what's your experience with BMI been like?

we're flying to chicago in a couple of weeks on BMI from manchester.

i've never used them before--anybody else taken a BMI long-haul flight? how was it?

We did this at Christmas and were pretty impressed.  Dh has flown with them a few times before, and my parents fly them a lot to England.  My parents really love flying them.  My dad is hard to please with an airline.  He's a bigger guy so when flying long distances with no leg room, he wants some good service to make up for it.  They even were having difficulties with the computers being down when we left Chicago to come back.  Even frustrated with constant moving of passengers and with trying to do a head count, they kept their cool, and we had good service.  The food sucked, but then I think airline food always does.  There's was better than other food I've had.  Hope that helps! 

BMI is a good airline - friendly service and modern planes, and the joy of not having to travel through the hell that is Heathrow, but I am still upset with them for cancelling the Manchester - Dulles route!

NB, BMI has switched terminals at Manchester now for its flights - they go from T3, which is more modern and less busy than T1 (their previous home).

BMI is a good airline - friendly service and modern planes, and the joy of not having to travel through the hell that is Heathrow, but I am still upset with them for cancelling the Manchester - Dulles route!

NB, BMI has switched terminals at Manchester now for its flights - they go from T3, which is more modern and less busy than T1 (their previous home).

Have they?  Oh thank goodness.  That was such a mess at Christmas.  Absolutely horrible to get through terminal 1! 

I've flown either on united or BMI each time i've made the trip and BMI was comparable to United at a much lower cost.  THe food sucks, but hey, it's airplane food.  The only thing different between the two was maybe less service during the flght, but the staff was friendly and helpful and the flight was on-time.  We've got tickets booked for the move on BMI and I feel no qualms about it.  Going through Manchester as opposed to Heathrow, definitely a big plus.

Dh and I flew to Chicago from Manchester and LOVED BMI!  We would definately do it again!  They had so much more leg room, each seat had it's own screen with tons of movies to watch as well as tv shows.  Not to mention they had some Nintendo games to play!  I was torn between sleeping or playing games!  Definately worth it.  We were able to get frequent flyer miles on our United card as they are partners.  DH and I have flown just about every airline and this was by far the best!

I used to love flying BMI from Manchester to Dulles, but then they sort of phased out that route.   They were definitely my favorite airline back then!

In my experience, flying coach on BMI compared favorably with Business Class on Delta.  Maybe that's not saying much for Delta, hee hee...  But anyway, I enjoyed flying with them.  Chicago is just out of my way.

I am another BMI-lover. I will not fly any other airline across the ocean. I was very upset that it cancelled the Dulles-Manchester route. Both DF and I called and complained - they kept saying loads of people had called in protest and they were considering bringing the route back, but that's never happened!

I now fly United from Dulles to Chicago and BMI from Chicago to Manchester. Love both flights - very comfortable, big planes. I don't think the food is that bad compared to other airlines. I think BMI has great service and I always feel very safe. I flew this route the past two times I went to the UK, DF's family is flying it on Thursday when they come over for our wedding and I'm taking it back to the UK at the end of April.