BMI - Iranian sanctions
 

Hi all

A friend is about to fly from LHR to THR with BMI.

This reminded me of the stories in the media about US sanctions against companies which do business with the US and with Iran - hence the stories about how Iran Air used to have to refuel at Manston Airport rather than LHR (yes this has now stopped but that's not the point).

Iranian passenger planes dodging international sanctions by refuelling in KENT | Mail Online

Then I looked at where BMI flies to apart from THR

Flight routes | Travel destinations | Fly bmi

and sure enough BMI also flies to the USA.

Question - how does BMI get away with flying to Iran when it also flies to the USA?

Mark

A little more research needed!

bmi does not fly to the US! It uses code-share agreements within the Star Alliance (and others) to 'badge' some of their flights as bmi.

It does fly to Tehran - and has done so for years!

HWB

Oh dear - mea culpa. Sounds like a 'Let Me Google That For You' moment!

Still odd that they don't fall foul of the 'doing business in Iran / with Iran' provisions....one would have thought any airline selling tickets for the entire journey from Tehran to Boston (this i HAVE checked on the BMI website and it IS possible) would be in trouble, even though the actual aircraft on the legs of the flight from LHR to IAD and BOS are, as you point out, operated by United.

Who knows how long BMI will continue with the route with all the present problems. All it would take is the Iranian authorities to impound an aircraft for whatever reason in retaliation to something political. Need I go on?

I would suggest that your friend keeps in contact with BMI or change his booking to a ME carrier.

For info BMI have only been operating the route for about 2 years as they took over the BMED operation.

LHR to IKA


bmi


bmi took over the B|MED operation in Oct 2007 so think you'll find that's slightly longer than 2 years.

My apologies for the slight inaccuracy TXC69, I bow to your superior knowledge.

Plenty of airlines fly to Tehran and the USA. Air France, KLM, Lufthansa, Alitalia etc.

BMI

Their image consultants might think that they can piss about with the English language, I don't buy that.
And in any case, legally they are British Midland International, with capital letters in the appropriate places.

It should officially be bmi, British Midland International. bmi is never used in capitals, never has been.

Point of order!!

It should in fact be B.M.I.

Every schoolboy (from the 1950s, at any rate) knows that any word abbreviated to a single letter should have a full stop after it ;)

When did bmi adopt the British Midland INTERNATIONAL name.

At the Press Conference when the new bmi identity was first revealed the MD was asked what the "i" in bmi stood for. At the time he clearly stated that it did not stand for anything!

Name was changed I believe after the purchase by Lufthansa.

Do keep, please.:ok:

Sadly the pond-life creatives in marketing agencies disagree. It's not modern enough you see. Remember, B.O.A.C. became BOAC just after the VC10 arrived.

And much better in my view.

[QUOTEPoint of order!!

It should in fact be B.M.I.

Every schoolboy (from the 1950s, at any rate) knows that any word abbreviated to a single letter should have a full stop after it
[/QUOTE]

That may well be the case in school, but it doesn't apply to a brand, necessarily.

You never see KLM, TAM, LOT, TAP etc with full stops inbetween each letter. bmi chose for their brand to be styled in lowercase lettering always 'bmi', just like easyJet choice to have a lower case 'e' but capital J.

I was at a briefing with the then Flt Ops Director and he said the same - that the 'i' didn't stand for anything. But I believe most people who had not the benefit of such a briefing decided for themselves what it stood for and I imagine Lufty thought it would be appropriate to make it a bit more meaningful. That said, although it is often assumed that bmi was an acronym I don't believe this was the intention. I had thought that perhaps there was some internet marketing advantage in adopting either a three letter or lower case only rebranding. Seems not because none of the primary search results I try give me anything other than Body Mass Index calculators etc. I need to know to punch in 'flybmi' to get where I want to go.

Personally I preferred British Midland Airways myself.

ttfn

[QUOTE] That may well be the case in school, but it doesn't apply to a brand, necessarily.

You never see KLM, TAM, LOT, TAP etc with full stops inbetween each letter. bmi chose for their brand to be styled in lowercase lettering always 'bmi', just like easyJet choice to have a lower case 'e' but capital J
[QUOTE}

I know, this dumbing down is terrible :ugh:

Not like it was in my day ;)

Were your days before KLM, TAP, LOT, etc. ?:ooh:;)