Oxon Flyer

Fare sale is up on the site today, subject to T&Cs which include :

Proofreader strikes again.

FlyingOnceMore

When do you think they'll finish loading the fares then ?

I was looking for CAI @£213. Of course, it's not there

As for DME @ £187, Pah!, got something muuuuchhh better.

Oxon Flyer

It seems like the website has been recently updated to permit through bookings from regional airports to the BMED destinations. I tried :

Manchester-Cairo
Edinburgh-Amman
Glasgow-Ekaterinburg

and all came up with schedules and fares.


edit to add :

also Heathrow-Cairo and Manchester-Cairo are now on the "spend miles online" route list.

fraisse10

So the rumours this would become a direct flight were wide of the mark...

jackoshome

from the 4th of Nov the airport code for tehran is IKA not THR fyi

virtualtroy

So outside of CAI, have any of our brethren flown any of these new routes yet?

Oxon Flyer

Thanks for the update : ^

"Imam Khomeini International Airport"

Prospero

Nothing much to add to this thread other than I think the hybrid livery look pretty tidy. I'd venture as far as to add it is an improvement over the standard corporate livery - I never was a great fan of the BMI's frontal frown expression

Traveloguy

That picture looks a little rushed. In fact as the airliners photo shows, a bit of the BA decal is showing on the tail under the "new" paint job.

bawr

This is not just a code change, but an airport change. THR is now for domestic and military flights only. IKA is a new(ish) airport, which was supposed to have eight runways when it was planned under the previous regime. It was later scaled down to only two runways.

ajamieson

Yes I've got phone camera pictures of the C seats. I'm useless at these things, but if anyone can host them to use in a link then I'm happy to forward them by text. Would that work?

I'm going to update the Flying with bmi FAQ with menus etc as soon as I get a moment. A few small things:

* Old-style cradle seat on the ex-BMED routes is nice and comfortable. More pitch than CAI/DME, but the seats are a little elderly and more prone to defects.

* Service very similar to BMED but bmi menus and catering in place. No charge for food or alcohol in economy.

* Wide variation in loads depending on day of the week time of year

* Staff all in bmi uniforms, but a few minor signs of old: BA's own synthesised boarding music still being heard on some flights and some of the airport information screens are still showing a BA code but with BD flight numbers.

* BMED seems to have a great company culture similar to bmi - a distinct family-feel, challenger-carrier attitude that is different to BA (thank goodness). Staff are determined to give outstanding service, turnover is relatively low and there are some wonderful characters around (there's a gate agent in DAM who used to be a literary critic...you don't get that at LHR!) Bmi bean-counters will have to bring some savings to inflight services - eg crewing arrangements. For example, BMED crews appear to be used to generous nightstops, whereas Bmi operates CAI (and, in future, TLV) in a single roster.

* IFE will remain a classic Bmi muddle until the new mid-haul product comes into being across all routes in 2008/9. Some ex-BMED aircraft are capable of AVOD, some are not (the AVOD-capable aircraft have much bigger PTV screens in C). In the Voyager magazine, you will notice that the movie choices are now listed as "USA/Caribbean" and "DE/DF", "DK", "DM" etc. The latter actually refers to the aircraft registration as there are three different IFE arrangements! Some aircraft are using the BA-branded IFE menu, others are using Voyager similar to Bmi long-haul. There is no airshow available, as far as I can tell. Non-ex-BMED routes CAI/DME of course have DVD players in C and no PTV in economy.

* On DAM flights which operate via Ankara, there is no catering on the DAM-Ankara sector except for a drinks service. Proper catering is uploaded at Ankara, which I suppose makes sense.

* Full aircraft rebranding into bmi livery will depend on when aircraft undergo full F-checks, probably next winter. Hopefully this will coincide with the introduction of the new mid-haul product. Meantime the hybrid bmi livery will remain.

Oxon Flyer

Thanks for the update ^

They didn't let you have a drive too by any chance, did they ?

ajamieson

Yeah, it was after we'd had a go on these at dinner

Kevincm

Ouch... someone pressed the nose-cone to the terminal wall a bit hard

Next time no driving under the influence!

(Or that was Santa really being hit...)

ajamieson

Right, thanks to :-:Kevincm:-: here are some images. They are shot on camera phone so apologies that they're a bit crap...

Bmi Business Class on ex-BMED A320 (6 rows of 2x2)
Bmi Business Class on ex-BMED A320
Tim Bye in Syria celebrating bmi takeover of services to Damascus and Aleppo
Tim Bye in Syria celebrating bmi takeover of services to Damascus and Aleppo

Just noticed that some aircraft have had cabins tweaked with familiar bright blue bmi cloth on seats and red carpet while others (as above) remain in BA fabrics minus the branding.