Fuck British Midland Airlines. Fuck them right in the ear

[andrewducker]

So, Julie and I are flying down to Derby with BMIBaby (the low cost arm of British Midland).  And we go to check in online - and are told we can choose to pay an extra £4 to choose our seats, or take what we're given.

No problem, we think, we'll take what we're given - we don't care if we're at the front or the back.

But no - they assign one of us seats at the front of the aircraft and one at the back.

But we can still choose to pay - and looking at the system, we can choose two seats that are handily right next to each other.

So, despite there being pairs of seats, and despite us checking in online on a single form, they allocate the pair of us different seats, just so they can charge us an extra £4?

Oh - and to cap it all, there's no way to leave feedback online, or to email them.  The only way to talk to them is via a phone number that costs 65p/minute (i.e. $1/minute).

Fuck them.  I'm never flying with them again.  There's a certain amount of dickery I'm just not prepared to put up with.

Comments

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

Their idea of good design is to have the algorithm allocate people to single seats, while keeping pairs of seats free in an attempt to get the maximum number of people to pay so they can sit together. In terms of maximising revenue, it's quite a good one, in terms of customer service it sucks huge donkey bollocks.

I hadn't realised BMI were now resorting to Ryanair style charges. Will bear it in mind in future.

[andrewducker]

Exactly. For their short term revenue it makes sense, so long as they don't mind ripping off their customers.

[khbrown.livejournal.com]

Well, quarterly balance sheet and all, so it makes sense.

[andrewducker]

Which is why it's good that the renumeration package for the head of RBS is based over the results of multiple years.

[pisica.livejournal.com]

bmibaby isn't the same as bmi, and their charges aren't the same.

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

True, but they are owned by the same company. By the sounds of it, BMI would do well to change the name of their low-cost arm to prevent people assuming they are one and the same.