Chicago - Manchester .. BMI .. Questions?

We planing on travelling at the end of September, have contacted BMI and their cargo contacts and have gotten the price for our three cats.  She said that when we have a date to set to call her first to make sure that flight has space for all three cats as we must all travel together when going into Manchester.

However.. my question is this.  Once we have checked that there is room on that flight and if they say it's okay to book them.  Can we then purchase tickets on a site such as travelocity/orbitz, etc.. Or do we have to book our two tickets directly thru BMI?

When I asked the BMI Cargo lady she said she thinks that we would have to book our two tickets directly thru BMI but I don't understand why we would have to do that?  The price for a one way ticket thru BMI directly is right around $900, thru travelocity for the same flight is $500 (including all taxes/fees).  Our tickets should be our tickets and have nothing to do with the cats booking.  hhmmm... 

Do anybody know anything about this?  My next step is to phone BMI directly but can not do so until this afternoon and was curious if others have done this?

When I booked my cats over on Northwest, I did have to buy the tickets directly with them on the phone.  What I ended up doing was buying a return flight as it was so much cheaper and just didn't use the return portion of it. I kind of hinted at it on the phone but the lady just laughed a little and said she didnt want to know. So I said ok, let's book the return!

I do enjoy travelling on BMI. It's been one of the best in all the years back and forth.  Just a bit of advice, I would suggest it is better to book directly with them because at the time of booking they are able to to make notes about the cats. If you buy your tickets online you won't be able to do that.  It was much reassuring be able to talk to someone live knowing everything was confirmed correctly.

Over my lunch break I was able to call BMI directly.  First I spoke to the Cargo department that handled the confirmations for the cats.  She said that once we know the date we are going to book to simply call them first to ensure that there is space for three cats as they can only take 5 animals per flight.  Once they see that it is available they will book us into that spot and we will then just need to forward them the cat's details/microchip #, etc..

She says that my husband and I can book our flights on the plane however we want.  They do not need any kind of confirmation number from BMI directly. 

I then called the BMI sales desk and asked them if it was required for us to book our flights thru them directly and he said no as long as we are booked on the same flight number with the cats it is perfectly fine as our reservations and the cats reservations are in no way connected to eachother.

So it sounds like it will be fine, seeing as how it will save us close to $1000 by booking a one way ticket on travelocity then with them (even roundtrip with them is close to $900 per person). 

She did say that once we book the cat's details we actually don't pay for the services until we drop the cats off in Chicago the day of the flight.  They only take cashier's check/cash so we will have to remember to get a cashier's check before we head out.  Don't want to give cash as it never leaves a good paper trail that can be followed up on if needed.   

She did say that once we book the cat's details we actually don't pay for the services until we drop the cats off in Chicago the day of the flight.  They only take cashier's check/cash so we will have to remember to get a cashier's check before we head out.  Don't want to give cash as it never leaves a good paper trail that can be followed up on if needed.   

Yeah, I didn't pay for my cats until I dropped them off at cargo either.  At the time it cost me $500 to send two cats. I was actually anticipating $500 each as that is what they said on the phone!  But Northwest took credit cards and DH had already gotten me an extra card on his account so I used that.   Sounds like you will be just fine!!

Just wanted to say that we used BMI from Chicago to Manchester to transport my dog in May 2006 and were very pleased with them.  I thought their price was very reasonable and their service was excellent. 

We paid cash the day of the flight at their office.

Newbie here!  Thanks so much for all the great tips on this board, I've been learning a lot!  We're moving to Wales in the fall, and we're doing something similar to ancmc.  I'm actually heading out first to set-up in September, and DH and the pup are coming out in mid-October.  They are flying out of Chicago to Manchester via BMI as well, and I also found that booking DH's ticket on kayak.com was about half the price of booking directly through BMI!  Nobody seems to care whether we book it through BMI or not, so that's good.  I've been talking to Global Air Cargo about arranging pup's travel with DH.  One thing that I am very surprised about was the cost!  It looks like it is over $1000 (so twice DH's ticket) to fly her over!  From the other posts here, it sounds like it should be a lot less.  We're not arriving on a Sunday, which I know costs extra, so every way we add it up, it seems to be a lot.  What have other people's experiences been with the fees on this route?

Dh & I used a pet courier service to get my cats to the UK in March 05 we spent a small fortune. we spent 3 days in Chicago that was our honeymoon which was ok don't get me wrong but we didn't have the Caribbean honeymoon we wanted cause we spent so much on getting the cats to the UK the legal way. so in my opinion long story short to get your pets to the UK it will cost you a small fortune. but Dh & I wouldn't have it any other way cause the cats are like our children we don't have any kids & I don't think we will be having any kids in the future either. who knows maybe you can get it cheaper than we did.

Here is the exact quote that I received from Global Air Cargo (BMI):

-100K the rate is $18.00/kg
+100K the rate is $14.00/kg

The volume weight calculates this way: (length inches * width inches * height inches) / 366 = volume dimensional weight in kg.

For example: kennel with dims 40” x 27” x 30” the volume weight is: (40 * 27 * 30)/366 = 32,400/366 = 89 kg.

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Below is the exact quote I was given from them when I booked my cats onto their flight.  So the total for all three is $1768.00, the breakdown is below:

27" L X 19.5" W X 19" H (Carrier Dimensions)
27x19.5x19 = 27kg (Doing the math above)
27kg x 3 = 81kg (Taking the above total times 3 as I have 3 cats)
81kg x 18.00 =$1458.00 (Times 18.00 because the total is below 100kg)

Pet check in (All 3) = $180.00
Handling (Pets on Jets for all 3) $55.00
Customs clearance Man (For all 3) $50.00
Handling MAN Airport (For all 3) $55.00

Total $1768.00

The only thing I don't really understand though is if I had a larger carrier that ended up over 100kg it would actually cost me less as you then times by 14.00 instead of 18.00 but oh well, the cats have already gotten used to these carriers!