeks (BMI) and it would be fantastic to be able to do this (we're going from Manchester)
Can anyone help?
TIA
Ian

 

[Rain]

Hi Matty,

BMI unfortunately do not do previous day check in, we have asked several time. Really good airline to fly with though.

Airtours and air 2000 still do previous day check in at Manchester


Lynda

 

[TraceyL]

You can check in online 12 hours before (24 hours if you're an executive club member) your flight with BA or use the self service check in facility with an e-ticket.

 

[matty624]

Thanks both of you. I'll have to rmember that about Air2000 and Airtours Lynda, we've steered clear of them in the past because we wanted scheduled flights, better baggage allowance etc. But now the children get a baggage allowance, we might start looking at charter again.
The only thing we've found with charter flights though, is that they strangely seem to be more expensive for the times when we want to go, i.e. school holidays than scheduled ones...
Ian

 

[Rain]

Matty.

I agree and the only time I have used charters is if we can get premium cabin seating, otherwise too cramped for the long journey in my opinion, the PE are cheaper than virgin at around £145 return.

This time we are flying US and next year Virgin PE that will be our first direct flight in many years.

I am sure you will enjoy BMI though, are you aware that you can upgrade at the desk on the morning of the flight if you wanted to for £100.

 

[amf]

I am sure you will enjoy BMI though, are you aware that you can upgrade at the desk on the morning of the flight if you wanted to for £100.

Just to clarify....upgrade will be to New Economy, rather than business class. NE has a dedicated cabin with the same seats as Economy, but with a 38 inch seat pitch, as opposed to 32 inches in Economy.

We are flying the same route in September. I have a number of upgrade vouchers so we're hoping to get into NE.....mind you all those b*ggers paying to upgrade might just put a spoke in our wheels

BTW....I've only ever read favourable comments from those who have flown bmi across the pond

Edit....acronym corrected......they never were my strong point

 

[matty624]

That's useful info Rain and amf. No I didn't know about upgrading the day of the flight. That sounds quite interesting...
Are all things equal between economy and new economy, except for the seat pitch? Also, do you usually get individual tvs with BMI? I hope so, it kept our two little ones occucpied all the way there last year, ds (who was two at the time) especially loved Spiderman!
Thanks,
Ian

 

[Rain]

Not sure if the other things are the same as economy other than seat pitch, if they are then that would be the best economy I would have ever travelled with.

The cabin crew were really brilliant i.e. I get travel sick and the flight was really bumpy in parts. The staff stayed with me the whole time the bumpiness was there, even one of the pilots came to say hello ( I was not even sick). I refused the meal so when the plane stopped bumping around (about 1 hour) they sent the chef from 1st class to see if he could prepare me a meal, I could have had anything but I was scared that it may be bumpy again!!!
All through the flight they kept my glass of ginger ale topped up brought constant drinks around to everyone in the cabin even tea, coffee , chocolate if they wanted that.
We certainly had seat back tv's in New Economy.
The plane was clean and roomy.

I cannot praise them more highly, we are only travelling with US this time as we could not get BMI flights.
Next year we are trying Virgin but only because it is a direct flight and I am getting too old for all this rushing to change planes LOL

Have a wonderful time!!!

Lynda

 

[amf]

Ian....for details of on board transatlantic bmi booking classes click here

You can also check which seats have been taken on your flights by clicking here NE is class l and the flights are BD 701 (MAN to IAD) and BD 702 (IAD to MAN). Bear in mind the fact that there may have been other tickets sold, but seat allocation may not have been requested.

A more accurate guide to seat availability can be found here . This will probably be more useful to those familiar with the various booking classes. Bear in mind that availability in any class never shows more than 9. If 9 seats are shown as available there may be considerably more than 9 tickets left in that class.

Finally, the good news Since bmi re-started the IAD service, their planes now dock at Concourse C at IAD......this is the same concourse that the UA flight to MCO departs from. This means that you clear immigration etc at the lower level facility at Concourse C....you do not take the mobile lounge trip to the main immigration facility, as that is for pax terminating at IAD. This will save you some time and if you get upgraded to NE you should be near pole position for the race to be the first in line for clearing immigration (this is a bit like the race to Space Mountain once the ropes drop at the MK each morning)

Have a great time

Alex

 

[matty624]

Thank you both Lynda and Alex, brilliant info. I'll have a good look through those links.
Thanks again,
Ian

 

[matty624]

Just one more quick question!
What are the seating arrangements, is it 2-4-2 or 3-4-3 (or even something else!).
The planes appear to be Airbus 330s.
TIA
Ian

 

[amf]

According to the seatmap checker (the second link in my last post) the configeration is 2-4-2 (Rangers play with the same formation at times ). No doubt Lynda can confirm.

Alex

 

[matty624]

Thanks Alex, I did look through the links, honest! Must have missed that bit.
We've got 2 toddlers, and I'm not looking forwards to the internal flight, as I think it's a 3-3-3 formation (can't remember where I got this info from now), which means that dw will have to sit with the kids, and I'll be next to strangers! I'd prefer to sit with the children, but somehow I doubt I'll be first choice! Oh well...
BTW, if nayone knows for sure, the internal flight is UA921, Washington-Orlando
TIA
Ian

 

[amf]

Ian....I wasn't criticising - I realise it'll take you time to go through the links I gave and decide which, if any, are relevant

I too am on UA 921 and according to seatmap checker the configuration is 3-3.....not so bad. Why not give United a phone and reserve your seats - I've done so for our family? The phone no. is 0845 8444 777.

Alex

 

[Rain]

Hi,

It was 2-4-2 on the Manchester to Washington flight then 3 -3 on our second flight, they did change the plane several times on the second leg though in between booking and the day, second leg flight was only 1 1/2 hours hope this helps

Lynda

 

[Rain]

Airline United
Flight Number 921
Departure City (Airport) Washington, DC (IAD)
Departure Time 07/19/2003 06:00 PM
Arrival City (Airport) Orlando, FL (MCO)
Arrival Time 07/19/2003 07:54 PM
Remaining Flight Time 00:00
Aircraft Type Airbus A320
Current Altitude 0 feet
Current Groundspeed 0 mph
Flight Status Arrived




Departure times are shown in departure airport local time.
Arrival times are shown in arrival airport local time.


This is yesterdays flight as shown on the flight tracker, they used a A320 yesterday the configuration for this is 3 - 3

How old are the children, My grandaughters have really enjoyed tracking the flight to the US

 

[matty624]

Thanks again Alex and Lynda, it's great to have people who have first hand knowledge to hand. I'll give them a call Alex, it'd be one less thing to worry about if we'd pre-booked seats.
Dd is 4, almost 5, and ds is 3, almost 4. They'll be quite happy watching 9 hours of tweenies (or similar) on the flights, if possible. We've been counting down the days each day, dd can now count back from about 100!!!
Thanks all,
Ian

 

[uktigger]

hi all
does anyone know if you can get cheaper upgrades on the day of check-in?we are going with virgin,there upgrades to pe are so exspensive and they want to charge my eldest son the adult price even though he will only be 11

thanks eve