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Birmingham - Bordeaux BMI Baby


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The Winter schedule for BMI Baby is now out but with no flights to Bordeaux from either Birmingham or Manchester after the end of October.  Does anyone know if they're cutting these services?  I phoned a really unhelpful call centre where the woman said that they don't fly this route in the winter which is weird because I've flown it almost every month for the past 3 years.  I therefore don't take her word for anything but does anyone know any different?

Thanks

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I think its an annual game that they play. which of the French flights shall we pull this year. Its usually Manchester/ Bordeaux but they must have decided to play about with Brum this year. Things usually finalise by July/August.

 

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Hi

From one Shropshire lass to another, Can't help with the Manchester/Birminghan - Bordeaux route but we travel from Shropshire to Dordogne from Liverpool to Bergerac with Ryanair, they fly out 3 times a week Sat. Tue. and Thurs. Very cheap and Liverpool is as easy to get to as Manchester and quicker than Birmingham

Hope this helps

EDIT : I have just done a search on Ryanair and find that they stop flights to Bergerac on the 27th. October and they don't seem to have their 2008 timetable up yet!!

So It looks like Limoges for us then!! Sunday. Wednesday. Friday. all through the winter

Chipie

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I seem to remember the BMI Manchester - Toulouse  flights being cancelled abruptly last Jaunuary because BMI had decided to use the plane for its new route to Bordeaux.

In short it seems BMI just do what they want, whether the route is viable or not and they are/were certainly not low cost.  There are rumours that Ryanair is also considering cutting out some of it's French routes in the winter, Rodez has been mentioned in the local paper and that has ann increasing number of users, We will have to wait and see.

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I can't believe that they would cancel the Birmingham flights as they are always well supported and it's the only airline that flies from Birmingham to Bordeaux.  Sadly the only other carrier to France from Birmingham,and it's to either Toulouse or Bergerac, is FlyBe and I really don't know where they conjure up their prices or what sector they are aiming at.  It certainly isn't a low cost airline - the prices are ridiculously high.  I've written to BMI Baby to ask for an explanation - amazing that an internet based company is not contactable by email but just snail mail so I may well be waiting until November for a reply! 

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I'll be really miffed if they stop the flight to Bordeaux from Manchester, I always use it, at least once a month and have done right through the winter so as to do my bit to keep it viable, they stopped Toulouse in winter so if Bergerac is stopping in winter as well, cheap flights might be a bit hard to find. At least with Bordeaux planes can land in fog unlike Bergerac I really in a bad mood now[:(]

Just checked travel supermarket and there are no direct flights in November from either manchester, leeds bradford, liverpool to either Bordeaux, Begerac or Toulouse I now even more in a bad mood, lets hope some new time tables appear!

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It will be a real pain if there are no flights from either Toulouse or Bordeaux to Manchester or Birmingham throughout the winter.  Our only alternative direct service is from Pau (our nearest airport) to Stansted, with a horrendous 06.15 flight time for the journey out here and a long onward journey the other end.  My husband was looking at alternatives for November and found he could do Bordeaux to Paris via Air France for €54inc each way with a big range of flights, linking up at CDG with the Easyjet flights to Liverpool.  There were good prices on the Easyjet morning flight out to France and the evening flight back to the UK which made the total cost  for all four flights around €170 - not cheap but at least a possibility if all else fails.  Another option if the timings are right is to take a flight to Stansted and then fly to Manchester with Air Berlin (no timetables for November yet but about €70 inc return for the Air Berlin sector in October with two flights each way daily), though I know it's always a bit of a gamble linking two flights in this way.

Mind you I will be really

surprised if there are no 'Low cost' (so-called!) operators linking

Manchester, Birmingham or Liverpool with Bordeaux or

Toulouse  - fingers firmly crossed on this one!

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My God that typing is tiny Val !!

However, there never were going to be any flights from Manchester or Leeds Bradford to and from Tououse in the winter, FLY 2 made that clear when they launched the service unlike BMI who just drop routes as and when they feel liker it.

It is worth looking at Air France to Paris from Toulouse, atb the moment they are a lot cheaper than many Easy Jet flights I just got 90€ return to Paris for two weeks time with Air France. 

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Sorry Ron, the type was a bit on the small side!  Yes, Air France do have some unexpectedly good prices for internal flights if you can choose your dates and if you look out for their promotions.  I was only talking about Easyjet for the onward travel from Paris to the north of England though for some dates in November Air France are offering €68 inc each way for Paris - Manchester which as you say is probably a better bet than using an Easyjet flight. At least if it's all Air France they will put you on the next plane if they are late and you miss your connection.

Incidentally, still looking for travel options from SW France to Manchester and Liverpool once the Jet2 and bmibaby summer services end, I see you can currently book on BA from Toulouse - Manchester via Gatwick in November for £68 inc each way with a big choice of flying times which isn't too bad.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I am looking at flying over to Bordeaux later this year, and looking at the prices BMI Baby are by far the best. I have seen however not that many good reviews about them. Anyone who has travelled with BMI Baby and if so what was the flight like?

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I love BMI Baby! I fly with them almost every month from Birmingham to Bordeaux and they have always been brilliant.  They are always punctual although I have had friends who have flown and been slightly delayed.  The worse thing about them is that they have still not listed any flights this winter from either Birmingham or Manchester to Bordeaux - this will be a total disaster.

 They are always CONSIDERABLY cheaper than Flybe who must just think of a number then double then treble it and then add some more.  What area of the market are they aiming at I wonder?!

 

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Thanks shropshirelass. I agree with you on the point about not having flights during the winter period. I plan to travel in October so only just managing to avoid the end of the services. I wonder if BMI Baby have changed other flight services during the winter as perhaps they are in need of extra aircrafts on other busy services.

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Hi David

It's bizarre that there are currently no flights to any of the destinations in SW France this winter from Birmingham or Manchester.  The furthest "north" in the UK that you can fly from is Bristol which doesn't help anyone living north of the Midlands.  Perhaps they think that only those in the South of England want to fly there!  I have to say that we didn't ever think there would be a problem flying to a major airport like Toulouse or Bordeaux but it seems at the moment that we were wrong.  Perhaps one of the carriers will spot a gap in the market and re-launch flights down to there.

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We have always used the Flybe Birmingham to Toulouse service throughout the year, because it is so handy.  Admittedly Flybe prices are not consistent, but we have always found the service to be OK.  However, this year we have used the new Manchester to Toulouse Jet2 route.  The times are great and as both we work full time it gives us an extra day as the flight back is at 22.30  However, I understood this to be just a summer scheduled service, and expected to revert back to Fybe in the winter.  Just been on (flybe) to book some winter flights, and they finish in October too!  Have just sent their Customer Services an email asking them to confirm whether or not there will be any winter flights

So, as Shropshire Lass says, for us Midlanders it looks like Bristol is our nearest airport for ANY flights to SW France.  Just can't face the trip to Stanstead!

This is terrible ......!!!!!

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Nope!  Just had email from Flybe, confirming they are stopping Birmingham to Toulouse as of October 2007, as yet they have not confirmed whether or not it is resuming in March 2008  Also tried Ryanair East Midlands to Bergerac, also ceased for Winter!

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I've just had a look to see if Ryanair is offering Bergerac from Liverpool this winter. It's impossible to check beyond October but I gather from previous postings it looks like another winter casualty.  BA are currently offering Manchester to Toulouse return for around £135 in November and Air France are slightly more expensive from Pau. It seems amazing that none of the budget carriers are offering anything from the Midlands or the Northwest to SW France.  Mr O'Leary can't be that short of planes as he is starting a service from Pau to Brussels in October!  I am sure that anyone who runs a winter service (even three times a week) from Birmingham or Manchester to Bordeaux, Toulouse or Pau would pick up a lot of passengers.

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It does seem incredible doesn't it?  I've travelled from Birmingham to Bordeaux so many times and the flight is always at least 3/4 full and that's on a Tuesday or Wednesday whilst at the weekend the flights are nearly full.  I can't believe that they weren't making money out of them.  I wonder if it's anything to do with Bordeaux airport maybe?   Although having said that, they have greatly expanded the airport so one would imagine they want the flights to keep going there.  It's all very strange. 

The BA from Manchester to Toulouse must be new as there never were direct flights with them before.  Is Air France flying Pau to Manchester?  We are equidistant to all three airports but much prefer Bordeaux but hey - we'll go to any of them that will take us!  Let's hope someone from the airline industry is reading this [:'(]

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The BA from Manchester to Toulouse must be new as there never were direct flights with them before. 

 

There aren't any now either, this is not a direct flight with BA it is via London Gatwick and involves a minimum journey time of 5 hours.

Slightly shorter journeys can be found with Air France, Toulouse - Paris  - Manchester with flight time also around 5 hours.   A slightly better option is via Amsterdam with KLM about 4 hours but the transfer times are a lot shorter on some flights than by BA, around an hour but in some circumstances a little tight for comfort if there are delays on the first leg.  Amsterdam is a big airport and the flight to/from Toulouse and the one to/from Manchester come in and leave at the opposite extremes and its a long way to leg it!!

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That's a great shame that they aren't direct flights.  What a pain.  I think I would rather drive miles in the UK than risk changing flights - there is so much to go wrong with timings and airports aren't the same any more - so much hassle that the shortest amount of time that you're in one the better.  The glamour of flying is no more sadly.

 

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  • 1 month later...
There don't seem to be any flights this winter to Bordeaux except  from  Gatwick and Luton. Does anyone know if there are more to be added? If not is it easy to go to Toulouse and then catch a train? Perhaps it's better to fly to Paris and then TGV to Bordeaux? Any ideas welcome!   J.D.

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Sadly I don't think there will be any other flights to Bordeaux this winter.  I am still awaiting a reply from BMI baby on their plans although as I've been waiting for several months I've given up on any customer service from them.  There are no flights at all from north of Luton or Bristol to South West France which is bizarre. Easy Jet fly to Bordeaux from Bristol if this is of any help. It is possible to take Eurostar from London to Paris and then onto Bordeaux but it's not often a cheap option and it involves changing stations in Paris.  As to flying to Toulouse then taking the train it would be a time consuming route - it might be better to travel to one of the UK airports and fly there direct.
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It's interesting reading through all these replies to this thread - as someone who moved over full time with no need/desire to go back to the UK I do detect a hint of desperation of the lack of certain flight routes at certain times of the year.  Some people may have bought houses on the strength that low cost flights are available from not too far away airports and now find that as they are not always available, it's rather inconvenient.

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