Following the sale of bmi to International Airlines Group (IAG), we have now started a consultation period with our staff to review future options for the bmibaby business.

Schedule changes

As part of the review and as a preliminary measure, we have made some changes to our summer 2012 schedule, as follows:

• From Monday 11^th June 2012, a number of routes will no longer operate. Please see table A
• It is proposed that flights departing from Monday 10^thSeptember 2012 onwards will not operate and those flights are therefore no longer available to book at this stage, subject to anything that may change during the consultation process.
• We will continue to operate bmibaby flights to the majority of our summer destinations from East Midlands and Birmingham Airports until Sunday 9^th September 2012. Please see Table B.

We recognise this news may be frustrating for customers and we would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused. We will do all we can to keep you up-to-date with the latest information and make the process as smooth as possible.

Table A: bmibaby routes that will not operate from Monday 11^th June 2012

If you have a booking to a route listed in Table A, or are due to travel on or after the 10^th September:

You will shortly receive an e-mail from us with further details.  Where possible we will re-book you on to an alternative bmibaby service or you will receive a refund from us, which will be automatically processed to your original form of payment. You do not need to contact us to ask for a refund as it will be arranged automatically. We will endeavour to process this as soon as possible.

We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Table B: bmibaby routes that will continue to operate until Sunday 9^th September 2012

We will continue to operate the routes listed in the table below as per the normal schedule up to and including Sunday 9^th September 2012:

Q&A

Why have you cancelled some routes and not others?

As part of the review and as a preliminary measure, we have had to make changes to our summer 2012 schedule and cancel a number of routes.

The majority of routes that are listed in ‘Table A’ are already well served by other airlines and for domestic flights, with the exception of Belfast, other forms of transport are also available for customers. It is hoped therefore that disruption will be minimised for affected customers as alternative arrangements could be made.

bmibaby flights for the majority of our summer holiday destinations will remain in operation throughout the summer and customers can continue to book these routes with confidence.

Any customer affected by a cancellation will shortly receive an e-mail from us with further details.  Where possible we will re-book you on to an alternative bmibaby service or you will receive a refund from us, which will be automatically processed to your original form of payment. You do not need to contact us to ask for a refund as it will be arranged automatically. We will endeavour to process this as soon as possible.

We recognise this news may be frustrating for customers and we would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Why are you cancelling your services from and to Belfast City Airport?

As a preliminary measure, the planned changes to our Belfast schedule have regrettably been made as a result of commercial and operational challenges. Belfast is in its first full year of operation, and still needs investment, and given the current situation we are unable to maintain the level of investment needed. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.

I have a booking on one of the cancelled routes / I am due to travel after 10^th September, what does this mean for me?

You will shortly receive an e-mail from us with further details regarding your travel arrangements.  Where possible we will re-book you on to an alternative bmibaby service or you will receive a refund from us, which will be automatically processed to your original form of payment. You do not need to contact us to ask for a refund as it will be arranged automatically. We will endeavour to process this as soon as possible.

We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.

How will bmibaby notify me of any changes to my booking?

We will contact you via the email address that was provided at the time of booking.

How long will it take to refund my booking?

We will endeavour to process this as soon as possible. Your refund will be automatically processed to your original form of payment. You do not need to contact us to ask for a refund as it will be arranged automatically.

Can I contact the call centre for more information?

As we expect high call volumes during this time, please only contact the call centre if your question is not answered here or in the email you receive from us. Our call centre number is: 0844 2450055 (local rate number).

What happens if my credit card has expired or I no longer have the original form of payment?

We recommend that you contact us as soon as possible and we will endeavour to arrange an alternative form of refund. Our call centre number is 0844 2450055 (local rate number)

Am I entitled to any compensation due to the cancellation of my flights?

bmibaby is not liable for any additional costs caused by these cancellations.  We are unable to provide any compensation and would recommend you contact your travel insurance provider for any assistance.

I have booked accommodation with another company that’s non refundable – will I get compensation?

We are unable to refund any additional costs relating to the flight cancellation.  We recommend you contact your travel insurance company regarding assistance.

I am booked to travel on a flight affected by the cancellations – can I move my date of travel or destination?

Please contact the call centre and we will endeavour to assist you where possible, subject to availability: 0844 2450055(local rate number).

I have been offered an alternative flight but this is not suitable – how do I receive a refund instead?

If the alternative flight is not suitable then please contact our call centre: 0844 2450055 (local rate number), which is open from 0800 to 2100hrs UK time, seven days a week.

My outbound flight is not affected by the cancellations but my return flight is?  Can I move my flights or receive a full refund?

Please contact the call centre and we will endeavour to assist you where possible, subject to availability: 0844 2450055(local rate number). Customers are entitled to a full refund should they wish not to travel.

I have booked through a travel agent or tour operator – how will I find out if there are any changes to my flight?

We will contact the travel agent/tour operator you booked with, so if you are due to travel on any of the affected flights we strongly recommend you contact them.

Will you come to an arrangement with other carriers to transfer our tickets?

We are unable to transfer customers on to alternative airlines including bmi and British Airways.

To rebook elsewhere now is too expensive – will you come to an arrangement with other carriers so they will offer us reduced rate tickets?

We are unable to offer customers preferential rates with alternative airlines, including bmi and British Airways.

Will there be any bmibaby flights departing after 10^thSeptember?

We do not propose to operate any bmibaby services as of 10^thSeptember 2012, subject to the employee consultation process.

I haven’t received a notification email – is my flight still operating?

We will continue to operate the routes that are listed in Table B as per our normal schedule up to and including Sunday 9^th September 2012.  You can continue to book these flights with confidence.

If my booking is not affected can I still get a refund?

If your booking is not affected by a cancellation then our standard terms and conditions apply. bmibaby flights are non refundable.

I was intending to book a flight with bmibaby but will my flight operate?

We will continue to operate the routes that are listed in Table B as per the normal schedule up to and including Sunday 9^th September 2012.  You can continue to book these flights with confidence.

What is Instagram?

For those of you new to the competition, we are asking people to use the popular photo-sharing app, Instagram to share their photos of France. Instagram allows you to add various filters to photos – making anybody look like they can take pro snaps. Everybody enjoys taking photos when they are out exploring Europe’s wonderful cities and as Instagram allows you to post to your Facebook, Twitter and Flickr accounts, it’s a great and easy way to share your holiday pictures with your friends.

Here at bmibaby we want to take sharing to the next level and help our customers find new and exciting things to do in cities by using Instagram to bring our destinations to life!

bmibaby Instagram competition with IgersFrance

We are truly delighted to be working closely with IgersFrance- France’s official Instagramer group to share the invitation with our French friends. There are over 100 Instagramer groups world wide offering a communal place to develop your love for Instagram – find your nearest group here: http://instagramers.com.

It was especially hard to select a finalist this week, but today we are pleased to announce @harnahud as the second of our three finalists, with the last finalist announced on 4th May 2012. Congratulations, we loved your picture especially the use of the red colour filter as a contrast to the black and white. Following this there will be a vote to decide our winner, so make sure you choose your favourite!

How do I enter the bmibaby Instagram competition?

Getting involved is easy – to enter the competition, upload your favourite pictures, tagging them with #myfrance and #bmibabygram – it’s as easy at that!

You can also tag your photos for any of our other #myeurope destinations – #myamsterdam, #myspain, #miaitalia, #myswitzerland, #mylondon and #myholland.

Bringing bmibaby destinations to life using Instagram

At the end of the month as a thank you to all entrants, we will produce a fantastic guide to France using everybody’s pictures.  By tagging your picture with #myfrance, consent is given to bmibaby use your Instagram image in a crowd-sourced guide to France. An album of French inspiration will be compiled and shared with bmibaby fans across our social networks!

bmibaby on Instagram

Be sure to follow us – ‘bmibaby’ – on Instagram to see our latest finalists. If you’ve got an iPhone you can follow us straight away. Simply download the Instagram app to your iPhone from the App store, follow ‘bmibaby‘ and get tagging! To download for Android simply head to the Google Play store, download and get snapping!

What if I don’t use Instagram?

For those of you who are not yet Instagram crazy – fear not! Our pictures will soon be synced to the bmibaby Facebook page, Twitter feed and here on our blog too!

Just 25 minutes from bmibaby’s cosy base at East Midlands Airport lies the city of Nottingham; famed for lace production and bicycle industry during the industrial revolution and, most famously of all, it’s links with the legendary Robin Hood. Dale Twigger from Experience Nottingham is guest blogging for the bmibaby today to tell us what we need to do to experience the nearest to the truth about the hero who stole from the rich and gave to the poor.

Where can you find the truth about Robin Hood?

An eternal question that always seems to be raised is where can you find the real Robin Hood? A quick scan of Wikipedia tells me that there have been well over 50 TV and movie adaptations about the legend in the last 100 years or so.

So Robin Hood is obviously someone with a huge appeal and a variety of representations, but the truth behind the legend has never been that easy to grasp. Not much written evidence exists given that the time was nearly 1,000 years ago. So how do we go about finding it all out and promoting it in Nottinghamshire?

Fortunately we are able to build from the original tales and ballads about the legend and can delve into the remaining historical evidence around the times of King John and Richard the Lionheart to find out more. We’ve also been able to put it all together in an audio trail for people to discover on trips around the area.

The trail consists of around 15-16 locations in Nottingham, Sherwood Forest and beyond that are linked to an authentic history of Robin Hood. Starting at Nottingham Castle the audio talks about the real role of the Sheriff of Nottingham before moving on to other locations in the city.

Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem carved out of rock at the foot of the castle is widely believed to be the oldest Inn in England and thought to be where soldiers loyal to King Richard met before leaving for the Crusades (hence the name).

Moving further into the city, the trail also recommends the Galleries of Justice Museum where the recent finding of an Oubliette (a primitive type of gaol) indicates that this is likely to have been where the Sheriff distributed law and order. The museum is only a short stumble away from St Mary’s Church where according to the tale of Robin and the Monk, Robin Hood was captured by the Sheriff’s men.

As we move out into the county, the trail picks up on some obvious links to the legend such as Sherwood Forest National Nature Reserve and Newark Castle, where King John died.

You’ll also find some lesser known places on the trail, including a former hunting lodge at King’s Clipstone, popular with King John during his reign. There’s also a woodland walk from Thieves Wood to Fountaindale, where Robin first met Friar Tuck.

All in all there’s plenty to discover on the Robin Hood Trail. We’ve recently re-launched the trail online and it’s lots of fun. Where we have audio available for locations, all you need to do is scroll over the point on the map to hear it played. A Tom-Tom Sat Nav guide is available to download for free too making it easy to find your way by car.

Information points are available in most locations when you visit. So if you’re visiting England with bmibaby and want to discover more about the real Robin Hood, you now know where to go.

Got the feel for a Nottingham adventure? Take a look at your next flights to the East Midlands with bmibaby here!

bmibaby Instagram competition with Instagramers France

We are proudly partnering with Instagramers throughout our visual destination campaign to encourage people living in our destinations to get involved and provide glimpses into the places they know and love. With 36 destinations, all beautifully picturesque and unique we are excited about the insights you can help us offer the community.

#myfrance

Our next guide to be released will be for France.  Last week we launched the competition on Instagram in partnership with local Instagram fan group, Igers France, asking you to submit your Instagram pictures of France using the tag #myfrance.

With your help, we want to bring the cities and sights of France to life. We’ve made a brilliant start with over 2,500 images already tagged – thank you for all your fabulous entries!

Today we are pleased to announce that our first week finalist for #myfrance is taken by Pinar Kuster, @pinikuster on Instagram, and is pictured above. We felt the picture really captured the beauty of France, other Instagramers agreed too – the image has received 104 likes so far.

This image is the first of three finalists, with the next finalist announced on 27th April and the last on 4th May. After the last finalist is revealed, all three finalist images will be put to vote for one week. An overall winner for #myfrance will then be chosen from the finalists to receive a free pair of flights on the bmibaby network!

Bringing bmibaby destinations to life using Instagram

There’s still plenty of time to share your favourite pictures of France – to enter the competition, upload your pictures, tagging them with #myfrance and #bmibabygram – it’s as easy as that!

By using the entry tag, #myfrance, consent is given to bmibaby use your Instagram image in bmibaby’s crowdsourced guide to France.

bmibaby on Instagram

Be sure to follow bmibaby on Instagram to see our latest pictures. If you’ve got an iPhone you can follow bmibaby straight away. Simply download the Instagram app to your iPhone from the App store, follow ‘@bmibaby’ and get tagging! Similarly, Android users can now do the same by downloading the app from Google Play.

To learn more about bmibaby and Instagram, please see our previous articles.

The Instagramers will join up to complete a photo walk of London, capturing images and sharing them to instagram as they go using the #mylondon tag.

The aim of the walk will be to capture beautiful sights of London from individual perspectives, which will then be shared as a visual destination guide on this very blog.

The meet up is part of an ongoing exchange programme bmibaby is running with Instagramer groups throughout Europe. The programme, a first for the aviation industry, flies Instagramers across Europe to meet fellow members offline and tour new cities and be inspired by new experiences.

Instameets are local meet ups for Instagram users, during which users partake on a photo walk around their city and photographing and posting their experiences from the day, to allow live sharing with other members of the network. Instameets generate beautiful and inspiring content from cities across the globe.

The Instameet Exchange sees members of Instagramer groups from all of bmibaby’s european flight destinations and the UK, flown to visit each others cites to partake in a local Instameet. This weekend’s event is the second leg of an exchange which saw Instagramers from London fly over to Amsterdam last month.

Next month an exchange will be set up between London and another of bmibaby’s destinations. An exchange has already taken place between Venice and London.  The programme was set up after we began working with Instagramers to host a competition which collect images from bmibaby destinations, in which 5 countries have now featured and 33,000 images have been collected.

This weekend the Instagram representatives from Holland will be live photo blogging from the exchange meet using the hashtag #mylondon. The bmibaby team will be on hand to report directly from the bmibaby Instagram feed, Twitter feed and Facebook page throughout the weekend, bringing the experience to all fans.

Julian Carr, managing director, bmibaby, said:

“Everyone enjoys taking photos when they are out exploring Europe’s wonderful cities and everybody enjoys sharing their images and memories of holidays with friends and families. Instameets offer the perfect opportunity to do this and we are proud and exited to be a part of them!

“Here at bmibaby we want to take this love of sharing your experiences and fond memories to the next level. We want to help you to find new and exciting things to do in cities and who better to learn from then the people who have been there and experienced a holiday destination or even live there themselves!”

The exchange program is supported by budgetplaces.com, the no.1 provider of budget travel accommodation worldwide. budgetplaces.com currently offers over 9,000 hotels, hostels, apartments and B&Bs in the 1 to 3 star range, in more than 1,500 destinations.

Launched in October 2010, Instagram now has an estimated 40 million users, a figure that has increased rapidly since the application recently became available to Android users. There are also several websites which allow you to view Instagram photos in your web browser.

Instagram users are also able to automatically share their photos via other social networks, including Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Foursquare.

As you may know if you are a regular follower of our blog, we have been actively working with Instagramer groups in each country when calling for exchange participants. The Instagramers community now spans 268+ cities worldwide

Over the months we’ve enjoyed your fantastic images from a variety of European bmibaby destinations, with over 30,000 images submitted including Germany, Italy, Holland, Switzerland and mostly recently, Spain.

Once again we’re asking you to use Instagram to capture France in all its glory.  Show us your view of the country, and let us see your favourite #myfrance images. Snap the Eiffel Tower from a unique angle, capture the poignant history of the Somme’s battlefields or just show us every day life!

We’re very grateful to be working with the fantastic worldwide Instagramers community, and specifically Instagramers France. Instagramers France will be spreading the word throughout France about the competition – we’re also looking forward to seeing images shared by native French residents, who will know all the secret hideaways!

What is Instagram?

Instagram is a photo editing and sharing community available on iPhone and Android. Instagram’s easy interface allows you to add various filters to photos – making anybody look like they can take pro snaps. Everybody enjoys taking photos when they are out exploring Europe’s wonderful cities and as Instagram allows you to post to your Facebook, Twitter and Flickr accounts, it’s a great and easy way to share your holiday pictures with your friends.

Here at bmibaby we want to take sharing to the next level and help our customers find new and exciting things to do in cities by using Instagram to bring our destinations to life!

Bringing bmibaby destinations to life using Instagram 

We’ve been overwhelmed with your unique perspectives on each country featured in our Instagram competitions so far.  You’ve shown us new views of your towns, your countryside, your animals and your buzzing lives. We have now had a combined total of over 30,000 images – an incredible body of images which will of course grow as we delve into the secrets of other European cities.

How do I enter the bmibaby Instagram competition?

If you’ve not entered before, why not get involved now? It’s simple – to enter the competition, upload your favourite pictures, tagging them with #myfrance and #bmibabygram – it’s as easy at that!

You can still also tag pictures from other countries too if you would like to be featured in our destinaiton guide: use #miaitalia, #mygermany, #myholland, #myswitzerland and #myspain

How will the bmibaby Instagram competition work?

Each week, for three weeks, we will pick a picture of France that’s an outstanding shot.  We will re-post the images from the bmibaby Instagram feed to share with all of our followers. In the fourth week, after three finalists have been chosen, one will be picked through a public vote to win a pair of flights!

And that’s not all – at the end of the month as a thank you to all entrants, we will produce a fantastic guide to France using everybody’s pictures. By tagging your picture with #myfrance or #bmibabygram, consent is given to bmibaby use your Instagram image in a crowd-sourced guide to France. These quirky and beautiful shots will be compiled into an album of French delights and shared with bmibaby fans across our social networks!

bmibaby on Instagram

Be sure to follow us – ‘bmibaby’ – on Instagram to see our latest finalists. If you’ve got an iPhone you can follow us straight away. Simply download the Instagram app to your iPhone from the App store, follow ‘bmibaby‘ and get tagging!

What if I don’t use Instagram?

For those of you who are not yet Instagram crazy – fear not! Our pictures will soon be synced to the bmibaby Facebook page, Twitter feed and here on our blog too!

The SuperFlyer scheme launched in March, and each month here at bmibaby we want to reward our loyal customers with a prize of free flights on the bmibaby network.

Every month we will choose one active fan from our social channels to become a bmibaby Superflyer. The winner will also be featured on our SuperFlyer Facebook tab until a new fan is selected.

This month we would like to congratulate Val Davies, who we’ve seen interacting on the bmibaby Facebook page as she embarks on her weekly flight from East Midlands Airport to Belfast. In fact, her SuperFlyers photo was taken en route – where she said she was a fan of our “fast, friendly and reliable service”. We’re very much looking forward to booking her a complimentary flight, whether it’s back to Belfast or beyond!

Want to become a bmibaby Superflyer? 

If you would like the opportunity to become a bmibaby Superflyer, simply get involved over on our Facebook page. Do you frequently fly with bmibaby, or have you had a great time on board recently? Perhaps you have thoughts or images you would like to share about your bmibaby experience, or you want to tell us about a suggestion you have.  Do so and you could be in with the chance of winning a pair of flights. Or, leave a comment on our wall to let us know who and why they deserve to be featured!

Winners will be flown from East Midlands Airport, Birmingham Airport or London Stansted to George Best Belfast City Airport, in time for the event which features sell out artists, Olly Murs, Sean Paul and Rizzle Kicks.

Olly Murs, who was winner of last year’s X Factor, told MTV “I can’t wait to perform at MTV Presents Titanic Sounds this April. I will be bringing my 9-piece band and hope to put on a great live show!” Olly, our hearts have already skipped a beat!

This promises to be a great event – to enter, simply head over to bmibaby’s Facebook page and click the dedicated MTV competition tab, and answer a simple question about who’ll be appearing on stage to be in with chance to win!

Terms and conditions apply. See below for details.

Terms and conditions for MTV Presents Titanic Sounds competition

1. There are a total of nine pairs of tickets and flights to be won as part of the MTV Presents Titanic Sounds Competition. Each winner is entitled to two tickets to the MTV Presents Titanic Sounds event in Belfast, as well as two return flights from EMA, BHX or STN to BHD on the bmibaby network.
2. Winners will be announced on Friday 6th April.
3. Accommodation will not be provided.
4. Route may vary due to timetable changes.
5. Prizes are non-transferable, non-refundable and non-changeable. Flight details, dates and times cannot be varied once they are booked. Cash or credit alternatives will not be offered. bmibaby reserves the right to provide substitute prizes of similar value should the specified prizes become unavailable.
6. bmibaby reserves the right to change its flight schedules without prior notice.
7. Outbound travel must be taken by 13th April 2012.
8. Travel will be booked and confirmed on Wednesday 11th April.
9. The winner will be responsible for supplying valid passports and visa. It is strongly recommended that travellers take out adequate travel insurance.
10. All flights are subject to the terms and conditions under which they are issued including bmibaby’s general conditions of carriage for passengers and baggage.
11. bmibaby reserves the right to cancel or amend the terms of this prize promotion and without notice in the unlikely event of major catastrophe, war, earthquake, or any actual, anticipated or alleged breach of any applicable law or regulation or any other similar event.
12. By participating in this prize promotion, you grant the promoters permission to use your name and likeness for advertising and future promotional purposes without additional compensations (except where prohibited).
13. Winners are liable for any tax liability accruing as a result of this promotion.
14. This promotion is governed by English Law.
15. The judges decision is final.

Tomorrow we will be launch the last round of #passtheparcelbaby – if you haven’t played along yet, now is your last chance to do so!

If you are on Twitter, follow us @bmibaby_com to join in our game. Keep a look out for the #passtheparcelbaby hashtag and then use it in your tweets for chance to win flights.

To begin tomorrow’s session we will be passing the parcel to our good friends at budgetplaces.com (@budgetplaces), who have recently supported our Amsterdam Instagram exchange. We are also delighted to have Hollie-Anne Brooks, blogger for More magazine and social media consultant (@hollieanneb) to launch our final competition.

Look out for them using the tag from 9am tomorrow morning. When you spot the #passtheparcelbaby hashtag, share with your friends, or indeed start you own game if you wish! At the end of the day we’ll then randomly select a winner who will win a pair of flights.

Many congratulations to last week’s winner, Lilinha, who was the lucky person holding the parcel when the music stopped and has won free flights with bmibaby – we hope you have a great holiday!

The final winner will be announced on Monday 2nd April.

Good luck!

Terms and conditions apply. See below for details.

T&Cs for #passtheparcelbaby

Participants may tweet as many times as they like, but will only be eligible for one prize.

Prizes are non-transferable, non-refundable and non-changeable. Flight details, dates and times cannot be varied once they are booked. Cash or credit alternatives will not be offered. bmibaby reserves the right to provide substitute prizes of similar value should the specified prizes become unavailable.

Flights are subject to availability.

The named prizewinner must travel.

bmibaby reserves the right to change its flight schedules without prior notice.

The winner will be responsible for supplying valid passports and visa. It is strongly recommended that travellers take out adequate travel insurance.

All flights are subject to the terms and conditions under which they are issued including bmibaby’s general conditions of carriage for passengers and baggage.

bmibaby reserves the right to cancel or amend the terms of this prize promotion and without notice in the unlikely event of major catastrophe, war, earthquake, or any actual, anticipated or alleged breach of any applicable law or regulation or any other similar event.

By participating in this prize promotion, you grant the promoters permission to use your name and likeness for advertising and future promotional purposes without additional compensations (except where prohibited).

Winners are liable for any tax liability accruing as a result of this promotion.

This promotion is governed by English Law.

The judges’ decision is final.

To be in with a chance to support the team in the last match they’ll play this month, simply tweet using the hashtag #footiebaby. You can tweet as many times as you like, but be quick – we’ll be announcing the winner tomorrow!

Perhaps you could tell us your favourite Villa fact or why you are their biggest fan – either way, get tweeting, baby!

Terms and conditions apply

T&Cs for #footiebaby

Participants may tweet as many times as they like, but will only be eligible for one prize.

Prizes are non-transferable, non-refundable and non-changeable. Ticket details, dates and times cannot be varied. Cash or credit alternatives will not be offered. bmibaby reserves the right to provide substitute prizes of similar value should the specified prizes become unavailable.

bmibaby reserves the right to cancel or amend the terms of this prize promotion and without notice in the unlikely event of major catastrophe, war, earthquake, or any actual, anticipated or alleged breach of any applicable law or regulation or any other similar event.

By participating in this prize promotion, you grant the promoters permission to use your name and likeness for advertising and future promotional purposes without additional compensations (except where prohibited).

Winners are liable for any tax liability accruing as a result of this promotion.

This promotion is governed by English Law.

The judges’ decision is final.

For full terms and conditions please email pressoffice@bmibaby.com