BMIBaby have cancelled flights

BMI Baby have cancelled our flights from East Midlands to Almeria in September 2009, we have received emails today saying they have cancelled them. We have had flights before cancelled by Monarch but Monarch always offer an alternative, and it doesn't have to be the same dates or even destination. I ran BMIbaby at a cost of 65p per minute to see if we could just switch the route from Almeria to Alicante, same dates, more or less same times, just different airports. Got a serious jerk on the other end of the 'incoming calls only call centre' informing me that our flights had been cancelled and we would be refunded. I asked if we could switch to an alternative route and he said no. I quoted the regulation 261/2004 to him regarding alternative routes, and he said they were not following any regulation and our flight had been cancelled and we would be refunded. He basically didn't want to know. I asked for a supervisor, of course the supervisor was very busy but if I held for 15-20 mins he would probably talk to me and give me the same information. At 65p a minute no thank you. I asked him to call me back, forget it. Serious customer relations problems there. So, my question is - does anybody know if an airline has to offer alternative flights if suitable to the customer or am I being fobbed off??

Incidentally, for background information, and probably the reason I am most livid, we booked the flights in January this year, it was a new route, which I also recommended to family and friends (who I suspect will also be in the same predicament within the next few days), we paid £36 each return. Of course any new flights would cost at least trebble that price, plus as we will have to change our car hire that will of course also be vastly increased. Methinks somebody at BMIbaby has looked at the flights and decided they would be operating at a loss so just cancelled them.

Hi both, that's awful & I sympathise wholeheartedly.

You don't have to call the premium numbers, search the http://www.saynoto0870.com/ site & get the following numbers

Hi Morerosado

Thanks for this. I ought to have said I had tried the saynoto0870 site. I got the exact same details you listed, have tried all of the numbers, some are no longer valid, and others when I got through to BMI (not BMIBaby) and asked to be put through to BMIbaby he was very nice and put me through, unfortunately it was to an automated voicemail system that just went round and round, no option to press a number to get anywhere, just a whole load of numbers listed that were of course all premium numbers which I already had. They are all cottonning on to the fact we are trying to avoid 0870 etc numbers and putting all sorts of blocks in place.

Thanks anyway for your help, Carol

Big stink in Martin's moneysavingexpert site including this particular route.

They don't seem to like Almeria. Of no help to you, but in May this year we had a booking from a nice couple flying from Cardiff to Almeria on their new route for the season. The cheque had just cleared in the bank when they emailed to say that all the flights had been cancelled. Luckily they managed to get Bristol to Alicante, so they are still coming.

The problem is that they are all in it for the short term profit now. Once, they used to build up a customer base over a few years, but I suppose that is what happens when shareholders want their dividends.

Hope you get it sorted.

Mark

Hey Carol.

thanks for the thread just searching around internet to see what options are out there. I too received their e-mail last night. I have re-booked with Monarch already , at a cost of £414 (2 adults + 1), but original flight cost be £168 earlier this year. Travel insurance coy have rightly told me to go forth. Keep posting if you discover anything, as will I.

Cheers

when were you flying? We have flights booked with BMI in september Eat Mids to Almeria and we have not had an email

Urgent advice needed

Thanks

Huggy

I would suggest contacting them ASAP. When they cancelled the Cardiff- Almeria flights, they notified passengers over the course of a week rather than all at once. You may get a quicker response via Twitter as they have a presence on there (bmibaby_com) and generally answer within a day.

Mark

Huggy, who are you talking about re dates as Carol said in her initial post 'BMI Baby have cancelled our flights from East Midlands to Almeria in September 2009'.

Was it for Mark re his renters ?

Hi Huggy here,

I am talking about my flights BMI East Mids to Almeria. I am now worried that my flights in September mat also be cancelled.

Thanks for the suggestion that I contact BMI direct and check.

Hi Huggy, it's just you asked 'when were you flying?'so I asked you who you were referring to. I realised you are booked to fly from East Midlands to Almeria with BMI baby in Sept too. Carol had said she & Richard were flying Sept 09 same route but they had email, you hadn't. What a carry on for you. (We fly Easyjet Bristol to Murcia & we have Bristol to Alicante as back up). Let us know on here how you get on.

Hi

We were flying on several separate flights, four of us going on 14th sept, two coming back 21st sept, two more going 21st sept, last going back 28th sept or 1st oct.

According to their website they look to have cancelled from about 19th sept, and the monday flights just before then and we were all flying on mondays!! Should have known that £36 return each was too good to be true!

Just a quick point here; judging by previous threads concerning Almeria;

Are there any flights into Almeriafrom the UK after mid September with any of the lo-cost airlines?

 I dont use Almeria but I seem to recall that BMI were one of the very few surviving companies operating into there...?

Is Almeria the same way as Granada?

We have only Ryanair left and I wouldn't fly with them if the were the last airline in the world...especially since the driving time from any of their UK bases to our home town is greater than the flying time from Spain to the UK...!

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Hi foxbat

From the end of October, the three routes I can currently use into Almeria - east mids with BMIBaby, Leeds with Jet2 and Manchester with Monarch all cease for the winter. It is not clear yet even if Monarch will re-commence next summer. Don't know about any airlines / airports in the south or anywhere else. But certainly for North of England it is going to have to be a Murcia or Alicante option.

Hi foxbat

from the S E UK, other than Ryanair (Stanstead to Almeria) there's Easyjet (Gatwick to Almeria) throughout the winter months. Although Easyjet seems to be no longer a low cost airline.

regards.

Tech

Thanks for that...

Alicante as an alternative...Hmm...but 280Kms is a bit bit like saying Gatwick is an alternative for Leeds/Bradford...

At night, in Winter thats got to be a lot of fun...NOT!

Got to love these budget airlines...

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if not tried already then try

www.skyscanner. ? co .uk or .com

a useful site

good luck