bmibaby review :  7 August 2009 by J Martin   (UK)

Edinburgh to Cardiff. Overall good experience. Good drinks offers on board. One qualm would be that the regulated hand luggage is lower than that of other similar airlines.

bmibaby review :  7 August 2009 by Helen Trevitt   (UK)

After a slight mix up with the baggage allowance-being informed on the helpline that 2 bags booked under the same name allows you 36kg and finding out at check-in that it still only allows that person 18kg(staff being fantastic at Manchester and altering it on the computer free of charge! could have cost us a further £130!) we had no reason to be worried. Both flights were spot on time, cabin crew all friendly and polite.

bmibaby review :  30 July 2009 by V Daley   (UK)

Birmingham to Nice and plane was clean and comfortable. Food was ok and cabin crew friendly. On the way back there was a half hour delay but this was caused by late passengers on another airline so not the fault of BMI Baby. Overall we were very happy.

bmibaby review :  30 July 2009 by S Walsh   (Netherlands)

I fly quite regularly with BMI Baby. About half of the time, the flights are late, I've had possessions ruined by my luggage being left in what must have be a substantial pool of water, I've been redirected (although they did offer a bus service to the original destination), and some of the charges re changing and cancelling are ridiculous. But you do get what you pay for. Sometimes, I travel with only hand luggage, check in online, and am not fussy about seating. In these instances, it is value for money. Other times, I grumble a bit, but it's the cheapest way to travel to the places I want to go.

bmibaby review :  18 July 2009 by R Grout   (UK)

I booked for my wife and I to fly to Nice for a weekend break and paid £287 inclusive. My wife decided a week before the flight that she couldn't leave our 3 year old with the outlaws so I went online and booked her an outbound flight with the intention of giving her my inbound flight and staying longer myself to visit customers. I called the 65 pence per minute number to change names inbound and pay the £100 name change charge. The call centre said that they could only change names for the whole journey and not just the inbound. I explained that my 3 year old was already travelling out with us so only required my seat for the return journey. This was refused by the operator and her manager. It was now too late to get her an inbound flight as there were no seats left. They told me to write to the customer services as they only accept written correspondence but we were due to fly in a couple of days so nothing would have been changed. I have since written to customer services twice over the period of 5 weeks and not heard a thing! I stayed on with my 3 year old until the next day when we both flew back with easy jet. If you are lucky find a cheap flight, are able to travel and require no changes then its bearable but have a problem then its less stressful to write of the money and start again.

bmibaby review :  15 July 2009 by C Barrow   (France)

Having been a regular user of bmibaby we had not been too disappointed. However good luck if you want to claim anything back due to not taking a flight. Decided to try and claim back through my credit card, but to do this you need proof that you have cancelled your flight, something that bmi charges you £10 for, amazingly its £15 if they send you this by email! Also was told that we could claim the £10 tax back, but that this would cost us £20! Again truly amazing policy! The final straw is that, as another complainer wrote, you cannot speak to someone in customer services, you have to write on paper! bmibaby is ok if all goes well - but if you spend 300€ on a flight, cannot fly and are polite enough to ring up and inform them you will not be flying, and try to claim some money back - good luck to you.

bmibaby review :  8 July 2009 by P Astbury   (UK)

Alicante to Manchester - about to board our flight home, told it had technical problems. Everyone was redirected outside from airside to the original check in areas, then given a piece of paper stating that we could change our reservations by contacting bmibaby in the UK in the morning after 8am. No drinks or snacks offered for anyone young or old? I personally was told sorry you will have to make your own way back to the UK? When I eventually got through to the bmibaby UK reservations desk we were told that bmi could offer a flight next Wednesday. How bad is this for a company operating from the UK. A total disgrace.

bmibaby review :  29 June 2009 : by Steve Auty  (UK)

Manchester to Perpignan return. Check-in at both airports took only minutes, staff pleasant enough B737-300 clean and comfortable with plenty of legroom for a 2-hour flight. Cabin crew friendly and efficient. If you read the booking terms and conditions fully and properly before committing yourself, there should not be any nasty surprises in store.

bmibaby review :  23 June 2009 : by S Kaye  (UK)

Staff at the airport and onboard were excellent flying from Cardiff to Menorca. Came back 21 June on a plane that had not been cleaned. My seat had something stuck on it and a load of crisps were on the floor. The seat opposite had peanuts under it. When I booked on line, having hand luggage only, I chose booking in online - going out - there was no choice for return journey or for bringing hold luggage back. I printed out boarding passes just before I left on the 5 June after my flights being changed 3 times and losing one and half days holiday. I also printed out all email confirmations. At Mahon airport after queuing at No 1 checkin desk, I noticed hardly anyone was at Number 2 checkin desk. A small notice on checkin 2 said it was for people with reserved seats, this could not be seen from far away. I was told as I did not have boarding passes I had to pay 26 euros because I had opted to checkin online. My outward bound printed boarding passes had been taken from me at Cardiff airport and I only had my emailed booking confirmations. Having no facilities to a computer on holiday I could not check in online for my return journey. The staff at Mahon said I could have done this in England before I left but it clearly says on the website that checkin has to be 72 hours before flying, there was no option to checkin on the return journey. It costs 65p per minute to ring BMIBaby -that is when you can get through. I had printed out the boarding passes as instructed on the website, there was nothing else I was asked to print out or any other option. I fly often to Mahon, I do not think I will use this airline again and having heard other comments about sneak charges I think someone should do something about it.

bmibaby review :  20 June 2009 : by A Mackenzie  (UK)

Flight from Glasgow to East Midlands was cancelled. I was offered another flight two and a half hours earlier, but our flight from Barra wouldn't arrive into Glasgow on time for us to make earlier departure. I wrote for a refund and was refused, as they said is was a reschedule and time offered was within 3 hrs of original departure. I wrote again, this time to the MD at Castle Donington and received letter saying no, as it was a reschedule. Checked my documentation very carefully and saw it was a different flight number - therefore not a reschedule but a complete cancellation. Wrote again to the MD office, advised that if I didn't have a satisfactory response within ten days I would take it to the small claims court. Received a letter 5 days later saying "goodwill gesture etc" and a full refund was put on my card! Check your info very carefully.

bmibaby review :  17 June 2009 : by A Barham  (UK)

Birmingham-Prague return. Very good experience with punctual service on clean aircraft. There are various extras but careful packing keeps prices down. Charges for seat allocations are worth it as they take away the stress of boarding when trying to get seats together per Ryanair and easyJet.

bmibaby review :  15 June 2009 : by Joe Chatin  (UK)

Not yet flown with this outfit yet already wishing I hadn't booked with them. I booked a flight for my daughter and her two year old - then had to pay for seat choices there and back in order to ensure they sat together +£30. This is ridiculous mothers/fathers and their infants should be guaranteed seating together! Then a booking in at airport fee of £14.99. Then a fee £15 for paying by credit card. In total extra £60 on additions. All in all I'm left feeling that I have been mugged by a sharp operator.

bmibaby review :  13 June 2009 : by C Squires  (Spain)

Familiar tale. Flight cancelled by bmibaby, which then refused to issue a full refund. Left me feeling ripped off. Wouldn't touch them again.

bmibaby review :  10 June 2009 : by Peter Dawson  (UK)

Between our family and friends we book over 50 return trips Manchester / Palma Mallorca / Manchester every year. The BMIbaby time keeping has improved lately but watch out for the Great Luggage Rip-off. Reduced weight allowance for hold baggage (need more hold bags?) so carry-on bags increase in size and number so out come the gauges at check-in. The on-line check in passengers escape the net for a while - until the gauges appear at the gate! None of this is related to rules, regulations, etc - it's to do with increasing revenue at every turn. By thinking it through very carefully it's possible to beat them at their own game. We now manage many flights with on-line check in and hand baggage only so ironically BMIbaby actually lose out! It would be much better if they operated fairly and openly. The Ginsters sandwiches were better than the current ones and the drinks in sachets are not worth the trouble.