bmi diamond club - £10 for an emergency exit seat!

Please forgive me as just came back for LHR/GLW today after being in YVR. Told that exit seats which I used to get as a *G cost £10 per flight. Also that I wouldn't be able to use the lounge after 1st Novemeber on tiny fares.
So no miles, no lounge no exit row. OK BMI you've lost another customer. Maybe only 10 round trips a year but I'm going BA after November.

Hi,

Ouch!!! :(


TBS

Also that I wouldn't be able to use the lounge after 1st Novemeber on tiny fares.

Don't be too sure about that...just yet.

Ah, so now we see bmi's strategy.

They have realised they cannot compete with EZY and FR.

So now they are levelling with Monarch and Exel.

:rolleyes:

Charging the pax most likely to be of use in an evacuation £10 to sit in the exit row? In light of tonight's (apparent) events in YYZ it's pretty shameful.

Charging the pax most likely to be of use in an evacuation £10 to sit in the exit row?

Agree--good point.

Was wondering if they get a refund in the event they've actually got to operate the doors, or will BD charge them to replace the shutes :rolleyes:

Wonder if we're allowed to use the shutes outside the BD aircraft ;)

Wonder if we're allowed to use the shutes outside the BD aircraft ;)

£20, please. ;)

So is this another unpublicised 'enhancement' to the service, or did I miss the BMI email about this one amidst the general confusion :rolleyes:

..... or maybe it's just an imaginative check-in person taking advantage of the fact that nobody really knows what the rules are, and pocketing some extra cash :D


Wonder if we're allowed to use the shutes outside the BD aircraft ;)
Of course..... but only until November......... after that you'll have to have a non-BABY fare if you want to get off quick ;)

VS charges GBP 50 ! But then the flights are longer..

I don't even know why you all still post here & get upset - I've given up on them long ago as being my 2nd preferred carrier - just using their loyalty program for *Alliance earning.

Course, if was still hanging on, unphased by no more food & booze, or miles & lounge access etc., well this £10 for exit would be the kicker - exactly how Charter-chavish will it go? Least Charter gives food I believe.

This must be one of the stupidest things I've ever heard!!!
OK let go for the food and drinks for purchase onboard, but charging 10 quid just to have two more inches of legroom for an hour...
And as previously mentioned, how stupid can they be not realising the benefit of assigning gold card holders to the emergency exit seats.
A person who travels almost every week obviously knows a lot more about the safety procedures than the once-a-year travelling grandma who needs some extra space for her sore legs. That'll be a fun evacuation... :rolleyes:
What's to come next? Well we did talk about pay onboard toilets and actually at this point I wouldn't be surprised if they introduced that one as well.

Umm... It's no different to VS - £50/$75 per sector to sit in an Emergency Exit Seat in Y. (No charge in Premium)

baby have done this for some time now - charged extra for the exit row AND front row (no bulkhead on baby config a/c) - so I'm not surprised to find that bmi are pulling the same stunt. I even sat on a baby flight where the exit row wasn't occupied at doors closed and yet the crew wouldn't let pax move into that row because they hadn't paid for it. Sad. However, I also got an exit row for free on baby when I was the last to checkin and no one else had forked out the extra - they had no choice but to put me in that row!

As I recall though, there were some issues around this changing for exit rows, because folks with sticks and gammy legs were booking the exit rows to give themselves more space, and this raised concerns about whether such people would actually impede rapid egress if an emergency occurred. I also recall some debates about cases were people of restricted mobility had been removed from exit rows by cabin crew, even though they'd paid extra for them, on the grounds of safety.

Oh what a tangled web they weave!

Andy

Umm... It's no different to VS - £50/$75 per sector to sit in an Emergency Exit Seat in Y. (No charge in Premium)

And the point of this post is....? Just because an airline (incidentally, one that's nowhere near big enough to be able to single-handedly introduce new industry practices) has an obviously dumb policy in place, it's only natural for everyone else to follow?
I never was a particularly frequent BD flyer, but I don't think they'll ever be seeing me again....

And the point of this post is....?The "point of the post", was simply to make it clear that BMI are not alone in doing this. :rolleyes:

While I may not agree with the policy, they are not unique in adopting it. When VS launched it, there was uproar with "people will never pay that". Sadly, a few years on, and VS have an (almost guaranteed) extra £500 per flight for offering what was already there - so no incentive to revise the policy.

I'm pretty sure that (even if they are paying), passengers can only request them at check-in, on the grounds of safety. If you can't walk, no matter how much you paid, you can't sit there.

While I may not agree with the policy, they are not unique in adopting it.


Of course they are not. Stut's already mentioned that countless charter operators have been practising this mini-scam for ages...The VS economy offering isn't much unlike a longhaul charter service (limited connections, extra-tight pitch, booze rationing) so it's hardly surprising that they'd do that...

Umm... It's no different to VS - £50/$75 per sector to sit in an Emergency Exit Seat in Y. (No charge in Premium)
There is still the difference that VS only operates long-haul routes of 8-12 hours where it might be worth the money to pay for a few more inches (the same thing about charter airlines), whereas most BMI flights take only about an hour. And when it comes to charter airlines there are no 'loyal customers' so there is no need to provide any extra benefits in that sense, especially as tickets are very cheap anyway.

I just don't get their strategy, all this is worse than both LCCs like Easyjet and charter airlines like Monarch, it hardly can't get worse.
Have they totally forgotten about customer retention??
It would be very interesting to see some statistics of how many DC gold/silvers here will actually continue to fly BMI in the future...
They have removed all incentives to fly BMI and build loyalty with the airline.
I can't believe we're actually talking about BMI, this is just so far from the good old quality airline British Midland.

If you want an emergency exit seat for free, I HIGHLY recommend Ryanair or, if necessary, EasyJet.

The new Ryanair 737-800's have two sets of emergency exit doors and thus 12 seats with extra legroom. Add in the lack of seat pockets on the new planes and you have more space than long-haul economy.

Now, Ryanair and Easyjet both board from both sets of doors usually. Pax usually take the first block of empty seats they come to. This means that the exit seats, in the middle of the plane, are the last to go. Even if you board last there is still - in my recent experience - a pretty good chance of snagging an exit seat, especially on Ryanair.

And you don't pay £10 extra for it either ...

There you have it - I'd rather now fly FR or EZ w/my picnic hamper, than BD! :D

I'm interested to see how they are going to manage the exit row thing. I always thought you had to check in in person to get an exit row seat so that they knew you were able bodied enough to help. They certainly used to be blocked on the screen. On several occasions on BD I've been asked to move to the exit row after boarding as I am pretty fit. Now the only people being checked in by staff are the premiums who will sit a the front of the plane. I can't see there being 10+ rows of them on any flight so presumbably the exit rows will be available at the machines and therefore open to anyone who wants one regardless of their ability to deal with the hatch. Can't you just see the fun for the cabin crew of having to reseat 12 people on a full aircraft (do we think any will be??) which is ready to leave and can't because there are 12 stroppy people who couldn't open the hatch between them but who don't want to give up their legroom and 12 other people who are settled being asked to move. As with this whole mess, my sympathy is with the crew. Presumably if you take an exit row seat, pay your £10 and are not fit, you get no refund and then they can charge the people who move in to them too - an extra £240 netted per flight.

Clearly here we have a frightening example of safety being compromised in pursuit of some ill thought through business plan. My worry now is, what else are the mad people compromising on? I have no outstanding bookings and I'm relieved about that.

well this £10 for exit would be the kicker - exactly how Charter-chavish will it go? Least Charter gives food I believe.

Obviously not experienced bmi charter have you ?

3 course hot meals in economy and 4 course hot meals on china with free bar in premium cabins. Operating for some of the top end tour operators most certainly not charter chav !!!!!!

Oh and bmi charter have offered pre bookable seats for the last 4 years without any trouble !

I recently flew MAN/PRG and the emergency rows were empty on both outbound and inbound flights. I paid an additional £2.50 per seat each way to have a pre-assigned seat number, but on a 2 hour flight, declined the £10.00 each way for the emergency seat. And yes, you reserve them on-line, presumably it goes through a check list re suitabiltiy.

I saw someone move into the emergency row only to have the FA move him back!

My fare was a bargain however, £55.00 return inc. taxes, so I can't complain :)

Wow, it just keeps on coming. I think I will pass on even looking at Bmi when I next land in Europe.

Obviously not experienced bmi charter have you ?


No, nor BA's as is not something I have ever found out how to do - to seek out last minute charter deals involving only BA or BMI flights.