Oxon Flyer

Please feel free to share your observations, bug reports, suggestions etc on the new flybmi.com which, after a rather long take-off run, finally took to the air yesterday.

Aside from the general issues with response times and the various wobbles in the last week while the site was prepared for go-live, the "Flyertalk Experience" is listed below. Please keep the reports coming, also if you see that they've been fixed.

Hints 'n Tips

• Cannot log into your account ? : You may need your profile re-setting, email [email protected] with your account number
• Cannot enrol online in Diamond Club ? : email [email protected] with your details
• BD*G and having problems entering the monthly Calendar Competition ? : email [email protected] with your details

New functions / nice stuff :

• there is a new interface and a manage my bookings page with all your bookings in it.
• The cheery "Welcome Oxon" message when you're logged in
• Like the bit about the flatbeds
• It looks tonnes better
• "That's quite pretty”
• Now I can actually navigate around the site, I do quite like the look and feel of it. Still a few broken links, but it is getting better at least
• The "destination guides" (which are at http://flybmi.wordtravels.com/) have been significantly upgraded and are now commendably colourful and comprehensive.
• GPS co-ordinates of bmi airports at http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/plan...formation.aspx
• Available in versions for UK/Australia/Canada/Ireland/Saudi Arabia/USA (in English); Spain (in Spanish); Belgium (in French and Dutch); France (in French); Netherlands (in Dutch)
• You can now buy up to 20,000 miles per calendar year. Purchases are reported to be in your account within few hours.

Current Bugs and Glitches :

• CURRENT, SERIOUS Many, ongoing reports of "Service unavailable"
• CURRENT, SERIOUS Many, ongoing reports of unaccaptably slow response times
• CURRENT, SERIOUS Much more worringly, there are glitches in the ecommerce process which frankvb has already experienced. I asked the TD at EDI for a PNR print of a booking I made (after about 10 attempts) during the worst of the website nonsense on 13 September. Line 4 contains an old landline telephone that hasn't been in my web profile for several months (if not years). Line 10 says "FQTV BD-1xxxxxxx - FAILED/VERIFY CARD NUMBER" when the gold number is completely correct (which may explain the MMB failures). Line 26 says "///RECTIFIED INVALID FOID ERROR AARTI/TBM/14SEP07". Line 27 says "RECONFIRMATION SENT BY AUTO EMAILER" which isn't true - I never got a single email confirmation, and had to call up for the PNR because the final confirmation page crashed after taking payment.
• CURRENT, SERIOUS Multiple, ongoing Diamond Club Account problems : Can't sign up for Diamond Club - 500 error on the last page /// Cannot log into account with e-mail address and/or DC number /// cannot save updates to profile WORKAROUND delete the business phone number, then the updates save OK.
• CURRENT, SERIOUS Cannot make revenue bookings on routes such as EDI-LHR-CAI or ABZ-LHR-BEY/// I tried Manchester-Cairo, which is set up, and it came back with error "> (60002)"
• CURRENT SERIOUS Numerous reports of new, and existing booking not showing on "my bookings" /// I still can't see any of my bookings in the "my trips" bit. I can view them only by logging out and entering the PNR manually - and even then, there are glitches in the display (second sector incorrectly missing out of a five sector trip but showing correctly in Amadeus & Checkmytrip for example) /// conversely, reports of past trips still showing in "my bookings"
• CURRENT SERIOUS Problems with "Manage My Booking" : LHR - ORD - ASE redemption booking shows only the LHR-ORD sector. The ORD - ASE sector is missing. Works OK on checkmytrip. /// ASE - LHR redemption booking gives "The bmi website is currently unavailable due to maintenance". Works OK on checkmytrip. PNRs available to programmers on request.
• CURRENT SERIOUS Ongoing problems with OLCI. Errors include an error has occured with check-in (10) and Server Error in '/lt' Application. Server Too Busy
• CURRENT SERIOUS Frequent Flyer numbers entered when booking on the site are lost. (even though the ICC can, apparently, see them on the booking)
• CURRENT Members birthdate in their profile is 01/01/1753
• CURRENT While logged in as a DC member, I can't find any way of accessing my bookings by entering the PNR ref. It appears that I need to log out in order to be able to do this.
• CURRENT Numerous reports of new-booking confirmation e-mails not being received.
• FIXED Looking at a booking on BD62, it correctly states that OLCI opens at 1845 the previous day. However it goes on to show the departure and arrival times as 0645 and 0810, and also not seeing seat assignment either.
• CURRENT try and put in the BD ref number into the 'view or modify your booking' screen is a waste of time as it just sits there with an 'Opening page http://.......' message
• FIXED Booking : When trying to select the date, the dropdown is fine but the calendar option is so slow as to make you think it has frozen
• FIXED where's the diamond club gold monthly calendar competition ? but now CURRENT There is no error message given for multiple registrations. In fact, where's all the diamond club magazine gone to as well ?
• FIXED Can't make a new booking - shows "The route selected is invalid" when I try to make a booking - LBA/LHR
• CURRENT using the "forgotton your password" function, you see 2 simultaneous messages : The system is unable to send your password by email at this time. Please try later. and Your password has been reset and sent to your email address. It still worked though.
• FIXED when you've logged out of your DC account and have returned back to the homepage, there's a "diamond club" box on the right of the screen which still displays your mileage balance, which, as account-specific data, probably shouldn't be shown /// I have noticed that after logging into ones' account, the site would seemingly treat you as if you've logged out, when in fact you havent', or perhaps did without telling you.
• I also notice that there is no option to download statements as PDF's anymore.
• FIXED Change the site locale from "United Kingdom / English" to "Belgium / Nederlands" and the whole thing changes to French /// When I try to change UK/English to US, it bounces back to UK. Won't say in US.
• FIXED the timetable function : the pop-up calendar for the "select dates" fields does not have a "next month"/"previous month" or "Close" button.
• FIXED clicking the "More about" link for each fare on the Select Flights function gives Page Not Found
• Update My Details : several problems : (1) FIXED need to be able to update your password without having to go through all the other screens. (2) FIXED Meal preference is now mandatory, so you fill "no preference" and move on. Next time you go into Update My Details, there is no meal preference stored, so you have to set it up again. (3) FIXED Similarly, it forgets your previous answers to all the "How many return journeys have you taken in the last 12 months by air" questions. These are mandatory and you have to fill them all in again (4) FIXED clicking Finish gives error message We were unable to save your diamond club account at this time. Please try again later. Update : clicking Finish now does not give error message, just recycles to the same screen (5) FIXED the business phone number gets the dialling code appended to the beginning of the datafield.
• CURRENT There is a long list of countries for one's home address, including the US, but a much shorter list (which does not include the US) for business address.
• CURRENT diamond club homepage, bottom of the page, manage you account section : the "edit your details" box text is duplicated : should be "manage my booking"
• CURRENT One change I made was to select "other" for title. I was looking for Dr but there was only a choice of Mr, Mrs, Ms, Miss, or Other. The email came addressed as follows (I'm not kidding): Dear Other XXXXXXX, Thank you for updating your details etc...
• CURRENT Flight status function : the summary header screen shows the scheduled arrival time, rather than the actual arrival time for "arrived" flights. Similarly shows the scheduled arrival time, rather than the estinmated arrival time, for "departed" flights. You have to click into the details of the flight to find the information you need /// also if you are looking for a specific flight number and key an invalid flight number, you get "flybmi.com site search :
  please try again using the site search at the top right of the page" which is the wrong error message. /// Tooltips wrong : the tooltip for the 'show details' icon is "hide details" and vice versa.
• CURRENT Mileage award chart pop-up window not wide enough to display whole page and won't allow re-sizing. So you have to scroll left and right to read it (or right-click and open a new window)
  WORKAROUND simply open it directly via the following link:
  http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/src/html/d...pendmiles.html
  also for earning miles:
  http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/src/html/d...earnmiles.html
• CURRENT I did notice a small bug tonight when you first log on to your DC account and it displays your summary page. On the left hand side menu the link to Ways to Spend is missing. It only appears if you click one of the other links.
• CURRENT Numerous reports : Status miles updated...recent activities not showing at all on the DC login homepage...but then click on the view activity link and up it all pops. But with no fare class detail showing
• FIXED Log into your diamond club account, then go back to the home page. The tabs for booking "insurance" and "parking" have disappeared. Bizarre.
• CURRENT Trying to book a redemption online for LHR-NAP, example BD465 02/10 and BD466 09/10. The system lets me book it using miles+cash but if I click on "Price for miles only" I get "Errors - please review the following item(s):No fare can be found for the flights and/or cabins you selected. Please search again and select another cabin and/or different flights. (5685 - 2201)"
• CURRENT diamond club, spend miles online, the address lines on the "myflybmi account details" don't line up properly.
• CURRENT my flybmi tab :if you expand the "diamond club" menu items in the left of the screen, some of the sub-menu items are a bit jumbled and some overwrite others.
• CURRENT Redeeming miles online for flights, get to step 2, then click "plan new redemption" : broken link.
• CURRENT On the old site, there was a link to the "Diamond Club Terms and Conditions" which listed in detail all the rules re making, changing and cancelling redemption bookings. This link seems to be missing from the new site.
• CURRENT Booking BD redemptions online : when viewing the monthly calendars of available outbound/return dates, the typeface of the current selected month is screwed up.
• FIXED Site map : none of the links work. BUT it is of limited use due to the way the items are catalogued and hidden in alphabetical buckets. For example, if you wanted to look for "fare types", you'd have to discover they were actually in the O bucket under "our fare types"
• CURRENT Planning and Information > where we fly > route list > only show me destinations from "London Heathrow". Each destination is listed multiple times.
• FIXED "website feedback" form, which, rather predictably, gives a "Page Not Found" error
• CURRENT The new destination guide includes places no longer flown to (Lille, Paris, Taipei (?)) and excludes many of the new destinations, including Cairo, Amman, Dakar & Tehran
• FIXED 11/10 The "Star Alliance" link at the bottom right of the webpage gives a "Page Not Found" error
• CURRENT Refunds page : there's a huge comedy-style "Submit" button at the bottom.
• CURRENT Trying to check the minimum connections time on the booking page : "We no longer offer through check-in or through tagging of baggage for connecting journeys using separate tickets. Only passengers with flight itineraries issued on a single ticket with one booking reference will qualify for the through check-in service, subject to minimum connection times". The "find out more" link is broken.
• CURRENT Reward Schemes > Diamond club page : The "terms and consitions apply" link is broken.
• CURRENT Tooltip for DC login field says "e-mail address<br />or diamond club number"
• CURRENT Website accepts Diamond Club enrolments from children (D.O.B. < 18 years ago)
• CURRENT It did not accept my LH M&M Visa number with 16 digits as a valid frequent flyer number, although it is my current number and entirely valid. Inserting my normal 15 digit Senator number worked fine. This should be updated.
• CURRENT Cosmetic problem: Where you can add golf clubs, skis etc, it asks a second time what the "lead passenger" would like to check in, instead of the second passenger.
• CURRENT Cannot book LHR-Cologne/Bonn : error 'Invalid to airport'
• CURRENT DC Address was changed in July, but DC still use the pre-July address for mailings and verification.
• CURRENT I had an outbound flight at 20:15, followed by a return flight 17:30 (16:30 GB time) the next day. Trying to use OLCI for the outbound 20:15 : was not able to check in until after 16:30 (ie within 24 hours of the return flight)
• CURRENT BD*G on PE ticket using OLCI : had 4A reseverved. OLCI duly offered 4A, which I accepted, when the boarding pass printed it showed 15F. Seemed to be caused by the curtain being moved : I should have been given the opportunity to select my seat.
• CURRENT Buying miles. : Get error message when trying to complete transaction /// "deminations" needs correcting /// Click 'Buy Destinations miles' then 'Buy miles for you' then 'Buy miles for a friend' at the left and you get a page with [insert content here] on it. /// Duplicate menu item : Diamond club > online shopping > online shopping

Stuff from the old website that really should have been fixed on the new site:

• BEING FIXED Cannot redeem miles online for flights to some destinations, eg Cairo
• On the bmi Credit Card page of DC partners, there is no link to actually go and get the credit card... just tells you all about it.
• SERIOUS FOR MANY POSTERSThe bmi website cannot handle bookings where the same cabin class does not exist on both sectors, so, for exemple cannot book LHR-MAN-ORD or MAN-ORD-SFO in premium economy
• Online booking of awards : the process by which BD*Gs get a complementary upgrade on BD flights is not documented : should they select Y or C seats ?
  

Wouldn’t it be nice if…..

• <stamping feet>....my flights booked via a corporate TA, and also my redemption bookngs made via the callcentre, can be vewied on the 'manage bookings' page (seeing as my DC number is in the booking)</stamping feet>
  
• FIXED could set their TITLE tag! For example, visit the homepage at http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/index.aspx and that is what shows in your IE window title
  
• ....you could change your password without having to wade through the other 6 pages of personal details too /// When updating my profile, why can't I just go to the screen(s) with the information I want to update? Why must I slog through all of them?
  
• ....mileage balances had some commas in the right places. "You have 1,865,458 miles" instead of 1865458 miles
• ....the ability to book a multi-city itinerary on one PNR like you can on EI, even EZ can do that now. e.g. DUB-AMS,BRU-DUB or in this case on BD, BHD-LHR,LHR-DUB.
• FIXED : YOU CAN (but is reported not to work)....I could buy miles. The test site had a link to "buy miles", but this option has disappeared.
• What I do find a little annoying is the hotel booking option, on the dropdown there is only a small selection of hotels, and in fact you need to click through to get to another hotelopia/bmi site where you can select other airports (e.g. BKK in my case) /// Impossible to search for a hotel.
• ....I could use OLCI direct from the "Manage My Bookings Page" without having to exit MMB and past the PNR into OLCI.

How do I ... ?

• change seating now on an existing booking. I can change everything else but not seating as far as I can tell
• Am I right in thinking the rigamarole to view DC past activities (earlier than previous month) has got even longer than it used to be ?
  Login > View Activity > View Past Activities > Enter Date Range > Result.
  Personally never understood why the interface can't show a few sub-headed months after login rather than resign the records to the archives.

Quotes to note :

• "a fresh, reliable and customer-service oriented experience"
• Just spoke to BMI technical support and was told (and I am quoting word by word here):
  "the website is down because it is being upgraded"
  "it is down for everyone"
  "it is expected to be back during the weekend or maybe next week"

RAPC

Can I start with a simple (and flippant) comment or two.

It could be nice if they had tested it first.
It could be good if they had the servers up to scratch to deal with 4 customers at once visiting the site
It would be great if they could make the e-commerce site able to actually process a booking

It they can found the extra cable to link the site to a server that can handle visits and if someone can be found who can actually code the site properly, then please do so a.s.a.p. At that point we might be in a position to actually see what some of these new features actually do!

G-BOAC

Minor (in comparison to everything else!) annoyance but they could set their TITLE tag! For example, visit the homepage at http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/index.aspx and that is what shows in your IE window title.

tht

While I agree that whoever was "paid" to do the job should build the website should do so, in the spirit of a collaborative supply chain I think this tread could help outline the issues for BMI, and give them an idea of what issues hey should request be fixed "from a user perspective" - which is the only one that counts.

Speed issues aside, I have had trouble changing my address details. As well as the inability to log in and use online check in. On a good note, my miles for my recent flights seem to be posting within about 2 days.

tht

G-BOAC

It's MBNA miles day. I logged in (from the http not https site, so was redirected to https) and I can see my balance is correct (i.e. the miles have been added), but there is no entry in the 'recent activity' bit.

The loading process for that one page took just under 5 minutes for 100% of the items

If I click to view recent activities, the MBNA transfer is listed. That page loaded quicker (in a worthwhile way, I could see the content) but still took about 30-45 seconds to download all the elements.

I do like the new look and feel - but I hope these teething problems on speed are fixed soon!

Pyeinthesky

Well I can't get the website to load at all It was ok earlier this morning.

ajamieson

<stamping feet> I want a Manage My Booking that works and which can access all bookings which contain my Diamond Club number. </stamp>

Kevincm

Form a queue ajamieson... Although I agree... that would be the feature I'm looking forward to them "integrating" the most.

Has anyone made a booking on the new site yet, and for it to show on manage my bookings?

Also the error 500 page when I look up my booking by PNR needs to be looked into

FlyingOnceMore

Been trying, but can't get past the flight selection page, it just times out after hanging for a few minutes.

So that'd be my main gremlin at the moment, I can't actually book anything !

Oxon Flyer

It looks like the website-wranglers still have some work to do to deal with the speed issues. There's some whizzy new functions (for example the way the day and year change when you change the date and month on the homepage booking engine) that are so slow as to appear they are not working properly. Not sure whether these functions are a cause or an effect of the slowness.

In the meantime, a question for the bug log :

Where's the diamond club gold monthly calendar competition ?

DELLAS

Very very slow to do anything but I like the new look.

Like the bit about the flatbeds also.

http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/plan...rlonghaul.aspx

Once they get the servers running properly then i give it ^^

Dr Groggy

A story printed in the Revolution talks about BMI focusing on business travellers with the relaunched website

http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/73...ss-travellers/

The company responsible for the new website is apparently "twentysix London", and they have been working with bmi for the past year on other projects.

ajamieson

Surely they have overlooked the best idea for this month's star prize...

bedasaka

OK, so I was just trying to make a booking, so I logged in to my DC account and booked a weekend in Nice for next Aug (seems silly not to as flights are Ł61 return and I have an apartment there). The above poster is correct it is difficult to get the day to show correctly. The site is then really slow to find the flights. I then booked successfully, but have had no email (I booked a couple of hours ago) confirmation. The booking then does not show on manage my bookings. Also recent points activity (additions and spends) are not showing under recent activity on the front page of my account, only when you go in to the detail does the recent activity appear. I am also not able to view the booking I made earlier. Any ideas anyone?

RAPC

If their site is to be believed, they also do a sausage maker as well as a few other handy items. That's the rest of 2007 covered then...