Bmi have decided to 'enhance' their schedules again ! Anyone else been put out ?

I've two future bookings with bmi for our summer holiday in June to what will be a very hot naples, and lo and behold today I received two emails advising of schedule changes !

The first change is on our LHR-EDI shuttle, the last flight of the Friday is brought forward by 10 mins, not a problem but could be a hassle if running late - I'll not be happy if miss the new check in deadline by 5 or 10 minutes.

Our second flight is now;

flight: BD 465
route: London Heathrow to Naples
date: 25/06/2005
departs: 1120
arrives: 1500
Business Class (Restricted)

The Departure has been delayed from 0940 till 1120, resulting in an arrival in at 1500 instead of 1245. Not a huge change but as we have planned to travel by train to Rome on the Saturday afternoon (hotel booked and paid) it's quite annoying as means we will be spending >2 hours at Heathrow in the morning rather than the same amount of time in Rome - which would you prefer ?

Anyway my question is this, from previous schedule changes on the forum folk haven't had much luck with having tickets endorsed to other airlines, however I'm quite keen that bmi get me to Naples by the originally intended time.

I understand that bmi are within their rights to change their flights, but it's still quite an inconvenience for me - if I decided to check in 2 hours late for a flight they wouldn't just accept it. Do you think I have much chance of the tickets being endorsed to BA(ex LGW) ? What do you think would be the best course of action;

1. Call and tell the truth that I am being inconvenienced (no material loss), draw attention to J ticket and DC Gold

2. Call and lie saying was due to catch ferry/train or something at 1430 (the ferry service to Aeolian isles departs at this time) and I will miss it unless they endorse me.

All with my usual polite manner in these matters. I'm thinking 2 is out as lying isn't good and they may ask for documentary evidence. Any ideas ?

Welcome to FT, fliesfrequently

I agree the NAP time change is a bit of a bummer. I would call them and tell them that you have booked a connecting train to Rome and need to get there by a given time.

bmi may not endorse you to BA, given that it is a restricted J tix, but try anyways. YMMV. Perhaps more realistically, they might offer to refund your fare and then the ball is really in your court...

I'm due to fly out to NAP on the same BD flight in a couple of weeks, so I'm hoping there are no further sudden changes!

Is it really that bad..worth the effort?

I am pretty sure that they will offer a refund if you ask them. As to endorsing you on BA or AZ, well, it is not like we are talking of a major schedule change. A bit of an annoyance but not more than that. Nor is it a last minute change. You have ample time to rebook on an alternative carrier if they refund you.
No harm in asking, though.

That's true and what I'm thinking - not much more than an annoyance, so long as they don't cancel it in a couple of months time.. Have checked the fares on ba.com which are identical at the moment so may refund and rebook on club Europe on BA, if I can be bothered with the trek over to Gatwick.

OK, I have also been put out by the schedule changes - only a 25 minute change, but quite an irritating one...

Was booked on 14:40 LHR-EDI on 29 April. We actually tossed up between taking this flight and one at 16-something (at the time, it was the same price), because we have meetings in London finishing around 13:00

Now the flight has moved to 14:15, and frankly it's cutting it a bit fine. Irritatingly, the 16:25 is now 15 quid more expensive and presumably there will be a slew of "administrative charges" for changing flights...

Any suggestions as to the best tack to take with the Bangalore call centre would be much appreciated... A refund is no good to me, because I have to get to Edinburgh, and the flight prices are now more expensive

It seems the LHR/EDI times have reverted to last year's summer timetable. BD56 and BD62 always depart on time but arrive late because of ground queues at LHR, BD60 just plain late.

kt74 you should of course be accommodated on the BD60 without endorsement fee or class of service fee. Strategy: an airport ticket desk would be best, if you're passing one in the next few days, otherwise call Diamond Club and select "other" from the phone menu rather than "reservations" and ask for a number for the Itineraries team. Assuming they still exist, you're in luck. I've tried my usual shortcuts and the numbers have either been disconnected or I get the main phone menu

Edited to add: does anyone else think it odd that BD are using a 0705 weekday departure slot at one of the world's most sought-after airports for a flight to PMI (current web fare, �29) full of bucket-and-spaders?

Yes.
And I remember a wise man ( ) once saying that Donington Hall must must have been smoking a joint when they came up with their routings etc...

Just thought I would update you all - bmi have redeemed themselves again !

Had some spare time at lunchtime so gave them a buzz just to see what happened, and after some time of being put on hold and offered a re-routing on LH via FRA (which would have seen me arriving in NAP 10 minutes earlier than the bmi flight !) I was put on to an extremely helpful English agent/supervisor who was in India but originally from the schedule change department and she endorsed me to my desired BA flight with no questions asked.

I even said that I knew they didn't even have to refund me but that I would rather just have the outbound sector endorsed rather than be refunded and re-book on BA, and I told her that with a restricted ticket I wouldn't expect to be endorsed.

Am now v. happy and looking forward to sampling club europe, only string is that I have to leave from Gatwick rather than LHR, but no big deal.

Just goes to show that even though there are still some customer oriented stars in bmi who will go the extra mile just to prevent a small inconvenience to a passenger.

Nice to hear of a positive bmi experience. ^
Enjoy the trip fliesfrequently!

We had booked to Naples on BMI when they had a sale a few months ago for travel 14th Feb.

Basically, both myself and the wife had gone off the idea and decided to stay home for the school holidays.

BMI rang us a couple of times asking us to get into contact with them. The wife did this and was informed of the schedule change. She told the agent that it messed up our plans and could we get a refund? She was told that we could (must return the tickets to refunds dept.) even though the tickets did state non-refundable. We are currently waiting for the money to be credited back to the card.

I think they were E fare code.

And the refund (in full) came through on my card today

Thanks ajamieson... This must be a bmi record. I called, it was answered in 2 rings, I gave the booking reference, and the flight was changed in under 10 seconds. No hassles at all :-: ... Now I remember why I like bmi so much!

Just noticed I'm caught out with schedule changes too

In July flying GLA - MAN - IAD - MAN - GLA. On the way out the original booking was leaving GLA at 0840 arriving MAN 0945 connecting with the BD701 at 1220. The revised schedule has us leaving GLA at 0700 arriving MAN at 0755, so nearly another 2 hours to spend at MAN, with 2 kids to entertain The saving grace is that we are in C Class so have all got lounge access

I see that there's a later flight from GLA to MAN, that morning, arriving 1105. I think that, although that would be a legal xfer time, it would be cutting it a bit neat. Anyone think otherwise?

There's a slight change to the return schedule, nothing of great significance.

Go for the later one. In my experience BD will move heaven and earth to accommodate late connecting pax from EDI or GLA. Twice I've arrived into MAN from EDI well after boarding has started for the ORD/IAD and twice I've been offered an airside car or an escort to the gate. They fell over themselves to ensure my bags were loaded, too. That you're all in C will also help matters considerably.

One thing worth checking: does BA have a GLA-MAN flight at a similar time, should the BD flight go tech or get cancelled? A useful fall-back.