short flight report BRU-AGP-BRU with SN in C-class

[eurojet]

Hi all,

after accumulating well over 400K M&M airmiles and purchasing property at the Costa del Sol, no more excuses not to try our national airline, Brussels Airlines for the first time. Since living in Luxembourg since 2001, I hardly use Zaventem any more, and only used SN Brussels Airlines in C-class once in 2006, and that was a great experience in C on short haul (to BIO, where we were fed like pigs during the 1 1/2 hour flight).

Since we bought property at the Costa del Sol, we booked two Business Class tickets to AGP, leaving BRU early morning Saturday 10/10, back Tuesday 14/10 last flight back from AGP. Myself, I make well over 70-80 flights a year for work (mainly, LH, LX, LG and OS intra-European, either in Y or C, and quite a lot KLM, I am M&M FT and FB Gold). Privately, add some 20 flights a year as well (better half being Spanish) , with a lot of LCC to bring us back to Spain. Home airport: LUX

Tickets were bought with miles, including the taxes. If we had bought them they would have cost EUR 910 each

Just some short impressions of flying "Belgian" again

Airport:

We slept over at the NH in Diegem, never again, horrible beds (chewing gum), at least their transfer to the airport was quick and easy.

BRU these days after not having used it for years:

*05.00 AM in the morning and already pretty crowded with the geriatry . Despite having priority lane at security, this was not open.
*I had forgotten how dark BRU is .. The check-in area, the corridors, the eternal tunnel and star-cases .. all not very airy and rather claustrofobic
*Some 15 minutes to 05.00 AM we looked for the lounge, which is somewhere downstairs. All doors closed. Why is it so difficult to put a paper with the opening hours? Eventually it opened at 05.00 AM. Lounge small but well stocked .. However, I don't want to know how this looks like during the week let's say at 07.00 AM
At 05.50 AM, the long trek to our gate .. Again. even if this is the new terminal, it all looked a bit .. dated ...

Flight to AGP

*we boarded first, seemed flight was packed to the full
*Seat 1A and 1C, so good legroom, we were the only ones in Business
*Orange juice as welcome drink + hot towels
*Quickly after take-off, very good breakfast, with a delicious hot omelette with mushrooms and spinach, rolls, yoghourt, and my wife and I more or less emptied an entire bottle of Champagne, generously provided by efficient and kind crew
*After 3-4 glasses of bubbles in the morning, you sleep well for the rest of the flight. We only had handluggage so off the plane quickly.

All in all, flying like in the good old days, top notch performance

Flight back from AGP

*Tuesday afternoon flight and also packed. I think SN has 3 flights a day to AGP, this was off-season and full, so this must be a money maker for SN. In any case, it is full of Belgian at the Costa del Sol
*Big mess with all the handluggage, even not enough space for C-class and the Flex passengers, a lot of chaotic messing around with luggage
*Welcome drink (water this time)
*We were hungry and awaited eagerly the meal. Highly disappointing: A cold rice place with 5 cold shrimp and cold piece of green asperges .. Especially the rice was inedible .. try to boil basmati, put it in the fridge for 2 days and then eat it, and you will know. We needed some champagne to swallow this ... The buy-on-board looked better than what we had. Worst airline meal I had in ages, let the caterers take a flight with Turkish one day, their Y-meals are better than this crap ...
*Service all a bit "friendly but chaotic" .. This is just how SN came across to me .. A bit too much " we fly for friends and family" attitude ... Having flown their peers LH and LX a lot, they are just much more consistent and sharper .. Again, it is not bad, but just not consistent
N*ot a single word from the cockpit during the entire flight
*When arriving around 20.00 AM, all BRU packed again ... again the long trek to arrivals .. this airport is really not up to the 21st century


Conclusion:

with all the miles to spend I will now become a regular on SN ... Glad I did not pay the ticket with money or I would regret it deeply. It is not bad, but it misses the sharp edge of even KLM ... Maybe they consider AGP as a destination where the standards can be a bit looser .. I assume they don't want to try this on flights to DME, GVA or TLV ... It is not bad, and their biggest asset is really their staff, who were really very good. Planes were also in good shape, their A319s look sexy

Also, business was nearly empty apart form us in both cases. Flex only had a few passengers .. the class concept they have is confusing ... The product placement is bizarre ... Anyway, I will need to start loving them, they offer the best connections, and flying out of Lux is far more expensive. As to "Zaventem", destroy it to the ground and start from scratch ...

[sn26567]

Nice report and up to the point. I hope that the SN people read it to take the necessary corrections.

But a full bottle of champ at 6 o'clock in the morning? Glad you enjoyed it: I would not be capable to drink it so early.

[eurojet]

... Also, although maybe details and in the wider shape of things not that important in days of Ebola, ISIS and plunging stock markets but it makes the difference between good and really good carriers:
* I am FB Gold, and even when flying economy, the KLM crew will spot me and 9 times out of 10 address me by my name. Happens a lot with LH and LX as well when flying C short haul. Not at SN. by the way, to the cabin crew, do you guys know if someone sits in C with a non-revenue ticket ?
* no curtain separating Business and Flex from Economy .. result: long lines at the toilet in front from other passengers.
* Why do they put a table cloth in the morning flight but not on the flight back?
* Why are their cushions and blankets on the way in but not on the way out?
* Forgot to say something important: both flights left spot on time, so well done, SN

[White Light]

You rightly point out that with what is happening in the world today (for instance, ISIS and ebola) an air travel journey and what it was like is unimportant, but we all have to go on with our lives and discussions on this forum are part of the lives of a number of people.

Concerning catering, my experience with SN is that on European routes it is, with the usual exception, close to disastrous (the meal you got on the return flight was clearly unacceptable).

Catering on long haul flights is very good to excellent. SN's managers don't realize that people flying SN in Europe faced with their usually bad catering might say : oh non SN long haul either, their meals are below average. What you offer in Europe may influence passengers choice when they have to fly long haul and don't know the long haul product.

As to the lounge in Terminal A, it is a temporary lounge while they are upgrading the old lounge. The new lounge should open soon.

* Why do they put a table cloth in the morning flight but not on the flight back?* Why are their cushions and blankets on the way in but not on the way out?

Perhaps because the cc did not feel it was necessary or they did not feel like doing it ? I have noticed that SN's cc dynamism is slightly going down. Perhaps they are also asked to do too much for what they get in exchange and in the end it will show.

*I had forgotten how dark BRU is .. The check-in area, the corridors, the eternal tunnel and star-cases .. all not very airy and rather claustrofobic

You say you travel a lot with LH/LX/OS. So, have you never head to go through the endless dark tunnel at FRA or GVA ? Imho, worse than the one at BRU.

At 05.50 AM, the long trek to our gate .. Again. even if this is the new terminal, it all looked a bit .. dated ...

Dated ? Sorry, FRA is dated ! And the long trek to the gate ? Have you never had to walk to gate 1 at MUC ?
Worse than the last gate at BRU's Terminal A.

Please, don't compare BRU to your home airport LUX. I consider BRU to be a nice airport, not a perfect one, but a very nice medium-sized airport with, imho, one of the most efficient passenger security controls.
And that is very important, at least to me.

[sn26567]

Perhaps because the cc did not feel it was necessary or they did not feel like doing it ? I have noticed that SN's cc dynamism is slightly going down. Perhaps they are also asked to do too much for what they get in exchange and in the end it will show.

Isn't their new logo: "We go the extra smile" ?

[RoMax]

Concerning BRU, while I don't like the look and effeciency of pax flows in some parts of the airport, it's still quite ok. Once the connection with the new Connector building will be made, the tunnel replaced, a new airy central screening zone (with a larger capacity) opened, retail re-organised in the Connector/Topaz, I think the whole 'BRU-experience' will be quite a bit better.

But for example Pier A is not that bright when it's dark outside, but I actually like that, it gives more of a relaxing athmosphere in the early morning/late evening. But you can hardly call Pier A "dated", despite it's 12 year age it still looks like one of the most modern and beautiful concourses in Europe in my opinion.

As to the lounge in Terminal A, it is a temporary lounge while they are upgrading the old lounge. The new lounge should open soon.

Next week Friday (24 October) to be precise.

About the C-class catering in Europe, I have no experience at all with it, but they did launch a sort of a-la-carte pre-order system for their Bizz&Class passengers. Seems like you could get better options here.
http://www.brusselsairlines.com/en-be/p ... fault.aspx

Also, business was nearly empty apart form us in both cases. Flex only had a few passengers .. the class concept they have is confusing ... The product placement is bizarre ...

Depends on the route of course, in late September I flew BRU-VIE on a Saterday morning and they had 2 rows of C class and quite some rows in b.flex (the loadfactor on that A320 must have been around 95%). They did have a curtain, but B.flex continued for 1 or 2 more row(s) behind the curtain, so they didn't close it, would be weird for these few passengers in B.flex sitting behind the curtain.

With SN's staff I have quite mixed experiences. But my flight from VIE to IST on OS was not perfect either, one of the cabin crew members was extremely friendly, while the other one didn't smile for one moment during the whole flight and when they came around to serve a small meal and drinks she yelled multiple times at a woman in front of me to wake her up, could have been a bit more friendly.

[airazurxtror]

*05.00 AM in the morning and already pretty crowded with the geriatry .

Ill-bred comment.
Who do you take yourself for ? Don't worry : like everybody, you'll end up amongst the aged ones - unless you die before, of course.

[eurojet]

.... it is called "Gentse humor", maybe less known to always politically correct Irish ... It is that time of day when my own 71 year old mother takes her monthly flight to Tenerife with her even older boyfriend and they refer themselves to these flights as the "Geriatric flights to the Jurrasic Park of Europe" ...

[b-west]

About the C-class catering in Europe, I have no experience at all with it, but they did launch a sort of a-la-carte pre-order system for their Bizz&Class passengers. Seems like you could get better options here.
http://www.brusselsairlines.com/en-be/p ... fault.aspx

Oh, I hadn't seen that new option yet (honestly, who comes up with those names?). I've been consistently disappointed with the SN short-haul business class food. Like White Light said, the long haul is fabulous, but why don't they put in a bit more effort for the short haul.

Also, business was nearly empty apart form us in both cases. Flex only had a few passengers .. the class concept they have is confusing ... The product placement is bizarre ...

Depends on the route of course, in late September I flew BRU-VIE on a Saterday morning and they had 2 rows of C class and quite some rows in b.flex (the loadfactor on that A320 must have been around 95%). They did have a curtain, but B.flex continued for 1 or 2 more row(s) behind the curtain, so they didn't close it, would be weird for these few passengers in B.flex sitting behind the curtain.

I think SN should keep the curtain for business class. Or business & b.flex (yeah, not using that other name which I can't remember anyway). It gives the cabin a more relaxed and private atmosphere with the curtain closed.

[Comet]

Please, don't compare BRU to your home airport LUX. I consider BRU to be a nice airport, not a perfect one, but a very nice medium-sized airport with, imho, one of the most efficient passenger security controls.
And that is very important, at least to me.

I agree completely with your comment about BRU. We were unfortunate enough to use MUC last year, vile, horrible, badly signed and inefficient dump of an airport that is!! (To match the city it serves in my opinion!) We were pleased to use BRU again this year, which is vastly superior in every way to MUC.

[CTBke]

Perhaps because the cc did not feel it was necessary or they did not feel like doing it ? I have noticed that SN's cc dynamism is slightly going down. Perhaps they are also asked to do too much for what they get in exchange and in the end it will show.

Isn't their new logo: "We go the extra smile" ?

I agree with White Light, a lot of the CC perform their in flight service based on their feelings and not on standard methods, if you take a flight to a same destination twice a week or daily you'd be surprised how different it can be even on TLV and DME as some of them don't fly the routes frequently and this translates into the C-class service on some of those flights. + the temporary cc are not that experienced either and this is visible in the cabin.

[CTBke]

*We were hungry and awaited eagerly the meal. Highly disappointing: A cold rice place with 5 cold shrimp and cold piece of green asperges .. Especially the rice was inedible .. try to boil basmati, put it in the fridge for 2 days and then eat it, and you will know. We needed some champagne to swallow this ... The buy-on-board looked better than what we had. Worst airline meal I had in ages, let the caterers take a flight with Turkish one day, their Y-meals are better than this crap ...

I thought they served a hot meal on this flight except when its on OO-SSP (due to the lack of ovens)

[eurojet]

.... they could heat up pizzas or hot paninis for the buy-on-board but not the C-class meal .. I would have happily swapped my plate of cold basmati for a pizza

[b720]

And this horrid Garlic drenched prepacked pasta salad they serve on Flex.. Is it so difficult to serve something edible?? Like a simple Gouda cheese sandwich on Fresh bread? Everyone eats cheese..

[Inquirer]

And this horrid Garlic drenched prepacked pasta salad they serve on Flex.. Is it so difficult to serve something edible?? Like a simple Gouda cheese sandwich on Fresh bread? Everyone eats cheese..

Not an ordinary ham or cheese sandwich, please!

I mean, every office lunch is a sandwich lunch these days since you often don't have time to go to a real restaurant, so I prefer something else than yet another sandwich when traveling.

I don't know if it's the same salad you refer to, but I actually like their pasta salad; is it the one of a michelin star chef according to the packing you refer to? I think it's very good?!
De gustibus etc, as is shown once more.

BTW - too bad they don't extend the possibility to preselect your luch/diner to the premium economies too; looks like a really good idea for business class.

[torchus]

The cold bread roll SN serve with their hot meals is inedible. It's like a hard piece of cardboard.

[b720]

That's the one!!! U like it?? Ughhhh
I think that they should extend the purchase your meal to the whole cabin! Austrian does it.. easier for the cc, I guess... as they don't have to sell and handle cash and coins.. one can be in light and order a great lunch and dinner.. I think that Austrian charges 15 EUR.. really good quality food.. Business and flex can choose for free.. while the rest of the cabin will have to pay.. This way they know what to cater for in advance..

[airbuske]

I think that they should extend the purchase your meal to the whole cabin! Austrian does it.. easier for the cc, I guess... as they don't have to sell and handle cash and coins.. one can be in light and order a great lunch and dinner.. I think that Austrian charges 15 EUR.. really good quality food.. Business and flex can choose for free.. while the rest of the cabin will have to pay.. This way they know what to cater for in advance..

This will be possible in Q1 2015.

[tolipanebas]

Indeed,
the 4 different products are all successfully rolled out now, but not all the add-ons are in place yet.
What you see as pre-selection of meals in biz&class is just the tip of the iceberg.
Expect much more options and add-ons to be added to biz&class as well to also the other classes in the coming months, and this is not only limited to just food, btw.
The difference between flying SN or flying just another airline is going to be very noticable right from the start... and not by selling a covered walkway as a product improvement to premium passengers... ROTFL.

[RoMax]

start... and not by selling a covered walkway as a product improvement to premium passengers... ROTFL.

That covered walkway is a BRU-thing anyway, they want to improve the airport experience a bit for these passengers, for FR and U2 it doesn't really matter if their pax have to run through the rain or not.