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Old 13th May 2009, 07:57
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Stormin

It matters not

They should know or ought to have known, either way its their FD to be aware
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Old 13th May 2009, 10:24
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cesare.caldi
"On MXP-LHR route operated by BMI the crew are from LH or BMI? The service onboard is the same of Lufthansa Italia or different?"



Both the pilots and cabin crew are BMI employees on both the Milan and Berlin routes that BMI are operating but with Lufthansa service and seating.
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Old 13th May 2009, 18:47
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BMI cabin crew can speak italian?
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Old 13th May 2009, 19:09
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Yes many can, my ex was mainline cabin crew

In fact they offer a bonus to staff who introduce cabin crew that start and can speak Arabic or Rusky £500 i am told, that said they,d probably roster them on a Aberdeen flight!! lol
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Old 13th May 2009, 19:27
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Inkjet/Topslide 6 - I can assure you that my comments are grounded in facts and current events rather than guesswork.

Inkjet, Lufthansa were well aware that things were not wonderful at bmi because of the deterioration in trading conditions and the end of the ECA agreement at Heathrow which had artificially improved bmi's results up to that point. Although they were not expecting a picture of rosy contentment, they have been surprised by just how bad things actually are in bmi.

They do indeed have two directors on the board of bmi but as someone has already pointed out, the corporate board is told what the executive officers think it needs to know rather than necessarily having full disclosure on every aspect of the business. Although I am not aware of any allegations that the executives have misled the Board, there is a very strong feeling that they haven't perhaps been totally open and candid about the company's true position.

The two sides have at least managed to agree on an agreement to discuss a way of helping them reach an agreement.
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Old 13th May 2009, 19:36
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cesare.caldi

What you will find is that BMI employs a decent number of Italian nationals and with good sense BMI made the decision to use this key asset and roster these guys onto the MXP flights along with any UK Italian speakers.
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Old 13th May 2009, 20:19
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Inkjet/Topslide 6 - I can assure you that my comments are grounded in facts and current events rather than guesswork.
That's not evidence. Put up or shut up!
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Old 13th May 2009, 20:30
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Topslide6, I am not going to post details of where this information came from. It's particularly naive of you to expect me to. All I can ask you to do is check back on other bmi postings where I think you will find that the level of accuracy has been very high - A330s coming out of MAN, LBA/MME-LHR being chopped, Chester contract etc - and who the first postings on PPrune came from about those issues. If you want to decry what I'm saying, then feel free - that's part of what PPrune is all about. I'd just ask you to point out where anyone on PPrune has ever publicly said who they are or named their sources. People don't. It's a bit crass to expect me to do the same.
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Old 14th May 2009, 17:20
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Eu decides on Lufthansa acquisition of bmi

After examining the operation, the Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it.
Rapid - Press Releases - EUROPA
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Old 15th May 2009, 01:02
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Guys,I worked for British Midland for a number of years from 1996.I left in 2005.In all my time at BMI we just seemed to jump from crisis to crisis.I spent many years on the ground were we had overtime bans and timesheets being signed by duty managers.Expenses took 3 to 6 months to get payed back.Then we had James Hogan,the singular person who spent a fortune,bankrupted Anset Australia and his crony David Thomas who tried to spend thousands on cctv to spy on British Midland groundstaff at Man.Oh yes,he tried to install cameras at ticket desk, check in and gates 16 to 18 at Man.The most ignorant rude person ive ever had the disspleasure to work for.Last night when I landed at Amsterdam I saw a singular BMI A319 on the C gates,then when we taxied onto the H gates at Schipol to be greeted by another six ezy A319s,I sighed with relief and thanked god I dont work for Bmi anymore.
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Old 15th May 2009, 01:37
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Yes but soon bmi/British Midland will cease to exist in it's present form. Lufthansa are taking over and big changes will be under way. The culture that purveyed under Sir Michael Bishop is on the way out and the large slot holding he amassed will soon be under the stewardship of one of the most profitable airlines in the world. Bring it on!
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Old 15th May 2009, 05:55
  #1132 (permalink)  
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Washington Times - 14th May: Not buying the abaya

British airline enforces Saudi customs on employees

Should stewardesses flying to Saudi Arabia be required to wear head-to-toe coverings and walk behind men?

One airline thinks so. British Midland Airways is going to absurd and insulting lengths to patronize backward habits of the Middle East by forcing its female flight attendants to dress and behave in a stereotype of subservient Saudi women. When flight attendant Lisa Ashton stood up to the policy, she was fired.

BMI employees were informed of the policy in August 2005. In addition to wearing the traditional abaya, the policy stated that, "it is expected that female crew members walk behind their male counterparts in public areas such as the airport, no matter what rank."

To Miss Ashton this was outrageous. "I am a proud Englishwoman and I don't want to be demeaned in this way," she told us in an exclusive interview. "I'm a Christian, and I'm proud to be British." Miss Ashton hastened to add that this was not a clash of civilizations but a labor dispute over a sexually discriminatory policy. "This is not a political statement or promotion of one belief over another," she said. "We're living in the 21st century here. Any woman told to walk behind a man will be outraged, don't you think?"

Miss Ashton's union representative told her the abaya was considered "an item of uniform" and that refusal to wear it should be treated as "a potential disciplinary matter." Miss Ashton went to great lengths to avoid coming into conflict with the policy. She asked not to be scheduled to go to Saudi Arabia, but that would remove her from all long-haul routes, which effectively would cut her salary by a third. When her time finally came to fly to Saudi Arabia, she refused, and was suspended.

Ten months of what Miss Ashton refers to as "administrative bullying" ensued before she was dismissed in April 2008. "I started standing up for myself," she said, "and I don't think they liked it." She appealed her case but a labor tribunal accepted BMI's argument that the airline introduced the requirements "entirely from the need to conform to local customs, practices and law in Saudi Arabia."

Miss Ashton contends this is "culturally illiterate." She inquired at the Saudi Embassy and was told there is no law or regulation in Saudi Arabia requiring visiting Westerners to dress and behave this way. A 1979 official Saudi dress code requires visiting women to dress conservatively and suggests but does not require the abaya. Female U.S. service personnel in the country were forced to wear abayas under a 1991 Defense Department policy, but this was challenged in a 2001 lawsuit by Air Force Col. Martha McSally. Congress passed legislation prohibiting the requirement in 2002.

BMI recently came under fire when passengers on a flight to Tel Aviv noticed that the in-flight display did not show their destination, and the Israeli city of Haifa was listed under its Arabic name Khefa. Passengers were also not given the distance to their destination but instead were shown the distance to Mecca.

BMI spokesman Phil Shepherd told us these aircraft were formerly operated by BMED, a former British Airways subsidiary which specialized in flights to the Middle East. A technical error prevented the maps from being deactivated and corrected versions are being installed.

But BMI still requires female flight attendants to mimic the demeaning customs of the most backward elements of Saudi society. BMI should help usher Saudi Arabia into the modern age by setting an example of equality and tolerance rather than pandering to discriminatory practices.
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Old 15th May 2009, 07:40
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and his crony David Thomas who tried to spend thousands on cctv to spy on British Midland groundstaff at Man.Oh yes,he tried to install cameras at ticket desk, check in and gates 16 to 18 at Man.The most ignorant rude person ive ever had the disspleasure to work for.


amen brother
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Old 15th May 2009, 11:11
  #1134 (permalink)  

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Mutley we must have worked together. I'm trying to guess who you are in real life!
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Old 15th May 2009, 18:44
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@mutleyshriek

bankrupted Ansett Australia
That he didn't do.

He was set up to be CEO of Ansett 2 with Peter Rowe as his sidekick and it all fell apart when the venture capitalists pulled out.

Everything else you say it true, though..

Last edited by RevMan2; 15th May 2009 at 19:50.
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Old 15th May 2009, 19:23
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Topslide said:
I am not going to post details of where this information came from. It's particularly naive of you to expect me to. All I can ask you to do is check back on other bmi postings where I think you will find that the level of accuracy has been very high - A330s coming out of MAN, LBA/MME-LHR being chopped, Chester contract etc - and who the first postings on PPRuNe came from about those issues. If you want to decry what I'm saying, then feel free - that's part of what PPRuNe is all about. I'd just ask you to point out where anyone on PPRuNe has ever publicly said who they are or named their sources. People don't. It's a bit crass to expect me to do the same
I lurk here......
And with good reason

Listen to what the man is saying chaps. He's no mug. Do what he says and look back at his previous posts and specifically look at the timing of them in relation to the actual 'happenings'. You'll see a pattern.........
The man is in the know...............

I'll return to lurking now!
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Old 15th May 2009, 19:59
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Conspicuous by absence

I noticed this story as well in the Washington times, it was also over most of the UK media like a rash a couple of weeks ago. However apart from a very short thread on the cabin crew forum its been " Conspicuous by its absence". Judging by the calls to boycott BMI and the support that the public have shown and the fact that its being appealed I would have thought it would have created a lot of discussion on the cabin crew forum...or is no one bothered?
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Old 15th May 2009, 20:22
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Why should people boycot Bmi?
The crew member was employed to work to any destination served by the airline, and broke her contract. The same actions would have happened to any other member of staff unwilling to fulfill their assigned duties.
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Old 15th May 2009, 21:58
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Frontcheck, I think if you have a look at most contracts it also states that the company has to be reasonable. It would appear that British Midland International were not.
Are you honestly telling me that its acceptable for an airline to impose its own sexual or religiously discriminatory demands, and if the staff don’t agree they are sacked?. Looks like they were being a little naughty telling its staff " Females have have to walk behind the men because that’s what they do in Saudi "....errrr no it not. I believe they also said that to the Tribunal court, and the court believed them. Should make for interest when this gets booted up a court or two as I believe it is.

Explain, what is the difference with BMI telling its women to walk behind the men or BMI saying to their black employees, they have to walk behind the white crew? Don't know about you, I can't see any difference. If you still think its the norm over in Saudi, give the Saudi embassy a call, they will put you straight.

It is not the rules, custom or law of Saudi for a woman to be expected to walk behind the men, or indeed any other “culture”. I susspect it's a BMI culturally illiterate manager making a demand on BMI’s female cabin crew based on their feeble racially stereotypical narrow minded interpretation of perceived Islamic/Saudi rules, laws, customs and culture. I actually think BMI might be in a lot of hotwater over this because from what I have heard this is a long way from being over
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Old 15th May 2009, 22:11
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or is no one bothered?
About the only person who is bothered is the lady taking the action, almost all of the other cabin crew I have spoken to about it really couldn't care less about having to wear an abaya, they might prefer not to but like most crews they would probably prefer not to be in Saudi in the first place, wearing an abaya only makes it slightly worse than it already is.

Last edited by Max Angle; 16th May 2009 at 10:49.
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