Home > bmibaby > 2007 > Review

Taken 22 June 2007 from Belfast, Northern Ireland (Aldergrove International) - BFS to Manchester, England (Ringway International Airport) - MAN

After reading some of the comments on this web-site I was prepared for the worst when I travelled with this airline on my short trip to Manchester. I didn’t really have any high expectations, but they still managed to disappoint.

As BMI baby is the low cost sister company of BMI, which I personally feel has lost its direction in todays competition industry, and who I now avoid at all costs if it can be helped. I booked this short flight to Manchester for a short city break which to be fair was at a reasonable £70.

Check in was quick, but at both destinations I wouldn’t have called the check in agents friendly. You are allocated a seat, which I think is one of bmi babys few advantages. As I expected from reading the reviews on this web site, the flight was delayed two hours, which isn’t the prefect start for a city break when leaving on a Friday evening. As a result we had dinner in the airport rather than out in Manchester as we had planned.

On our outward flight, the aircraft was a rather old 737 with a dirty worn cabin. The crew on board did not really stand out in any area off customer service, they provided the pay as you go pay, and then they disappeared. When we arrived at Manchester, we were parked on a remote stand. We had to wait for over 30 minutes on the aircraft until the buses arrived to take us to the terminal building, again adding to the frustration to our late arrival. The Airport’s train station was closed as it was late in the evening, and we had to take an expensive taxi ride to our hotel.

Our return flight was better, we left only 30 minutes late. However I found the crew on this flight rude and disinterested. The crew manager on this flight asked the guy beside me to move to the over wing exit, but as he was already seated, he refused, this clearly annoyed the crewmember and she was overheard talking about this to a colleague. As we were leaving the aircraft she looked away when we thanked her for the flight.

I have concluded that I will also avoid this airline the same way I avoid their sister company. A lot of work is required in the area of customer service to make this airline on the same par as Easyjet or Air Berlin.