The DUB timetable rollercoaster thread
 

0645 DUB - 0805 LHR BD122 ( not called the BD120 any more ?) seems to be back on the schedule for the winter timetable.. Just received a schedule change notice

Good news for DUB based BMI customers, just possibly some evidence that the scheduling department aren't quite going to manage killing the route with cutbacks and poor timings.

Although given the demise of the Dublin crew base, these will presumably be nightstopping Londoners?

Good news, I thought on reading the EvilDoctor's post. Time to get in early and make a few bookings.

Picking random dates in November, they all seem to fixed at €129. Aer Lingus on the other hand has plenty of availability at €29.

Sorry BMI. Must do better...

Presumably nightstopping at the Merrion, then... :td:

Don't think crew hotels should be posted here...

I'm very happy to see this enhancement made to the DUB-LHR timetable. Its nice to see for a change that a bmi enhancement doesn't involve cutting back on something ;).

Cutting the schedule previously has definitely paid back. Ever since the schedule was cut back the route performed beyond expectations and bmi was able to put forward a strong business case which helped to bring back this early morning departure from DUB.

Lets hope this extra flight helps re-establish the route as a business one again and helps bmi to justify re-introducing it.

Hi,

Why not introduce a real business product on this route, to justify those paying the hefty premium for free muffin class. This doesn't have to mean introducing free catering in the back but when EI offer better BOB than a "full service airline" something is very wrong.

Pointless optimism I'm sure.

Regards,

Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it! :)

I don't think you will ever see a business class cabin or full meal back on bmi UK & Ireland flights and I don't think anyone can beat Aer Lingus BOB offerings, however things are likely to change a little. Aer Lingus has a fantastic BOB product all day and British Airways has a fairly ok balanced product (offering a good breakfast and a little something during the day) which suits both their models and their customers seem to like it.
A new bmi product should fall directly between these two. Best of both worlds, we will just have to wait and hope.

I welcome the restoration of the early flight. Certain connections via London are viable, once again and bmi's route network is accessible finally. I've had 1 bmi segment this year and 12 on LH - make your own conclusions.

However, I think it's probably way too late to resurrect the Irish business passenger market for BD. EI is well positioned, well regarded, well timetabled, well priced, well reliable, passengers are well fed and well used to it. And there's the small matter of a lounge -granted you earn few if any Gold Circle points on web booked flights, but you only need the Bank of Ireland credit card to get in to the rather-nicer-than-bmi's-poxbox Gold Circle lounge.

Is that BOI's Business Gold Card? Or does a standard one now give access :D

Interesting news. Do we know the operating aircraft, is the jungle jet overnighting in DUB?

And as for crew hotels, I am sure the ibis at the Red Cow can offer good rates. :D

There's a motel about thirty minutes north of DUB on a rural motorway junction that calls itself the City North. That should do the trick, very handy for Belfast.

Reminds me (while we're off topic) of the cheapy transfer DUB < > Dublin city centre as friend told me about. Hop on the staff car park shuttle and get off round the back of Keeley's Lounge on the Swords Road. Dublin Buses stop opposite for a few €.

Eh, what's that now? A new lounge? Sounds like it's beyond T2, not to mention BD's budget. :D

Is that still even offered to new customers?
No need to go that far. Dublin Bus routes 16A and 41 stop near the express bus stop and it's €2.30 into town.

Aha! Thanks. I'd assumed it would be harder than that. I only discovered it because he works for a company based near the airport and suggested a pint at Keeley's first.

There have been some changes announced to Dublin Bus timetables.
I think this means that the 41A, but not the 41, and the 16 but not the 16A will serve the airport. Quite a difference if you are heading to the airport:D
In fact, the 41A won't head towards the city at all, if this map is correct.
Oh for the days when you could take a 41 to Drumcondra and swap to a 16A that had completed its meander through Beaumont.

Not sure of the start date for the changes.

http://www.dublinbus.ie/PageFiles/73...copy%20(2).pdf

http://www.dublinbus.ie/en/Network-D...am--Terenure1/

Can't believe how stupid bmi was to end the early DUB-LHR flight. The BD122 this morning was completely full with a relatively good load in flexible economy, the next few mornings this week are looking just as busy. This morning's flight reminded me of the old glorious days when bmi competed comfortably on this route with full A321's all day.

I am just happy to see this service back and doing well so soon. Its shows that bmi have potential on this route if only they sort out the issues with the frequency and revenue management.

And don't go bust first!

I wonder if the sale of BMI regional will mean an end to those poncy ERJs on the DUB route.

And I was on the early morning BD flight from DUB on Monday morning and it was completely full too (even though Monday was an Irish holiday)

Only an A319 aircraft, but still 130+ passengers on board .. hopefully they can sort the fares out on this and make it profitable (I suspect quite a good number of passengers were on long haul connections from LHR which probably doesn't nett BD much cash but I guess the "taxes" may make these connections more profitable these days?)

Only downside was the aircraft arrived in on an international gate so we had to get bussed off all of 50 yards to the baggage hall entrance - wasn't too bad as the buses and steps were ready for the arrival but it's still a bit of a pain and something that never happens with Aer Lingus in my experience.

I think they've a few gates ( 76 & 78? ) that they can swap between Republic of Ireland arrivals and international arrivals inside the terminal and that can remove the need for bussing if an inbound aircraft comes in from DUB but is going on to an international sector (or vice versa I guess) but it seems too frequent that theses are already in use with aircraft that aren't changing to/from Dublin flights ... I don't know if this is a BAA issue or a BMI ramp management issue but it seems to mean that Dublin flights enjoy more than their fair share of bussing most of which I think shouldn't be necessary.

I have to say I like them especially the single seats up front. Not as nice as the Midhaul J I will admit :) Still makes a change.

Im glad they have the early flight back also. Dont know what they were thinking when they axed that . Another bright idea from someone that thought it up . At least it opens up the connections again .

On a side note I wish they would refurb the DUB lounge similar to the LHR Domestic one. It wouldnt even cost them that much to do its such a small space. Im sure they could do a deal with the DAA lounge to use theirs for a week whilst they closed it for the work.

I would say any refurbishment to the DUB lounge would be driven by a collective agreement between BD/LX/LH/TK and whichever other airlines' pax use it. Having a BD lounge at all at an outstation with 4 rotations a day probably isn't very sustainable.

DUB timetables getting worse
 

Looking at the Summer timetable it's really not pretty

4 per day weekday flights remain though the early morning DUB departure has now slipped back to 0745 which doesn't get into LHR until 0900 .. not really that competitive for ex DUB business traffic (early morning LHR departure remains at 0700) .. also some bizarrely long turnarounds in Dublin can hardly help with them making any money from having expensive aircraft sitting on the ground (shortest turnaround in DUB is 75mins and the longest is 2 1/4 hrs which seems bizarre to say the least - it's like they're not even trying )

On a Saturday there's now only 2 flights :(

On a Sunday there's bizarrely 5 flights LHR-DUB and only 3 back DUB-LHR .. suspect that 3 is the correct figure and then the curse of bizarre BMI scheduling strikes again as there's one flight in the morning and two afternoon flights within just over an hour of eachother mid afternoon ... sensible spaced out scheduling not!

So despite the glimmer of hope that reintroducing the early DUB-LHR flight showed last autumn it looks as though death by a thousand bizarre schedule cuts is proceeding on the DUB route

Happy to hear all is well at the Hall. ^

Sarcasm :eek:

It looks like the Sunday scheduling is another bmi website "feature". It shows both the BD129 and BD131 leaving at the same time (17:15). If they can't fill one A319, they surely can't fill two at the same time. Why does no one at the Hall look at or test this stuff before they load it? Its no wonder the airline hemorrhages cash. Wouldn't an accurate booking system be the absolute holy grail for any airline?

Personally my fave is the totally unpredictable BD126 which is a different time each week night and on Friday can't be bothered to leave DUB until 21:35. What's their target market there????

The schedule to both Irish airports (including Belfast) has had unfathomable curiosities for a while and it continues. The reduction in service in somewhat understandable, but some of the timetabling on specific days of the week does leads to some serious head scratching.

bmi charter. Simples.

Logical I guess for the flights that seem to go to Dublin and don't come back .. but the odd long turnarounds still can't be accounted for by this really .. looks like the old long turnaround issues just getting even longer ( even 2 1/4 hours would be a bit short to squeeze in a charter rotation !)

What makes you think it's the same plane? The plane coming back could be headed off to another destination and the next plane out could be coming from somewhere else.

But also, aren't they limited by slots at LHR? Not much point in hurrying back if you don't have any more slots for to use the equipment on that day. And a lot of the flights could be slot parking flights in the first place.

Not at Dublin it's not flying off anywhere else (bar just possibly the odd weekend/night charter as GoldCircle mentions) .. The aircraft really is sitting around DUB for 2+ hrs ... Not a great way to use an expensive asset ! .. agreed on the slot issue at LHR, but surely they must be able to juggle the times around a bit better (years ago they used to be much more efficient )

this one actually must win the award for the slackest turnaround scheduling

BD125 1700LHR 1820DUB
The aircraft then sits on the ground for 3 1/4 hours before returning as
BD126 2135DUB 2255LHR

Nobody is going to want fly on BD126 on a Friday with that timetable - far too late and useless for connections (and the flight before it is 8hrs earlier!) .. so they're going to end up with a very expensive aircraft sitting around Dublin for over 3 hours on a Friday evening (when it should be full of high yielding business travellers who will now all be on Aer Lingus) and then flying back pretty empty to LHR

If there was a self destruct button around it seems that the scheduling department are pressing it pretty hard ... I know there's slot constraints etc. but still !

So people dont fly on the weekends with BMI? I did CO EWR-LHR last Sunday, in at 7.30am and the first connecting flight isnt until 1pm!!!! Does BD just want to send all the traffic to EI and they dont care?? Incidentally, the BMI lounge is quite nice!

Sorry! :confused: I know it's early, but you must have been in some other lounge. Yes, the bmi lounge location, view over the apron, and colour scheme is nice. The decor and furnishings are pretty much 10 years old, and the lounge refit that I think was due in 2010 was cancelled (GoldCircle will remember when). Apart from beer, coffee and soft drinks, the supplies are pretty poor.

It's better than the Anna Livia lounge across the way, but it's not a patch on some lounges I've been to.

Indeed its still better than some and in fairness it has aged well compared to others but like you say the supplies are dire. I get my coffee at the Chocolate lounge or at Butlers before heading in usually.

Hope nobody minds me hijacking this thread for (continuing) a slightly off-topic -but utterly critical - question:
Will the DUB lounge have cornflakes out at around 9am.....?
(risk of not getting breakfast after an early bus ride from Belfast is the 'utterly critical' issue here!)

Do they ever have cornflakes ? (I don't like the things so wouldn't have noticed perhaps !) ... The Breakfast offering there a few weeks ago was Kelloggs Special K bars and fruit as far as I could see.

I was in the lounge last Friday morning, arriving just before 9, but having just had breakfast at the hotel, I didn't look for breakfast items in the lounge. I did spot that they had some cake slices out, and there was orange juice - the Special K bars escaped my attention and I didn't see Cornflakes at all.

I have never seen cornflakes.

There is fruit, the special k bars, some biscuits and cake. Occasionaly there are (were) alpen bars and pre-packed croissant things but I have not seen those in some time.

Do not rely on BD lounge in DUB for breakfast, unless you want a more liquid start to the day....all the booze is there :)

I don't believe they do cornflakes. Just picture it, and you will realise what you didn't see..... trails of the things on the table as they spill out of boxes or dispensers, drips of milk etc. There aren't enough staff in the lounge to tidy up successfully after cornflakes;)