Just got off the European Aviation-operated BD184 from Paris. It was full, it was hot, it was 30 minutes late, and, by the end of the flight, I was fuming.
I shall spare you the finer details that BlackCat, ajamieson and pbsis have so eloquently described above. Except to note that:
>> Trolley bags are now allowed on board... Not that you'll find anywhere to put them. These overhead lockers make the ones on the Fokkers look big.
>> The harrassed-looking bmi representative makes out that we should be oh-so-grateful that "because of inoperative bmi aircraft, bmi has decided to use a European Aviation aircraft instead of cancelling our flight".
>> Despite the fact that bmi woman asked us to give comments to her, she hid behind the curtains for most of the flight, and shot right out of the door as soon as we were on stand...
>> ... could that have been because we were parked at a domestic (i.e. bus) gate despite the plentiful supply of empty international gates at 22:30 at T1? Why? Oh, I forgot, the aircraft must be positioned for the flight 9 hours later.
Of course, none of this would have been a problem had I paid GBP8 on some random low-cost carrier (although I note that both easyJet and Ryanair are flying shiny new planes these days). But on a fully flexible GBP260 fare on a so-called "full service airline", this is simply unacceptable.
Donnington Hall will indeed be hearing from me in due course.