Fly bmi

[a300boy]

Hope everything that has been said happens and the route and many more prosper.
That’s New Year our of the way.
I had thee days at Manchester Airport this week to see the A350-1000 and Ethiopian B788 plus the B78X of Etihad.
All great but I am not sure I would like the infrastructure and constant traffic that 28 million passengers a year would bring to the Yeadon area.

 

[AirBingley]

Bmi are doing flights at £89 single on our new route and just bagged a couple of them!

 

[lbaspotter]

And for information flybmi Leeds - Munich flights will be operated by Embraer 145's on Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat and Embraer 135 on Sunday.

 

[whoshotjimmi]

I think it's great that flybmi has shown some faith in announcing this route and if there is potentially more to come then it can only be good news for LBA.

I do have a degree of concern about the competition though and it has a similar problem to the Dusseldorf flight in that the timing doesn't really do much to aid business connectivity. It has already been pointed out that flights can't be used for a day of meetings at either end of the route and folk will still have to use Manchester for this purpose. On the plus side, from June onwards, the Sunday flight is later in the day and will seem far more appealing. I've also done a brief search and the flight from LBA is currently £70 cheaper than the equivalent flight from MAN on 8th April, though I appreciate prices will change as tickets are sold.

Next, there is the question of using the MUN hub. Whilst connectivity will obviously be opened up as a result of this route and it is stated that flybmi's codeshare agreement with Lufthansa at MUN will be extended to this flight (flights are currently NOT bookable via Lufthansa), the options for onward travel with Lufthansa are still markedly better over at MAN with their 3 flights a day to MUN and their 5 flights a day to the far larger FRA hub.

Finally, the press release mentions the possibilities for leisure travel in both directions and I'm absolutely certain that inward tourism to Yorkshire will continue to be a real boon with or without Brexit. However, the fly in the ointment here is easyJet whose flights, though only 5 weekly, operate at largely the same time as those from LBA and are somewhat cheaper. The same quick search for 8th April shows easyJet's flight is £40 cheaper than flybmi.

It sounds like I'm having a real downer on the route but that is not the case. I think it has the potential to be a great success but I feel strongly about the above challenges that need to be overcome. I feel LBA itself will be the difference between success and failure here. Targeted and heavy marketing is a must and I feel that some incentives such as free fast track security, premium lounge access and discounted parking for users of the route will make a difference. I'm sure it has already been discussed (and considering the layout of the LBA apron is already probably a given) but it would also be helpful if there was a dedicated gate for the flight with adequate seating that absolutely ISN'T in the freezing cold part of departures on the ground floor - that particular seating area is nothing short of a disgrace.

 

[Finger66]

Out of interest does the Easyjet price that is 40 cheaper include any checked in baggage? Flybmi auto include this which is quite a big plus in itself. There is then the added cost of travel to and from MAN. Of course there is competition, but every route that operates from LBA is available from a neighbouring airport too. Convenience over cost will work for some but totally agree lets ensure it has some good marketing. My opinion is this is a great route to have, that it will definitely work and I think there will be room for a frequency increase as the route develops. Let's hope flybmi are going to give us more, as is heavily rumoured.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

I think there is definitely potential for business point to point, plus business and leisure connections provided through ticketing is available. LH have some good long haul destinations out of MUC. Leisure travel has got to be a winner, not only does MUC serve the whole of southern Germany, but also western Austria. Ever tried getting a flight to SZG in summer? Well MUC is the answer its only a hop skip and a jump away.

 

[whoshotjimmi]

I think there is definitely potential for business point to point, plus business and leisure connections provided through ticketing is available. LH have some good long haul destinations out of MUC. Leisure travel has got to be a winner, not only does MUC serve the whole of southern Germany, but also western Austria. Ever tried getting a flight to SZG in summer? Well MUC is the answer its only a hop skip and a jump away.

I did precisely that in June. The girlfriend and I spent some time in Southern Germany and Austria. When we were looking for flights, the Ryanair flight from Stansted to Salzburg was so much cheaper than the options from Manchester to Munich that it was a no brainer. Heck, the money we saved on the flights paid for our accommodation for the whole trip. The journey to Stansted was a minor inconvenience but was no more of a "hop, skip and jump" than MUC is to the region we visited. OBVIOUSLY, I am not claiming to be representative of the typical leisure traveller - there will be many people reading this that have a very different outlook towards their travel plans. I am simply pointing out that people carefully consider their many, easily accessible options these days.

Out of interest does the Easyjet price that is 40 cheaper include any checked in baggage? Flybmi auto include this which is quite a big plus in itself. There is then the added cost of travel to and from MAN. Of course there is competition, but every route that operates from LBA is available from a neighbouring airport too. Convenience over cost will work for some but totally agree lets ensure it has some good marketing. My opinion is this is a great route to have, that it will definitely work and I think there will be room for a frequency increase as the route develops. Let's hope flybmi are going to give us more, as is heavily rumoured.

The easyJet price does not include checked baggage. However, the checked baggage option costs £20 more. This still makes it £20 cheaper than the flybmi option. I would also ask the question, How many people take checked baggage these days? Most airlines charge for baggage since the LOCO revolution and this has generally led people to travel very differently. I would suggest that a majority of people on a leisure trip to the Munich region for a few days wouldn't purchase checked luggage given the option thereby making it irrelevant. I would also point out that passengers would not be able to take the same amount of hand luggage on the aircraft to be used on this route making it a NECESSITY to include checked luggage and therefore passengers do not have the option to not pay for it like they do with easyJet.

I also want to assuage this time/cost to MAN argument that gets wheeled out every time the competition is mentioned. Yes, there is a time factor and yes, there is an element of cost. However, there are parts of the LBA catchment area for which time and cost would be broadly the same to both and there are parts of the LBA catchment area for which time and cost are already going to be high and considering MAN (or, indeed, another competitor) is therefore not going to be much more of an inconvenience, if any at all.

For fairness, I did a quick search using the same 8th April date from the centre of Bradford, the centre of Leeds and my home address. It probably won't surprise you to find that the time and cost to MAN from all three is roughly double that of LBA. What may surprise you is that it's only a few quid more expensive (A direct bus from Bradford Interchange to Manchester Airport is only £6). From my home address, even with checked baggage, I would still be saving £16 from MAN if I used the cheapest available public transport. As a rough estimate, let's double that to £32 of savings for a return journey. Let's assume someone goes with me and call it £64. Let's now take the checked baggage option away and call it a saving of £144. Finally, let's consider all of that next to the average cost of a night in a 3 star hotel for two people in Munich which is roughly £150.

OF COURSE, all of the above prices are subject to change and I appreciate that the price savings from public transport will decrease the closer to the date we get but I simply picked the first date of flights from LBA and conducted all of the searches. For the record, using public transport (including transit time) from my home address would take 1h10mins to LBA and 1h59mins to MAN.

I would like to finish by saying that Bmi, in its previous guise, was by far and away the best airline I have used and using LBA is significantly nicer experience than using MAN. There is absolutely no bias in my report on that front.

 

[paully]

Jimmi

I'll take your word for it, but frankly the Manchester experience is now so bad that I'll happily pay more to fly from LBA..I've also flown out of Stansted but it's a helluva trek from Leeds.

 

[White Heather]

Personally, I would happily pay more to fly from LBA than from MAN or any other airport, and if the saving was only the £20 to £40 you are talking about, going to MAN wouldn't even cross my mind. That is just my position. Apart from anything else, I believe in supporting my local airport and economy wherever possible, not putting my money into a neighbouring region.

 

[louis_walton]

I think the route is reasonably priced as you get allocated seating without having to pay, food onboard that’s complimentary and a 23kg case within the price. Therefore that in it’s self is worth at least £30 in my opinion especially if we are comparing this route to Ryanair’s and Easyjegs. Also business travellers are willing to pay more especially if the company’s paying. Also many will be attracted to the 40 minute before flight check in.

 

[a300boy]

Just hope they do well and we keep the route !

 

[Tarn Spotter]

"Most airlines charge for baggage since the LOCO revolution and this has generally led people to travel very differently."


Are we not seeing the first real change in the cabin luggage situation since LCC's came in to force.
Ryanair for one is limiting only 90 people to carry cabin luggage on board, Jet2 is charging £2.50, but my on board view it is not speeding up on board loading, our last 4 flights have had cases moved to hold, resulting in delays as passengers fight the arrangement, Easyjet is a total mess as my letters to the present and past boss show.
Airlines now want cases in the hold, I can see a maximum 5kg cabin load within 5 years, therefore hold costs will become important.

"I also want to assuage this time/cost to MAN argument that gets wheeled out every time the competition is mentioned. Yes, there is a time factor and yes, there is an element of cost."

The time factor to manchester will only get worse as we lose a direct leeds to manchester train service during next year for up to 5 years, when passengers from leeds realise they will have a bus service for part of the journey and have to add another hour to the journey, this will take the gloss off Manchester.
In addition predictions on road travel are that with the increase in road travel from the closed rail lines, it will add at least 60 minutes to road travel in the 7am to 10am and 4pm to 7pm peak periods, between leeds and manchester. When I compare how long it took me to do Outlane to windy Hill in 1970, less then 20 minutes for the 20 miles and the signs even last week stating next 4 miles would take 18 minutes and this was a fast day, what does the future bring.

 

[Finger66]

Time for LBA management to use the upcoming rail closures as a marketing advantage. A sustained and wider route network will to some extent also self advertise as pax utilise LBA. Let's see what we are saying in 12 to 18 months time when the new terminal is ready. Think there may just be more routes to come

 

[Tarn Spotter]

Time for LBA management to use the upcoming rail closures as a marketing advantage. A sustained and wider route network will to some extent also self advertise as pax utilise LBA. Let's see what we are saying in 12 to 18 months time when the new terminal is ready. Think there may just be more routes to come

Northern rail is certainly helping in this respect, every Northern train I have been on in the last month has had large posters in respect of likely delays due to work on the Leeds to Manchester line and the need to undertake part of the journey by road, in addition posters in many of the station on route, accept many of the posters to deflect attention from the many posters advertising forthcoming strikes on northern rail.
With the cancellations and strikes on this route, you must need faith to book by rail.

 

[Seasider]

Don't the majority of people use Trans Pennine Express between Leeds and Manchester?

 

[oldendays]

The trains between Leeds and Manchester Airport are operated by TransPennine Express. I think Northern do the Manchester Victoria stuff. I accept all trains use the same line at some stage of their journeys.

 

[Len Fish]

The closure of the Trans Pennine Rail route is also expected to increase the traffic and journey times on the M62 as more people take to their cars so yet another reason to avoid travelling to Manchester Airport and flying from LBA.

 

[paully]

The closure of the Trans Pennine Rail route is also expected to increase the traffic and journey times on the M62 as more people take to their cars so yet another reason to avoid travelling to Manchester Airport and flying from LBA.

And for those who like masochism, once you actually get to the `Great Edifice` you have the treat of being herded like cattle in the security area then expelled into a too small holding pen...sorry lounge area...now tell me again how much did you save??

 

[Bigman]

Don't forget that from sometime this year Northern should be starting the new Bradford Interchange - Manny Airport service, so this would take some of the pressure off Transpennine. I much prefer Northern in any case. More chance of a seat (yes I know that TP are getting new 802's and Class 68's + MK5's from May which should improve things), but TP reliability/timekeeping is pants at best at the moment.

 

[lbaspotter]

Well its a start, As I see flybmi have now put on sale 1 stop onward connections from Leeds/Bradford to Milan Bergamo, Narrkoping, Laage & Saarbruecken all via its newly announce Munich route which commences from April.

I've just checked some random dates in June and I would seem already that some flights are showing a good loads with around 50-60% seats booked. Hopefully the Lufthansa codeshare agreement will come into effect soon, as am sure it will fill even more seats.