This week I had a quick one night trip to one of my most hated destinations, London, for a business meeting. As my meeting was at 9am and didn;t have time to spare I flew down the night before and stayed in one of London's overpriced hotels.
Tue 13th Dec
BD 679 - A319 - Dep 2015 ABZ - LHR
Got to the airport at 1915 after having spent the day in Glasgow and Edinburgh following the Foo Fighters show the night before (great band b.t.w - I can recommend sseing them to clear your ears out). Went straight to the self check in machine which let me choose any seat from row 12 back. Flight must be full up front I thought....so I took 14a. Got to the gate and grabbed a quick pint and a sandwich before the flight was called at 1945. Got to the gate door and it was dead...no queue..nothing. GOt on board and there must have been 20 people on it....I guess my cheapo ticket was stopping me getting a seat further forward.
Push back was at 2000 - well early and we were in the air at 2005. Flight was fine but I can;t help feeling BMI are losing out by charging for things on board now. My flight down was only 30 quid less than BA and frankly only taken because the timings were available. Tailwinds meant that we were over Heathrow by 2055. However - it being Heathrow we were put in a holding pattern for about 20 minutes before landing 20 mins or so ahead of schedule.
Got the worlds most expensive train (per kilometre) to Paddington and then walked down to the Thistle Hotel on Lancaster Gate. £90 pounds a night is OK for London but this place was looking (like a lot of London hotels) very old. Bar was crap, bathroom was tiny and to cap it off the fire alarm went off at 3am. Great fun. Breakfast was good though!
Walked up to Paddington for my meeting at 9 - which went on until 1.45 and then got back on the worlds most expensive train to the hell the at is T1 at Heathrow. Got there at 1410 and headed upstairs to be shocked to find no queue at security. Great - then through to Gate 8 for BMI. Boarded late but a much fuller flight this time - maybe about 70%. Took off late as ever but were in Aberdeen on time. Flight again ok but I don;t see people buying much off the carts.
Overall I will use BMI again as I don;t care if i eat on a one hour flight but others appear to be more fussy.
FlyBMI? Not so sure.....
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fokker_f27
- Posts: 1812
- Joined: 19 Nov 2005, 00:00
- Location: Weerde, Zemst - Belgium
All airlines want to make money, so they are switching to pricy food, and an all-Airbus fleet.
Last edited by fokker_f27 on 16 Dec 2005, 18:00, edited 1 time in total.
Re: FlyBMI? Not so sure.....
"Hated" Why??????!!!!!!!chunk wrote:This week I had a quick one night trip to one of my most hated destinations, London
The Voice of Freedom will never be silenced.
Trisha
Trisha
Fine for a weekend break - dreadful to go to work.
Plenty to do yes, which is why it is fine for a weekend. However the absolutely horrible transport system, crap overpriced hotels (much like the rest of the UK and Europe for that matter), horrendously expensive for everything and really shitty airports (with the possible exception of City airport).
How much fun is the tube at rush hour with a lap top bag? Awful. If that was truck full of sheep packed in like that the RSPCA would be going nuts.
That said - there are good nights out to be had at Covent Garden and Soho.
Plenty to do yes, which is why it is fine for a weekend. However the absolutely horrible transport system, crap overpriced hotels (much like the rest of the UK and Europe for that matter), horrendously expensive for everything and really shitty airports (with the possible exception of City airport).
How much fun is the tube at rush hour with a lap top bag? Awful. If that was truck full of sheep packed in like that the RSPCA would be going nuts.
That said - there are good nights out to be had at Covent Garden and Soho.