Flyer slams '˜flakey' bmi over cracked window

A commuter who didn't arrive in central London until 5.00 p.m. after his early morning bmi regional flight from City of Derry was cancelled due to a cracked windscreen, has said he won't '˜fly bmi' again.

The passenger, who asked not to be named, told the ‘Journal’ he was very disappointed to arrive at City of Derry Airport (CoDA) early on Monday, only to be told the 6:45 a.m. service to London Stansted would not be operating.

It’s not the first cancellation of the service in extremely unusual circumstances over the past six weeks. On June 12, for example, bmi regional couldn’t crew the flight due to staff sickness. Back then it said the cancellation was a one-off but just over a month later commuters have been left grounded once again.

“I was hoping to use this service on a very regular basis but it let a lot of people down on Monday in London and this is not a service I would use again. I can’t take the risk to deal with a flakey airline,” said the unhappy passenger who contacted this paper.

“Clearly, BMI have taken their £3.5m government money and they will turn up when they want to.

“They were also one hour and 40 minutes late last Wednesday flying into Derry and did not even say sorry!”

bmi regional confirmed its BM1501 and BM1502 flights between the CoDA and London Stansted on Monday were cancelled due to a cracked windscreen.

In a statment the airline said: “All customers were offered alternative flights, subject to availability with bmi regional or another carrier; customers who opted not to travel were offered a full refund. Any customers who rebooked their own flights will be reimbursed. Those flying to or from alternative airports were provided with ground assistance and transfers or refunded the cost of any transfer. Hotel accommodation has also been offered where appropriate.

“bmi regional apologises for any inconvenience caused to our customers. Passenger and crew safety is of the highest importance to the airline so, in this instance, due to the technical fault a decision was made to cancel the flights.”

One of the selling points of the flight was that it would allow commuters to arrive in Central London before 9.00 a.m. This was not the case this week, much to the annoyance of those affected.