From Washington to Brussels on Brussels Airlines in C class

[sn26567]

A superb illustrated report from an American traveller:

http://first2board.com/lufthansaflyer/2 ... ss-europe/

[woutertheboy]

A superb illustrated report from an American traveller:

http://first2board.com/lufthansaflyer/2 ... ss-europe/

Thanks for sharing this amazing tripreport with us! It also looks like the IAD service is performing well, especially the IAD-BRU sector.

[LufthansaFlyer]

A superb illustrated report from an American traveller:

http://first2board.com/lufthansaflyer/2 ... ss-europe/

Thanks for sharing this amazing tripreport with us! It also looks like the IAD service is performing well, especially the IAD-BRU sector.

Glad that you are enjoying my TR. It genuinely was a great flight -- I'm not saying that just because I am a big LH fan. I'll have the return flight TR done in the next few days which was equally as good - except that the food was a bit better from BRU to IAD.

[RoMax]

Clearly shows the professionalism of the Belgian crew on the long haul sectors (especially in business, but also in Economy), something which has always been one of the strenghts of SN's long haul offer. Now also the hard product is up to date and able to compete with even some of the greatest European carriers. Their current business catering is already great, but with the new "Belgian Star Chefs" initiative, it will only become better.
I'm curious about the renovated/expanded lounges next year. Even the Sunrise Lounge gets negative reviews lately because of the lack of space (the amount of long haul passengers is of course much higher now than when the Sunrise Lounge opened) and some other 'negative' elements compared to other real top-lounges in Europe.

[papysn]

Nice to hear....quality and investment always pay back lot more than the amount given.

[RoMax]

Glad that you are enjoying my TR. It genuinely was a great flight -- I'm not saying that just because I am a big LH fan. I'll have the return flight TR done in the next few days which was equally as good - except that the food was a bit better from BRU to IAD.

Were this the new "Belgian Star Chefs" meals already (from Geert van Hecke of De Karmeliet, one of Belgium's 3 star restaurants) or still the 'normal' menu? I'm asking this as I'm not really sure about the introduction date of this new menu.

[LufthansaFlyer]

Glad that you are enjoying my TR. It genuinely was a great flight -- I'm not saying that just because I am a big LH fan. I'll have the return flight TR done in the next few days which was equally as good - except that the food was a bit better from BRU to IAD.

Were this the new "Belgian Star Chefs" meals already (from Geert van Hecke of De Karmeliet, one of Belgium's 3 star restaurants) or still the 'normal' menu? I'm asking this as I'm not really sure about the introduction date of this new menu.

Still a normal menu. The Star Chef program starts 1 November

[RoMax]

Still a normal menu. The Star Chef program starts 1 November

Thank you for the date I believe I did read it somewhere before, but most articles just mention "as from next week" (which is actually this week as most of these articles date back to last week)

[Zorba]

Clearly shows the professionalism of the Belgian crew on the long haul sectors (especially in business, but also in Economy), something which has always been one of the strenghts of SN's long haul offer.

My BRU - JFK flight with SN was rather disappointing (Y class). Cabin crew was not friendly at all, and the person serving me and my girlfriend had lots of trouble to understand Dutch.
Very strange and sad, as my expectations were high after all the good reviews of SN's intercontinental flights. Let's hope they all just had a bad day and our return flight will be better.

My flights with LX were much better.

[RoMax]

My BRU - JFK flight with SN was rather disappointing (Y class). Cabin crew was not friendly at all, and the person serving me and my girlfriend had lots of trouble to understand Dutch.

Sad to hear this. I've read basicly no negative reviews of SN long haul cabin crew in business class (some are more positive as others, but all in all no real negative ones) lately. Economy is a different story (especially on rather short long haul flights they are often under high pressure, though that's never an excuse not to be friendly) sometimes, but still mostly positive reactions.
Let's hope your return flight proves to be a better experience, an inconsistent service is never nice...

My flights with LX were much better.

Which is basicly about the best long haul carrier in Europe anyway

All in all, I believe the long haul offer of all four LH Group carriers (if including SN) is quite good and among the best on the transatlantic market, but SN is not the best of these 4. It seems their C Class can compete better with other European top-carriers, compared to their Economy offer.

[Stij]

Mmm... I had 6 flights on BruAir over last 2 months (all in B Light) and the crews were always very nice...

No language problems whatsoever... Very friendly...

Cheers,

Stij

[CRJ 900]

Hi,
Totally agree with RoMax and Stij: although I fly most of the time LX or LH, on all my last SN flights the crew was always correct, friendly, no language issues. In general good service.
Much better than a lot of other EU airlines I experienced in the past. And definitely a lot better than the US airlines.
LX stays however by far the best Star Alliance company for me, as well in C as in Y class.
Rgds,
CRJ 900
PS ANA was also a very nice surprise to me regarding the service!

[Zorba]

We chose to upgrade our return flight IAD - BRU from Y to C, and the experience was amazing indeed. Almost exactly as described in the above blogpost.

I am happy we chose Brussels Airlines, and don't get me wrong: Y was very nice, great food and the seats/IFE are above current standards. But the crew really screwed that flight up for us. Lucky the return flight was so amazing, as we don't have the chance to fly C frequently.

Good job Brussels Airlines.

[tolipanebas]

Good to read you guys both liked the premium long haul product of SN: it is magnificent indeed and not surprisingly it is constantly rated as one of the best longhaul products of the entire STAR Alliance in customer surveys, ever since it got introduced, finishing ahead of C class on for instance LH, SQ, TG or LX even.

[LufthansaFlyer]

For those interested, I posted another 'trip report' re: the SN biz cabin. I had received permission to preboard so that I could take photos of the aircraft prior to boarding. The post is mostly photos of the biz cabin with some highlights on the seat features.

http://first2board.com/lufthansaflyer/2 ... pictorial/