BMIbaby

Last weekend a few of us flew with Bmibaby to Biarritz to watch our local rugby team lose (again). With both flights only 1 hour 20 minutes it doesn't merit a trip report, however, a couple of interesting things happened. Outbound we were roaring down the runway for take off when the brakes were applied. The pilot came on the intercom to announce that a couple of warning lights (regarding flaps) had come on but he was sure that if we had another go everything would be O.K..

It sure makes you think, but we obviously got off safely.

On the return leg we hit some pretty severe turbulance over the channel for about 10 minutes. The woman behind me was histerical, screaming, sobbing. It was that bad for 10 minutes I couldn't get my rum and coke anywhere near my mouth. Obviously the seat belt signs were on but amazingly the crew were still out with the trolleys selling drinks and food, worst still they were walking back to the galley to top up the coffee and tea pots. On one return trip the FA fell into my lap (I put on a brave face as I was sitting next to my wife).

The question is are these low cost airlines ignoring safety to maximize profits. In the first instance I have always believed that if warning lights come on you should check out the reason. Secondly in turbulance that bad the FA's should have been seated and belted.

I feel that after this experience I might revert to BA for short haul.

Well the pilot did the right thing in the first incident to abandon take-off but he should've taxied back to a stand to allow engineers to have a look.

The second incident the FA's should've known better to take their jump seats and resume service when the turbulence cleared. If an incident does happen then it will be at the FA's liability and not bmibaby's.

You could always write in a complaint about this expressing your fears then they might look into it. These two incidents, like you said, do jeopardise the safety of the aircraft and its passengers.

Absolutely agree, serving drinks and walking up and down with hot pots of drinks is dangerous - if a FA fell in your lap, that could be quite nice, but a pot full of hot coffee!

On a recent ANZ flight when we hit turbulence the purser made an announcement that drinks and meals would continue except for hot drinks, that was a good plot in mild turbulence. If it really was that bad they should have stopped ... but then where would all those overpriced items get purchased!

As for the pilot, he probably knew things that you didn't and made a judgement that things were safe ... I always believe thre crew want to get home too, so wouldn't take off if they thought things were not going to be OK.

Perhaps I am just an old cynic but I believe both incidents were airline/management led. The trolley service on the return flight was almost surreal during the turbulance. To have the stewardess end up on my lap it has got to be pretty bumpy.