Bmibaby shuffles routes

Bmibaby has announced the introduction of a new service from Cardiff international Airport to Almeria.

The low cost airline has revealed that this new Spanish route will be operated at the expense of its schedules to Amsterdam and Glasgow from the Welsh airport from May 22, 2009.

The twice-weekly service will allow passengers to depart from Cardiff at 6.55pm on Mondays, arriving in Almeria at 10.40pm and at 7.15pm on Fridays, landing in Almeria at 11pm.

Crawford Rix, managing director of bmibaby, suggested that there is now increased consumer demand for beach locations.

He said: "Almeria is currently not served by any other low cost airline from Cardiff, so we are pleased we can offer passengers the chance to travel to a new destination from Wales."

Customers who have already purchased tickets on the two city routes for departure after the March 29, 2009 will be contacted by bmibaby and offered a full refund or alternative flights.

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Comments

[Carla James]

bmibaby announced this new route from Cardiff to Almeria in January 2009 starting from May 22, 2009.

I placed three flights throughout the summer with the first flight in June.

I received an email from bmibaby saying that this flight is cancelled and I will receive a refund in the next 28 days.

They have had almost £600 of my money since February and I have to potentially wait another 28 days for a refund. While flights with alternative providers are now extremely expensive to book at this time and will continue to increase in price.

bmibaby offered no explanation other than "operational issues" which I consider to be their problem and not mine.

I was charged £10 each time I used my debit card to pay online, which you do not have a choice about since you must agree to their terms and conditions to purchase flights.

Absolutely disgusting Mr Crawford Rix, who had reshuffled the flights schedules, cancelling routes and introducing new routes and who had calculated this route would transport 13,500 passengers.

Therefore, I would like to know why this route was introduced only to be cancelled in such a short duration - before it even got off the ground.

Fuel costs have actually gone down since this new route was introduced and since many flights were advertised as having "only 3 seats left" it appeared they were in demand.

What protection have the public to have a full reimbursement of all costs when airline companies do this?
How much money did bmibaby acrrue as a result of "non refundable" card charges by introducing this flight, selling tickets and then cancelling it all within three months?

[Leighton]

I've had exactly the same experience as Cara, above. On 7th September 2009, I booked 10 return flights from Cardiff to Glasgow for February 2010, total cost over £500. On 25th September 2009, I was advised by bmibaby that the flight had been cancelled due to 'operational reasons'. I want to know why they accepted my booking (and my money!) in September 2009, if, as I have now discovered, the route was discontinued back in May of 2009?!

[dave owen]

Why the surprise about bmibaby deceiving their customers? It's what they do - they do what they can get away with. Take a tip, find yourself another budget airline.