Was more on the lines of thinking of flying same airbus aircrafts but bringing in more charges like for baggage and seating to earn extra revenue and at the same time keeping a flexible economy service with the frills for those who are willing to pay for that (by doing this they will still maintain star alliance standards??)

It makes me laugh how people go on about alliance standards. Has anyone ever flown domestically in the US where baggage charges, very basic BOB etc etc are the norm?

BHX-FRA
 

Curious to note that the Lufthansa booking engine credits 3 out of 4 daily flights from BHX to FRA as being BMI aircraft operated by BMI, whilst on the BMI booking engine all flights are listed as being Lufthansa aircraft operated by Lufthansa. Do BMI not wish to acknowledge that they operate a BHX/FRA service?

The collapse of the customer service experience was part of the driver that saw people choose BA instead. A free cuppa and a biscuit ain't much but then you're in a hurry and the company won't pay for a seat up front, it's a godsend. Joining the queue to be robbed by WHSmith isn't quite the same...

I don't think now is the time to be launching new Middle East routes. bmi themselves have found that out with Tripoli ;)

There are rumours flying around everywhere about a myriad of different things. One thing is for certain, outside of Wolfgang and Ulli's offices, I don't think anyone actually knows anything.

I sure as hell don't, but my phone was ringing off the hook with people asking me what was going on today. God knows why they thought I'd know anything though!

Doomed, doomed I tell you ....

FCO recommends against travel to Syria now
 

The FCO changed it's advice for travel to Syria today so DAM will be the next route in the spotlight

Does anyone know why the new second daily BD903 Beirut flight is continually being cancelled, aside from a select few on dates?

For example, it operated on Fri 01 and Sat 02 April, yet did not operate the following Friday and Saturday. It is however scheduled to operate this weekend on Sat 16 and Sun 17 April.

I know the website states 'pending regulatory approval', but the fact that they've been operating occasional flights suggests it's for commercial reasons. I mean, lets say they were only granted approval to fly twice weekly instead of the planned daily service, surely if they were able to operate on Fri 01 and Sat 02, they'd be able to operate the following weekend? Instead, the next service to operate will be todays BD903 on Sat 16 April.

Their explanation seems a bit fishy to me.

I think it is to do with the Lebanese authorities who are allowing the extra flights on one off permissions until they (the Lebanese) get their act together

Apparently the Lebanese authorities are only allowing bmi to have 10 flights a week to BEY, thats why the BD903 operates only on somes days of the week and not daily as bmi planned. It makes commercial sense to operate on the days where flights are busy and cancel the quieter ones. Sounds likes Middle East Airlines are worried about bmi having too much of a big bite of the market share and a better fequency of course.

bmi
 

• bmi's cabin refresh on the ex-BMED a/c is nearly complete. The shorthaul fleet of A319s & A320s are now to follow. So far the following aircraft have been refreshed:

G-DBCJ, G-DBCK, G-MEDF, G-MEDG, G-MEDH, G-MEDJ, G-MEDK & G-MEDM (incomplete)

This refresh involves:
- Cushions on all A/C will be replaced
- All seats recovered in chocolate brown leather (Midhaul A/C)
- New seats in chocolate brown leather, with a fold down table in the ‘B’ & ‘E’ seats that will allow a 2-2 seating configuration (Shorthaul A/C)
- Brown carpet & new flooring in the washrooms
- New lighting
- New vinyl coverings on the bulkheads
- All surfaces & galleys given a deep clean
- A319s to have 138 seats
- Shorthaul A320s to have 162 seats

Phase 2 of the shorthaul refresh involves:
- New forward galleys
- All A319s to have 144 seats
- All A320s to have 168 seats

• bmi have (finally) launched dedicated websites in Arabic & German, found at www.flybmi.com/ar & www.flybmi.com/de respectively.
• A320 G-MIDS is currently being repainted into Star Alliance livery & will be ferried EMA-BHX on 07May to be based there.
• A330s G-WWBD & G-WWBM will both be repainted into bmi livery & have configurations of 42C\156Y & 36C\196Y respectively.
• B757 G-STRY will leave the bmi fleet on 03July on return to Astraeus.

Photo of new bulkhead design, applied to the rear of the business cabin on Midhaul A\C only:

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/l...rmick/bmiA.jpg

I believe the 757 will leave the on 3rd June...

An A321 will be operating to ALA with a fuelstop in DME
The FRU will also be on A321 operating as an extension to GYD.

These are until the 330 is supposed to take over on 25th June.

757
 

You are right, it will indeed leave on the 3rd June.

That'll teach me for not checking before posting a comment :ugh: lol

Keep the posts coming TCX69! I quite enjoy reading your updates as it gives us an insight of the bmi turn around programme and how far they are with updating the fleet.
I must say I had to laugh when I flew on G-MEDM last week, its was only half refurbished and looked so strange with its new bulk head, brown carpets and curtains and even the armrests in business class were brown but the seats were all still blue cloth. It wasn't a pretty sight but at least they are getting one step closer in finishing. I take it that there wasn't enough time to finish the job or have they started doing some bits at LHR then the seat recovering at EMA??

Indeed G-MEDM is in a bit of a mish mash state at the moment.. There was a problem with the seats apparently & couldn't be fully completed.. Another A321 is due to go to EMA 21-29May, whether this is G-MEDM unsure yet..

On another note 'flybmi.com' titles are being applied to the rear of the aircraft.. In the current position where 'Airbus A3**' goes.. A319 G-DBCE is the first A\C to wear these titles..

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/l...k/72071fee.jpg

bmi - cabin crew question
 

Hi all

This is my first posting on here and my reasons for it are because reading through this thread, clearly there are a lot of people on here with well-formed opinions and factual information and because I am slightly at a loss, along with a number of other people, I was wondering if anyone had any insider information or circumstances they are aware of/previous experience as to why the following is as it is. Any help or insight would be much appreciated. I have tried approaching the airline directly but don’t seem to be able to get much out of them and also don’t want to make myself out to be a pain.

Since the beginning of the year, myself and a number of other people have responded to a job advertisement for cabin crew with bmi to work out of their new base at BHX. This is to crew the aircraft – an A319 currently operating 3 out of the 4 daily flights to FRA on behalf of Lufthansa.

The requirements were standard – no language skills for BHX although if you were going for MAN, (where the same thing has happened,) then being a German speaker was a compulsory part of your application.

After attending our respective assessment days in February and March, we were all informed by the Recruitment Department that we had been successful in our quest and we were to be waitlisted and placed into the holding pool. At our assessment events, (and I understand the position has been the same on subsequent assessment events, of which there have been 4 or 5) the Recruitment Team advised that they were recruiting for crew for LHR, BHX and MAN. During our interviews as part of this process, we all asked our respective interviewers when training would commence and they all seemed pretty certain that May was the key month.

Since then, I have spoken to bmi a number of times and met with various responses, none of which point to any requirements currently for crew at BHX. 6 new crew were put through a course in March and I believe them to now be flying. One of the reasons is that there “cannot be too many new crew at a new base.”There are courses in May and June but no BHX crew are scheduled on these. The latest information I now have is that there is possibly a course in September and this was on the same day that a new job advert was posted on totaljobs.com for Cabin Crew at BHX with German speaking only “desirable.” Therefore, the conclusion is that they are not looking for anything different than the people they have told have passed their assessment criteria.

So that’s the story so far. Ignorance of the aviation industry may be at play here and if so, I apologise in advance however we cannot understand the ongoing recruitment process for more crew when they are not then putting them through training. I understand you can be swimming around in a holding pool for a long time on certain occasions but the way it has been sold is that this is a new base for bmi and that they needed the staff. However, with only one aircraft – an A319 operating from this base, surely they are heavily over-recruiting for positions that will possibly never exist?

If anyone can offer some help, it would be appreciated. I don’t want to keep bugging bmi on the phone even though they are very nice and say call anytime for an update, I don’t want to be seen as a troublemaker. I was over the moon when I got offered the position and just want to get in the air, plus my existing job finishes in June. Maybe I am missing the point entirely?

Cheers in advance J

Welcome to the world of aviation!
Things change on a daily basis and very little is set in stone, however it does
seem a strange way to handle the situation.
The GLA Cabin Crew base recently closed so maybe this has had an impact (however I can not imagine too many wanting to relocate).
Hope you hear soon.

There have been a lot of recruitment days for CC recently. I know nothing further, but the place has been awash with potential recruits, so all I can say is keep treading water.

magictorch1976

Just an observation about your situation:

The BHX & MAN work is a redeployment of existing aircraft & crews & in itself does not really require much recruitment. However summer months are generally busier than the winter & recruitment for this bulge in the flying program begins in the spring. There is also a constant trickle of crew moving on to other jobs & all airlines operate a holding pool system.

You may feel that you have been mislead regarding the requirement for crew at BHX & MAN. The truth is bmi don't yet know where they will need crew. The majority of existing crew are based at LHR so you would think most vacancies would be there. However the MAN & BHX aircraft have recently left there reducing the LHR crew requirement. GLA has closed as a base & some crew have relocated. It's all too easy to think that attrition at LHR should be replaced by new joiners at BHX & MAN but it's not that simple.

Do keep in touch with the recruitment dept but don't be a pest. Perhaps the best way is to keep them updated with your situation rather than the other way around if you get my meaning.