Brussels Airlines in 2018

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sn26567
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by sn26567 »

b720 wrote: 04 Mar 2018, 11:02
MAybe, but no self respecting airline or business will close the counters during a crisis with 200 people still in line, and probably in line for hours.. that is not done and do not try tofind excuses for them ...they could have begged those working to work longer promising them more pay or vacation days or whatever.. u do not close the counter and tell your clients that my shift is up .. and no one will replace me before 4 am ..
Absolutely. While Brussels Airlines said "Good night, see you tomorrow", Brussels Airport had staff to arrange for beds, food and drinks for the stranded passengers. Unfortunately they cannot help on booking and ticketing.

In emergency situations you need emergency solutions. This is not done overnight but needs to be carefully planned and prepared beforehand: names of the people assigned to each task, home phone numbers to call, etc.

Sorry to say, but SN failed. I hope they will draw the conclusions and better prepare for the future. Hello, Christina Foerster? A new urgent task on your desk!
André
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AirOpinion
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by AirOpinion »

Happens everywhere... even at the real BA. Point is, you could not even solve this with 20 additional voluntary staff and a packed call center... it will always be a mess.

Having a handler(s) that is well prepared for icing conditions could be the start... There is a structural problem when only 2 out of 10 deicing trucks are in use during winter weather operations. :roll:

BRITISH AIRWAYS: 50,000 PASSENGERS STRANDED AFTER DE-ICING MELTDOWN AT HEATHROW
http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/new ... 02761.html

crew1990
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by crew1990 »

DeltaWiskey wrote: 04 Mar 2018, 10:57
Thomaaas wrote: 04 Mar 2018, 10:38 Dont make up stuff: SN doesn’t pay the volunteers during strikes of weather conditions: they are employees from different departments that 100% voluntarily go and help at the airport.
Strikes of weather conditions? Who is making things up? Of course SN pays the volunteers.
They do if people are volunteering during their working hours in the case of the people working in the office. Outside of working hour we are not paid, we give our time and our energy for our company and our guests

Boeing767copilot
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by Boeing767copilot »

In Dutch on vrt:

BTO: "Gebrek aan goede dienstverlening hoe reizigers op luchthaven aan lot werden overgelaten" | VRT NWS
https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2018/03/04 ... -geb.html/

Google translate:

BTO: "Lack of good services how passengers at airports were left to flee"
The Belgian Travel Organization (BTO), a professional association of travel agencies, is not satisfied with Brussels Airlines' services at Zaventem airport last Friday evening. Hundreds of passengers were stuck there because of the severe, wintry weather conditions, which made air traffic a major nuisance with large drops and many cancellations.
"Everyone has seen on television the images of the staff at the Brussels Airlines desks that closed their doors at 11 pm - at the end of their shift - while there were still hundreds, perhaps thousands, waiting for more information. Obtain their flight ", says BTO chairman Jan Van Steen

flightlover
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by flightlover »

Ansett wrote: 04 Mar 2018, 14:30
sn26567 wrote: 04 Mar 2018, 11:15 Sorry to say, but SN failed. I hope they will draw the conclusions and better prepare for the future. Hello, Christina Foerster? A new urgent task on your desk!
Indeed, first bad marks for the new CEO.
crew1990 wrote: 04 Mar 2018, 10:58 Brussels Airlines employee in those situation do it on a voluntarily base we, employee of SN are truly devoted to our company and we help when needed when there is strike, or what so ever.
I beleive you, crew1990. My very own interpretation, fwiw, of closing the desks at 11:00 pm when there were still quite a lot of stranded pax, is that this is a reaction/protest to Gustin's and JDR's dismissal.
Might as well be. Doing extra time is not obligatory. It's always a favour from workers towards their company. If these workers don't feel respected or there are issues inside the company they might as well say: "sad for them, but sorry, I'm off'. Only way to prevent this is to schedule some extra workers as standard OR making sure issues don't last too long before they get remedied.

How would you react when you know that in X amount of time you will be losing your job due to relocation? (In this case the back-office staff).

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lumumba
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by lumumba »

Ansett wrote: 04 Mar 2018, 14:30
sn26567 wrote: 04 Mar 2018, 11:15 Sorry to say, but SN failed. I hope they will draw the conclusions and better prepare for the future. Hello, Christina Foerster? A new urgent task on your desk!
Indeed, first bad marks for the new CEO.
crew1990 wrote: 04 Mar 2018, 10:58 Brussels Airlines employee in those situation do it on a voluntarily base we, employee of SN are truly devoted to our company and we help when needed when there is strike, or what so ever.
I beleive you, crew1990. My very own interpretation, fwiw, of closing the desks at 11:00 pm when there were still quite a lot of stranded pax, is that this is a reaction/protest to Gustin's and JDR's dismissal.
But last time when there was snow they did the same and Gustin was still in.
No what's strange to me is that when the queue is very long like last time and they now they will not serve everybody they did not say nothing.
I mean they can go in the queue and explain that a big part will not be helped so they can move on.
Last time there was a family traveling to Barcelona and they did the queue for almost 5 hours to not be helped at the end this creates big frustration.....
Hasta la victoria siempre.

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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by airbuske »

We went in the queue and explained the passengers that we would close at 2300 but the passengers stayed in the line. Brussels Airport made some calls that all the desks would close at 2300.
Best regards,

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CTBke
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by CTBke »

airbuske wrote: 04 Mar 2018, 16:48 We went in the queue and explained the passengers that we would close at 2300 but the passengers stayed in the line. Brussels Airport made some calls that all the desks would close at 2300.
and sadly people don't listen to the announcements and want to be helped anyway ...
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lumumba
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by lumumba »

airbuske wrote: 04 Mar 2018, 16:48 We went in the queue and explained the passengers that we would close at 2300 but the passengers stayed in the line. Brussels Airport made some calls that all the desks would close at 2300.
Ok I did not now that but did you say also approximately in the queue that from there,there is no chance to be helped from where they are because it's not enough to say you will close.
If you in the middle of the queue 3 hours before closing it's difficult to judge if you can make it or not.
Anyway when problems like that occurred you are alone in my experience.
I was there last time with the snow problem in Brussels I had to fly with TAP the flight was cancelled at midnight after 5 hours waiting.
I went back home but the next day no message from them nothing I waited try to call them but nothing.
That's strange I mean when they change gate they send you a message but when your flight is cancelled nothing.
So I went to the airport and they said that they did not now nothing about my trip and this again after waiting 1 hour in the queue.
So I had to fight to fly this same day and after some discussion I was booked on Brussels-Prague-Lisboa...
You feel really alone and you have to fight for your seat that's not ok for me.

Is there no other solutions for this type of problem....?
Last edited by lumumba on 04 Mar 2018, 17:51, edited 6 times in total.
Hasta la victoria siempre.

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sn26567
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by sn26567 »

In my view, the desks should not close as long as there are people in the queue. Period!
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CTBke
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by CTBke »

sn26567 wrote: 04 Mar 2018, 17:37 In my view, the desks should not close as long as there are people in the queue. Period!
but sadly there aren't many ticketing agents anymore as people buy their tickets online .. and if you run out of staff there's no other option than calling it a day
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by Passenger »

CTBke wrote: 04 Mar 2018, 17:10
airbuske wrote: 04 Mar 2018, 16:48 We went in the queue and explained the passengers that we would close at 2300 but the passengers stayed in the line. Brussels Airport made some calls that all the desks would close at 2300.
and sadly people don't listen to the announcements and want to be helped anyway ...
Indeed - and that is what SN spokeswoman Wenke Lemmes also said to Belga, when she apologized on Saturday: "it was announced via the PA system, it was told to passengers in the queue".

But assuming that passengers would leave the queue was wishful thinking. An inschattingsfout. When you are in the queue and you don't know how many people are in front of you and many minutes it takes to help one passenger, you don't leave: you just hope you will be served. Some staff member should have manually ended the queue around 21h or 22h. Like they do in supermarkets: you go the one you regard as the last one, and then you say "this counter will soon close - you are the last one". And you give the rest alternatives: "call our callcenter, if possible tomorrow morning, and if need you need a hotel for tonight we will refund you".

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CTBke
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by CTBke »

but the problem with passengers is they forget their brain at home and don't know their rights in case of a cancellation or delay ... they don't know how to function anymore or sometimes don't even speak English (if connecting through BRU) they just stay in line because they wanna get home ASAP but I'm pretty sure all ticketing staff at the airport (from all companies) did their best to help everyone the best possible way
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by Thomaaas »

DeltaWiskey wrote: 04 Mar 2018, 10:57
Thomaaas wrote: 04 Mar 2018, 10:38 Dont make up stuff: SN doesn’t pay the volunteers during strikes of weather conditions: they are employees from different departments that 100% voluntarily go and help at the airport.
Strikes of weather conditions? Who is making things up? Of course SN pays the volunteers.
I meant strikes OR weather conditions, my bad. And I am one of the employees of the bhouse who volunteered in December during the snow storm and was not payed for this - don’t want to be payed either cause I was bust helping my own company in a crisis situation. But incorrect of Sean to state volunteers get payed

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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by crew1990 »

Thomaaas wrote: 04 Mar 2018, 21:58 But incorrect of Sean to state volunteers get payed
Sean wasn't speaking of Brussels Airlines, he was referring BA as British Airways, "his employer" because he always feel the need to compare everything to him

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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by sean1982 »

crew1990 wrote: 04 Mar 2018, 22:01
Thomaaas wrote: 04 Mar 2018, 21:58 But incorrect of Sean to state volunteers get payed
Sean wasn't speaking of Brussels Airlines, he was referring BA as British Airways, "his employer" because he always feel the need to compare everything to him
No, not to me, to companies who call themselves legacy carriers. During the IT failure I worked 7,5 hrs longer and got paid for it. During the snow in December I worked 6 hrs longer and got paid, ... you don’t abandon paying customers ... point

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CTBke
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by CTBke »

sean1982 wrote: 05 Mar 2018, 00:44
crew1990 wrote: 04 Mar 2018, 22:01
Thomaaas wrote: 04 Mar 2018, 21:58 But incorrect of Sean to state volunteers get payed
Sean wasn't speaking of Brussels Airlines, he was referring BA as British Airways, "his employer" because he always feel the need to compare everything to him
No, not to me, to companies who call themselves legacy carriers. During the IT failure I worked 7,5 hrs longer and got paid for it. During the snow in December I worked 6 hrs longer and got paid, ... you don’t abandon paying customers ... point
They only abandon their pax when having a slot of 35 minutes as they hide themselves in the galleys and don't inform their pax at all .. (apart from the pilots who did inform )
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by flightlover »

CTBke wrote: 05 Mar 2018, 12:07
They only abandon their pax when having a slot of 35 minutes as they hide themselves in the galleys and don't inform their pax at all .. (apart from the pilots who did inform )
I guess you mean cabin crew?

Don't think there is any need to relay a message to the cabin crew when the pilots can give the info first hand.

When you receive a slot it does not mean you will be standing still all the time. It might just happen that they get cleared to push back early because an other plane is not ready yet. So because no one is allowed to stand until the plane is airborne and levelling off, it is quite normal that the cabin crew is 'hiding'.

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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by KriVa »

Let's get this thread back on track, shall we? And keep the rather thinly vailed personal attacks out of this thread.
Thomas

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CTBke
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Re: Brussels Airlines in 2018

Post by CTBke »

the reason why they need to que is because they have to get the option between rebooking or compensation instead it's a Belgian law somehow.. asked it on a FB group and that's what someone responded .. that's why they can't rebook pax at once in case of cancellations and rerouting
Last edited by CTBke on 05 Mar 2018, 14:41, edited 1 time in total.
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