Trip Reports - British Midland LHR check in chaos

On short notice I had to be in Paris for a meeting in two days. I was gonig to be in london, so I figured, no problem. Take the Eurostar.

Foregt that...short notice round trip seats that I was trying to book were 400 pounds sterling....ridiculous price.

So I went to the BMI website, found a morning flight ( BD173 @ 8:10am from LHR Term 1), and booked it, paying with my credit card. I thought I had an e-ticket, like I usually have in the U.S. Perfect, I think. This should go smoothly.

I was staying at the London Paddington Hilton, so I figured that I could check in at the BMI desk in the terminal. Wrong! Was told I had to check in at Terminal 1...not fully understanding why, I boarded the Heathrow Express. I got to Terminal 1 by elevator..and stepped into the check in area for BMI. What I encountered was a line of easily 500+ people. How'd all these people get up and get to the airport at this ungodly hour? and then encounter this livestock kind of holding pen? It was now 6:45am and my flight is boarding at 8am. There's no way that I could get through that line and get through passport control, customs and get to the gate in time. What made it worse, is that when I saw a BMI check in assistant...I showed her my e-ticket receipt...and she told me that I had to move to the OTHER line first, to get my TICKET. I was dumbfounded....i've already paid for my ticket, have my e-reciept...and now I have to wait in one half-hour line to get my ticket, and then go wait in another line to get a boarding pass....no luggage to be checked...but a situation that appeared hopeless.

I was fortunate that I have a low level StarAlliance elite card (United)...and was able to only spend 25 minutes in the ticket line for "Business" tickets , asked for mercy...got my ticket, then went over the the Business check-in...again pleading for assistance...and was fortunate to get checked in for this flight and return trip later that day.

I got through passport control, the security gate, and into the waiting area just in time to walk to my gate and walk onto the plane.

Can anyone explain to me why a BMI e-ticket is not an really e-ticket...and why there's no smoother way to get checked in something of an efficient manner?

It really makes one wonder.

BMI do not issue eTickets. All you had was proof of payment, so that you could pick up your tickets at the airport without much hastle (other than the line). How were the flights and how did the lines look in Paris?

Once I got to the plane, things were fine.

Served a hot bacon ciabatta sandwich for breakfast.

On the return, lines were not an sise, as I was back at CDG 3 hours before the flight..and since I already has a boarding pass, I breezed through passport control and security.