Home > BMI > 2004 > Review

Taken June 2004 from London, Heathrow - LHR to Glasgow - GLA

This was the third airline in the Star Alliance that I have flown with now and as per usual, I was more than satisfied with the service.

I was only making a day trip to Glasgow, so wanted to fly up quite early and return in the evening, allowing me to spend a good few hours in Scotland.

I arrived at Heathrow at about 6.40am, allowing plenty of time for my 8.50am flight to Glasgow on flight BD002. The check-in queues were ridiculously long and I dreaded the wait. However, I was drawn to the self check-in machines, exclusively for those passengers who do not have baggage to check-in.

It was the first time I have ever used this hi-tech form of technology, but it was very easy to use. I entered the credit card that I used to purchase the tickets with and it immediately brought my information up on screen with the two flights I would be making with bmi British Midland on this day.

After following the instructions, I was allowed to choose my seat for the flight. The aircraft would be an Airbus A321, so there was plenty of choice. I sat in row 38 and seat A, the second to last row.

We proceeded through to departures and gate 8 where we waited for boarding.

Little did I know, on my way to the airport, the air traffic control centre at West Drayton/Swanwich had crashed whilst an upgrade was taking place. All domestic flights from all UK airports would be severely affected. I thought nothing of it and sat back in my seat, overlooking the airport apron.

Minutes later, a bmi staff member came onto the public address system and broke the news that most did not want to hear - "Due to the air traffic control problems, bmi British Midland has been forced to cancel the following flights.." A list of 4 flights followed. One to Glasgow, one to Teesside and a couple of other destinations. Plans were made to get passengers affected onto alternative flights. The Glasgow passengers were checked onto our 8.50am flight, but Teesside passengers had to wait some 8 hours for the next bmi service!

By about 8.30, the tannoy came on again - "Fortunately, the problem has recently been sorted. All bmi services are operating subject to delay". Within seconds, the man came on again - "British Midland has decided it is necessary to cancel another service.." He mentioned just one more flight.

Having heard rumours that flights were departing as much as 3 hours late, I feared that my day in Scotland would only be an hour or so and hardly worth it.

Our flight did go ahead, albeit later than we had hoped. We boarded quickly since the cabin crew had told us that we had just 15 minutes to get to the runway for our slot. We pushed back at about 10.20am (90 minutes late) and taxiied to runway 27L, joining a queue of 7 aircraft - mainly domestic traffic.. bmi A320s/A321s, British Airways A319s/A320s etc. At about 10.35am, we took to the air and the in-flight service quickly began.

The crew were friendly and there were plenty of them, too. They quickly served a hot snack - a panini with cheese, bacon and egg inside. Unlike most airline food, it was very filling and had lots of taste. It was served with a choice of spring water, pure orange juice, tea or coffee. The breakfast snack was included in the cost of the ticket.

By the time the crew had finished their rounds, they were on the move again - collecting the rubbish and stowing it away before landing in Glasgow. By the time they had finished gathering the rubbish, descent into Glasgow was well under way.

Our not-very-talkative Captain spoke to the cabin and informed us that we were on descent and would be landing shortly.

The kast few minutes of the flight were quite bumpy. The weather in Glasgow was not as good as I had hoped for. It was raining heavily, with very low cloud and poor visibility. By the time we had broken through the clouds, we were perhaps a minute or so from landing.

We slammed down onto runway 23 at 11.35am, just an hour and a half later than scheduled.

An excellent flight. The crew all seemed very pleasant and helpful, the food and drinks were very good. The delay was not one that could have been avoided. Every airline was affected if it was flying within the UK. I heard easyJet cancelled practically all of its flights from Luton/Stansted, so I should be happy that bmi got me to Glasgow.

For little over £50 return, they beat British Airways hands down and I will almost certainly travel with them again in the future.