[QUOTE=Delta Hog The first 8 rows of the aircraft were taped off and no one allowed to sit there . . . I don't know why, but it was a bit unnerving. No problems though. 0.49 GBP round-trip. With fees & taxes & etc., around 40 GBP.[/QUOTE]

bmi is a full service airline and member of *A and as such offers seperate C and Y cabins, which is why you weren't allowed to sit there. So compared to the likes of Ryanair, bmi are far superior with lounges, complimentary refreshments and drinks (alcohol included) on all flights. Yet some of their fares are very cheap indeed, though I've never seen them offer a 0.49p fare before - where did you get that from Delta Hog ? I've travelled on the LHR-AMS route and I can remember the days of the full hot breakfast ^ being served in Y. Now they've replaced them with hot paninis :td: but that's what you get for cheaper fares. At least with bmi you get something to eat...

Remy
 

The information posted below is right on. I have flown them twice in the last six months. They are reliable, but cheap. I would fly them again.

They are my regular airline, and a proper, full-service airline, despite the good fares. I like them: their planes are clean and bright, and the staff cheerful and unpretentious. Plus, you can get Star Alliance benefits. Never had a problem with them - in fact, when things have gone wrong, they've been extremely good at making it right.

They lack the finesse, reach and experience of an airline like BA, as well as the lounges (in London, at least - the BA lounge at AMS is a miserable affair as well). There's been some issues with their call centre recently, and their long-haul policy has been a joke (not to mention the more marginal routes within Europe) but this won't affect you - AMS is a core route.

The schedules are well padded for the standard 15 minutes' holding at Lambourn on the way into LHR, and the Polderbaan taxi on the way out of AMS.

Be careful with what airport you are flying from and flying too. I was going to take their great rate and fly to Ireland from Frankfurt and then I realized how far away the Frankfurt Hahn airport is from the Frankfurt am Main airport. I believe they usually stick to small airports that might not be as easy to travel to and from.

I recently bought tickets for AMS-LON for August - and chose EasyJet. It was significantly cheaper than BMI, even considering the Gatwick Express vs. tube from Heathrow. And having flown both BMI and EasyJet, I hardly think the food is worth the extra cost.

If you have travel insurance that covers such contingencies, you don't have to worry about Ryanair's (or any other airline's) rare cancelled flights.

So far, I don't mind the small airports that I've been to. I certainly get out of them a lot quicker than I do Heathrow.

From Rome, you will use Ciampino airport, which is actually closer to the center of Rome than the major Fiumicino airport (it is located within a few miles of the catacombs and the Cappanelle horse racing track).

Your plane, however, will not use either CDG or Orly, but rather will land at the city of Beauvais, about 40-45 miles northwest of central Paris.

I have flown on Ryanair once and had a quite good experience. I made a pilgrimage to Lourdes, and then took a passenger train 2 hours from there to the seaside city of Bayonne, in the French Basque country, and toured both Bayonne and the better known Biarritz (which share a municipal bus system). The airport there is called Biarritz-Anglet-Bayonne (BIQ); its terminal is clean and cheerful, but smaller than commuter airports in this country I have flown into like Lebanon, NH and Evansville, IN. Ryanair's check-in was handled by contract employees (presumably employed by the local airport authority); to be sure of making the flight, I got there 2 hours early; after passing through security and passport control (about 1 hour before scheduled departure), there were no services of any kind in the holding room. The inbound flight from Stansted airport (30 miles north of London, 25 miles south of Cambridge) was about 10 minutes late; the 4 person stew crew assisted the ground staff in getting the plane turned and ready for departure--they used airstairs at both the front and the back of the plane (a Boeing 737-800 with probably 170 seats), and, with a decent tailwind, we got to Stansted on schedule. My take on the inflight service was:

1. The flight crew was made up of four young (i.e., under 25s) people, 2 men and 2 women--I sat near the front and was waited upon by a Spanish senorita and a young Irishman, who were impeccably dressed in the company uniform and were very congenial.

2. There are seatback pockets; in fact, the seating was comfortable, probably not much different than Southwest or JetBlue. I have short legs, so leg room is not much of an issue for me. Seating was 3 and 3 (there is no first class, and not much of a galley in the front).

3. All food and drink items are for sale (a can of soda and a can of Pringles cost something like E4.00). The flight attendants earn much of their compensation from commissions on the sale of food, drink and duty free. There was a sizeable duty free catalogue on board, and purchase of these items was encouraged.

4. Luggage service at Stansted was slow--it was probably 20-25 minutes from deplaning before my one checked bag emerged onto the carousel. Passport formalities there for non-EU passengers (i.e., Americans) were quick and friendly.

5. Buying trip insurance is encouraged, in case things go wrong, so that you are not out of pocket--for example, Ryanair is reported to be in the business of strict and heartless adherence of the rule that check-in closes 40 minutes before departure--if you get there 39 minutes before departure, you lose your reservation (and presumably your fare for that flight) and have to buy a full-fare ticket on the next flight. They will not give you vouchers for food or lodging in the case of a cancellation.

6. I would consider Ryanair again for an inter-Europe flight (they offer service to some interesting destinations, such as Brno, Czech R. and Riga, Latvia, and are supposedly going to go whole hog on a big push into the rest of Eastern Europe as they receive new jets from Boeing). On this run, the one way fare inclusive of taxes and fees was E52.00 (about $63.00 at the then prevailing rate), not bad for a 600 mile trip over the English Channel (which would have been at least 10-11 hours by high speed train plus the station change in Paris).

Fo r the price you pay you can't go wrong. I used them last year from Frankfurt Hahn to Stansted and back and thought they were good. Plane was new, clean, on time and not full so we could stretch out a bit. I like at Hahn airport that there was no wait at all for check-in and then on the return, it took literally 5 minutes from landing to being in the car-park. Flying them again in May from Stansted to Hahn again. For 40 quid all inclusive I can't go wrong. ^

Also, keep in mind that you might actually want the airport Ryanair uses. In my case, the Nimes to London Luton route is absolutely perfect for me. Well, Nimes to Heathrow would be perfect, but Luton is plenty good enough.

Anyone know what the seat width is on easyjet and bmi? bmi told me today that its 18" in coach and biz but in biz they put down the middle seat

im an obese man and so im concerned about this.

thank you

EasyJet has seats which are a little narrower and with tighter seat pitch than BMI.

I have flown both BC and coach on BMI. I don't think the seats are different, and they are three abreast in BC. There did seem to be a few inches actually between the seats, which is nice.

Here's what the EasyJet web site says:
additional seat requirement
Our minimum seat dimensions are as follows:

Pitch (distance between back of seat and back of seat in front): 29" (approx. 72.5cm)
Width (distance between armrests): 171/2 " (approx. 44cm)
If you are unable to fit into a single seat with the above dimensions for any reason (such as special medical requirements e.g. a broken leg) you will be required to purchase additional seating

http://www.easyjet.com/EN/Book/regulations.html

Thanks Will - yea 17.5 is quite small I think - when I flew to nyc last month i went first on delta and the seat was 19.5 and was quite narrow for me - i mean it wasnt bad but im thinking 2" smaller will be the end of me -- now i have lost 20 lbs since the nyc trip but im not sure that will make much of a difference.

does the bc on bmi help with the middle seat down? does it appear to make a bigger seat?

thanks im trying to be comfortable but also not really bother other people

As far as I can see, the middle seat wasn't down when I flew on BMI BC. But that might have been because the flight was overbooked (that's why I was in BC in the first place). There are a few inches between your seat and the next, and that should help.

Any flight within Europe will be of limited length and you could stand for much of the flight.

Realistically, if you are flying on EasyJet, and take care to board early (by checking in early) and grab a window seat in a row near the back, few people will probably choose to take the middle seat unless the flight is booked to capacity - which is unlikely. So for that reason you might prefer EasyJet. Or if you are concerned still, consider buying the two seats - with EasyJet that's likely to be a minimal amount anyway - although I've never heard of how this works when someone tries to claim their two seats.

Sorry, I was talking about Ryanair. The bmi post and mine were entered about the same time it appears.

On the Ryanair flight, there was literally yellow police-like tape cordoning off the first 8 rows.

Is it hard to get into Paris?
 

Since we are trying to get to Paris (flying in from Rome), is it easy to get into town from Beauvais? I saw the link for the shuttle bus, I am guessing that wherever it ends up, we'll need to metro or taxi it over to the Hilton Paris. We're trying to pack as light as possible, so I don't think it'd be any harder than traveling with luggage on the DC Metro or Boston T, right? And it asks for the country of residence (the US is not listed in the pull-down menu and is asking for an email to their info line), is it better that I buy a ticket online when we get to Italy? Ryanair lists a 6:35 am flight - from the sounds of things, it sounds like the early morning flights tend to actually leave on time? I will look at EasyJet and compare.

EasyJet
 

It doesn't look like Easyjet flies from Rome to Paris in one shot. I guess it's Ryanair...