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BMI: Edinburgh-Heathrow next for the axe

PostPosted: 07 Feb 2011, 21:34
by Sealink
Bit of a discussion taking place on other forums, that bmi's Heathrow - Edinburgh service will not see the year out.

Announcement due in the summer. Apparently (doncha love that word?) the aircraft are already rostered for new routes.

Re: BMI: Edinburgh-Heathrow next for the axe

PostPosted: 08 Feb 2011, 04:41
by platinumleo
You do seriously wonder if BMI will survive in anyway shape or form. Business wise it makes sense to change routes to save the airline, but will it?


Forgot to write as well what route will be next? :?

Platinum Leo

Re: BMI: Edinburgh-Heathrow next for the axe

PostPosted: 08 Feb 2011, 09:36
by DarkAuror
That's a shame. :(

Re: BMI: Edinburgh-Heathrow next for the axe

PostPosted: 08 Feb 2011, 09:45
by northernhenry
Are they as daft as most people seem to think?
Cutting off a high proportion of Feeder routes for interconnects to competitor airlines..?
Removing vast majority of the MAN connections

Crippling VS's ability to gain passengers from outside "the south"...

Stupid connection times, unreliable..we won't use them again..

Re: BMI: Edinburgh-Heathrow next for the axe

PostPosted: 08 Feb 2011, 14:17
by Concorde RIP
This after GLA/LHR route was cut - wasn't it?

To be honest, and it's very topical, I wouldn't go near LHR to fly domestic (but then, I do live in the sauf!). As my TR indicates on BA CF, I'd fly LCY upto EDI anytime, but wouldn't dream of using LHR. I used to use LHR a lot up to EDI and GLA, and in the end, switched to the train as it was faster door to door.

Now then, presumably some free slots - any takers for a Virgin UK?

Why oh why, didn't VS take over BMI when it had the chance and strip out the non-sensical routes keeping UK domestics as feeders etc etc.....Boats missed, and trains leaving the station.....

As for BMI - well, these routes presumably don't make much money, and they're simply "focusing their business" - makes sense I suppose.

Or, are they being really smart as said above.

Shame, used to fly BMI quite a lot, and always found them good. These cuts can't spell good news for BMI though, they appear in trouble...

Whatever is next...

Re: BMI: Edinburgh-Heathrow next for the axe

PostPosted: 08 Feb 2011, 14:21
by Sealink
I would say that bmi's raison d'être nowadays is to feed LH, VS is an irrelvence (and perhaps a reason why VS are scrambling around looking for Skyte... an alliance).

Re: BMI: Edinburgh-Heathrow next for the axe

PostPosted: 08 Feb 2011, 14:53
by mitchja
BMI really are a joke now. How much money have they just spent (wasted) renovating their LHR T1 lounge? Domestic routes are clearly not in BMI's business plan anymore.

BA must be clapping their hands at the moment as they are mopping up the few remaining BMI domestic pax.

BA now just need to focus a bit more on LGW domestic flights as there's still no domestic flights upto MAN between 10:50 and 15:30 every day. The 10:50 BA flight cuts it very fine for several VS arrivals.

Re: BMI: Edinburgh-Heathrow next for the axe

PostPosted: 08 Feb 2011, 15:10
by northernhenry
mitchja wrote:BA now just need to focus a bit more on LGW domestic flights as there's still no domestic flights upto MAN between 10:50 and 15:30 every day. The 10:50 BA flight cuts it very fine for several VS arrivals.


Flybe does LBA - LGW, as an option, its only an hour & a bit from MAN.. :w

VS needs a plan and quick:
Domestic feeds:
BA - No
Flybe - Part owned by BA?- Codeshare- unlikely
BMI - Sat in the corner on its own, muttering about Beruit, Tripoli, Yemen and Albania :$
LCC - Not really...
Eastern, Just bought Southwest.. :?

Options on getting to LHR/LGW then revert back to Train/car, which if you live much past Birmingham, makes the competition look inviting..

Not many options left..

Re: BMI: Edinburgh-Heathrow next for the axe

PostPosted: 08 Feb 2011, 16:21
by David
Got to agree, its getting very difficult to connect to LGW/LHR from Scotland.

Maybe VS should buy/merge/codeshare (delete as appropriate) with ..... Easyjet :w

Rebrand them as Virgin Europe - alliance issues solved :D

David (off to hide)

Re: BMI: Edinburgh-Heathrow next for the axe

PostPosted: 08 Feb 2011, 17:17
by mitchja
northernhenry wrote:Flybe does LBA - LGW, as an option, its only an hour & a bit from MAN.. :w


Thanks. That's a good idea actually, never thought about LBA. I'm probably slightly nearer to LBA than MAN anyway.

Need a domestic connection for my LGW>HAV trip over New Year so I shall look into that.

Re: BMI: Edinburgh-Heathrow next for the axe

PostPosted: 08 Feb 2011, 17:33
by northernhenry
mitchja wrote:
northernhenry wrote:Flybe does LBA - LGW, as an option, its only an hour & a bit from MAN.. :w


Thanks. That's a good idea actually, never thought about LBA. I'm probably slightly nearer to LBA than MAN anyway.

Need a domestic connection for my LGW>HAV trip over New Year so I shall look into that.


And if you've got a Priority Pass the freshly updated Prem lounge isn't arf bad. However parking is ££- don't use airport's own. :0

Re: BMI: Edinburgh-Heathrow next for the axe

PostPosted: 12 Mar 2011, 01:00
by Gartan
I found this thread while looking for an answer to an interesting question!

I booked in Nov 2010 to fly from EDI to DUL, via LHR. Original depart time from EDI was 0855, connecting to 1300 VS flight.

Just checked BMI booking on website, and the 0855 is now 0905 (arr 1035), which is fine. But the VS flight is now at 1115! And they want me to click on "Accept flight change".

So, if I just accept this, and turn up, there is no way they can get me and my wife and kids onto the 1115. What would happen next? There is a UA flight at 1200 and 1305. I assume that they would try to get us on that. Is UA better than VS? (maybe a daft question!).

Or should I just call them, and accept that they will ask us to wake at 3am to catch the 0630 from EDI to LHR?

Thoughts?

Re: BMI: Edinburgh-Heathrow next for the axe

PostPosted: 12 Mar 2011, 09:56
by honey lamb
Gartan wrote:I found this thread while looking for an answer to an interesting question!

I booked in Nov 2010 to fly from EDI to DUL, via LHR. Original depart time from EDI was 0855, connecting to 1300 VS flight.

Just checked BMI booking on website, and the 0855 is now 0905 (arr 1035), which is fine. But the VS flight is now at 1115! And they want me to click on "Accept flight change".

So, if I just accept this, and turn up, there is no way they can get me and my wife and kids onto the 1115. What would happen next? There is a UA flight at 1200 and 1305. I assume that they would try to get us on that. Is UA better than VS? (maybe a daft question!).

Or should I just call them, and accept that they will ask us to wake at 3am to catch the 0630 from EDI to LHR?

Thoughts?

Hello and welcome to V-Flyer.

Are your flights on the same ticket? If so, you should contact VS direct about this. They are the ones who have created this problem and are the ones to resolve it. The exception to this would be if you have booked through a travel agent in which case VS will refer you back to them.

Rather than having to get up in the middle of the night, why not fly down the night before and stay in one of the LHR hotels. I do and I know a couple of others on V-Flyer do the same. It's also less stressful if the early morning flight goes tech or is delayed for operational difficulties at LHR.

Lots of us have been affected in various ways by flight changes. There seems to have been a whole raft of them across the fleet.

Finally, I am presuming you are flying to IAD (Washington DC) I haven't a clue as to where DUL is or whether it even exists