First flight in b.light on SN: BRU-THF on 31 March

Post by **sn26567** » 31 Mar 2007, 18:27

This morning I flew my first flight on BruAir, in b.light, from BRU to BER (THF) in an Avro 85 (OO-DJT, still in old colours, but with the 14 dots of a b replacing the SN), flight SN2581.

Yesterday night it was impossible to check in on Internet: an error message appeared after every trial (and don't tell me I don't know how to do: I've done it already several times in the past). Thus I went to an automatic machine this morning, and there was nly one window seat left: 16F in the last row, with no recline and very limited leg room, but OK, I wanted a window, as always.

Load factor was 100% in b.light (including many Americans connecting from Chicago and New York - the flight was codeshared with AA), with only 2 passengers for the 8 seats in b.flex. On-time departure (09:45) and arrival (11:10), with the fantastic arrival under the roof in Tempelhof. What a pity that this airport must be closed soon!

Friendly service on board, but not many pax bought food or drinks. I did myself take breakfast before departure.

Altogether a good experience in b.light, although the price was not specially light (355.05 EUR return).

Comet · Post by **Comet** » 31 Mar 2007, 18:46

The prices in "blight" are extortionate for something akin to Ryanair.

Buzz · Post by **Buzz** » 31 Mar 2007, 18:59

Comet wrote:The prices in "blight" are extortionate for something akin to Ryanair.

On some routes, but not on all. BRU-Spain is sometimes even cheaper on BruAir than on FR, taxes included...

My flight Malaga-BRU on the 30th in B.light was booked full (except for the seat next to me

), and b.flex wass also full (24 seats) so it seems they don't have to much troubles filling the flex cabin ( it had a adjustible divider, so they can change the size).

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 31 Mar 2007, 19:08

Thanks for your report André. Let's hope they'll be able to fill the bflex cabin well in the coming months !!

Chris

sab319 · Post by **sab319** » 31 Mar 2007, 19:48

nice to hear a report about Brussels Airlines.

I'm flying them tomorrow myself aswell (you can expect a report about that), and wasn't able to check-in online either...

How are the prices and choices of the menu btw?

OrientThai · Post by **OrientThai** » 31 Mar 2007, 21:08

Thanks for sharing your experience.
Can't wait to fly with them in less than two weeks to NCE in b.light

tolipanebas · Post by **tolipanebas** » 31 Mar 2007, 22:17

sab319 wrote:How are the prices and choices of the menu btw?

Prices are very fair in my view, with 'round prices' for all but the newspapers (€1.5), which is the only thing sold on board which can be purchased cheaper in the terminal at BRU according to SN.

€1 for soft drinks

€2 for candybars

€4 for sandwiches

Can't remember the price for coffee though...

blackhawk · Post by **blackhawk** » 31 Mar 2007, 22:21

tolipanebas wrote:
sab319 wrote:How are the prices and choices of the menu btw?
Prices are very fair in my view, with 'round prices' for all but the newspapers (€1.5), which is the only thing sold on board which can be purchased cheaper in the terminal at BRU according to SN.

€1 for soft drinks

--> fair

€2 for candybars

-->

€4 for sandwiches

-->

Can't remember the price for coffee though...

tolipanebas · Post by **tolipanebas** » 31 Mar 2007, 22:29

You clearly are NOT aware of the going rates for a large sandwich or for a medium sized bag of sweets/candy in the terminal at Brussels.

To give you some price reference with other airlines, IB charges €7 for indentical baguettes as SN....

blackhawk · Post by **blackhawk** » 31 Mar 2007, 22:50

tolipanebas wrote:You clearly are NOT aware of the going rates for a large sandwich or for a medium sized bag of sweets/candy in the terminal at Brussels.

To give you some price reference with other airlines, IB charges €7 for indentical baguettes as SN....

Correct, I've never been in the terminal so don't know the prices they are asking. 1 Euro for a soft drink is very fair, 2 euro for a candy bar, that's a total rip off (in my oppinion). 4 euros for sandwiches, that's above the average price but still reasonable, if they are well prepared.

tolipanebas · Post by **tolipanebas** » 31 Mar 2007, 22:57

blackhawk wrote:Correct, I've never been in the terminal so don't know the prices they are asking. 1 Euro for a soft drink is very fair, 2 euro for a candy bar, that's a total rip off (in my oppinion). 4 euros for sandwiches, that's above the average price but still reasonable, if they are well prepared.

The restaurants and shops at Brussels Airport (especially airside) are EXPENSIVE, no doubt about it.

But as you say yourself, 1 euro for a glas of soft and 4 euro for a double sandwich or a baguette are definitely not cheap but still acceptable and in fact the rest of the prices on the SN menu are to be judged as such as well: acceptable prices, undercutting those for identical goods in the terminal.

Post by **sn26567** » 01 Apr 2007, 08:09

This afternoon I'll ask for a beer and I will tell you how much it costs.

Champagne was also available, by the way

tolipanebas · Post by **tolipanebas** » 01 Apr 2007, 10:17

sn26567 wrote:This afternoon I'll ask for a beer and I will tell you how much it costs.

There are laminated menus available on board, with an overview of the products (with pictures) and their prices.

Although they are collected by cabin crew before landing, you might to 'forget' to give it back...

A simple scan and we have the entire price list...

Heck, SN should just post it online on their website, under 'b.light / services onboard' so everybody has a transparant idea of what things are going to cost them...

Philippe1983 · Post by **Philippe1983** » 01 Apr 2007, 10:51

HOW, for God's sake, can they charge 355,05 € for a return ?

And even more, giving it the name "light" ????

EBBR_Based · Post by **EBBR_Based** » 01 Apr 2007, 11:11

Comet wrote:The prices in "blight" are extortionate for something akin to Ryanair

Philippe1983 wrote:HOW, for God's sake, can they charge 355,05 € for a return ?

And even more, giving it the name "light" ????

There is always a "logical fare" before departure. Whether you are flying Ryanair, EasyJet or British Airways, you'll always pay more on high-demand flights and even more if you book very close to departure date.

Brussels Airlines is far from being a Ryanair, Comet.
x premium airports
x added values like assigned seats, online check-in (where you can select your seat, by the way)
x assistance before, during and after the flight (Brussels Airlines will give you an alternative if your flight is cancelled for some reason, the passengers will never be "dumped")
x lot's of daily flights on the business destinations, were flexibility is important (7x daily Geneva, 6x daily Birmingham, .......)

For a minor upgrade fee (already as from 50 EUR one-way), you will enjoy the b.flex advantages:
x seat selection at the time of your booking
x priority check-in
x fast-track security in Brussels Airport at peak times
x priority boarding
x seated in front of the aircraft (and if the flight is not full, Brussels Airlines tries to give as much b.flex passengers as possible an empty seat next to them)
x higher luggage allowance (12 kg hand luggage, 30kg hold luggage)
x 100% refund if cancelled before departure
x take an earlier flight for free on the day of departure if your meeting was finished earlier for example
...

Compare b.flex to the competition, and you'll see that the fares are very competitive (you get a lot of Business Class perks for Economy Class fares).

b.light always gives you the lowest fare, and one last message for Comet and Philippe1983: if you had looked for a cheaper flight on the competition at the time of Sn26567's booking, you wouldn't have found a cheaper alternative on any other airline.

Greetings,
EBBR_Based

Comet · Post by **Comet** » 01 Apr 2007, 12:03

I have recently searched out flights from the UK to BRU. I searched for morning departure and afternoon return. In all cases, the full service airlines were cheaper than Spotty Tail's "B-Light" fares. Some of these cheaper flights also meant changing at another airport and these were also cheaper than "low cost" Spotty's fares.

£150 return from BHX-BRU - not so long ago you could book the same flights on full-service SNBA for £96.

It is cheaper to fly on full-service VLM than on Spotty's cheaper option.

Post by **sn26567** » 04 Apr 2007, 13:20

EBBR_Based wrote:There is always a "logical fare" before departure. Whether you are flying Ryanair, EasyJet or British Airways, you'll always pay more on high-demand flights and even more if you book very close to departure date.

Yes, indeed, but I has expected a better price for a flight booked 3 weeks in advance. The LF was 100% on the outbound flight, but only 60% on the inbound flight. Furthermore, there are only 2 flights between BRU and Berlin (all three airports combined) on Saturdays, both by SN to THF: a monopoly of which SN did take advantage in my case.

EBBR_Based wrote:Brussels Airlines is far from being a Ryanair.
x added values like online check-in (where you can select your seat, by the way)

That, unfortunately, did not work on either of my flights.

EBBR_Based wrote:b.light always gives you the lowest fare, and one last message for Comet and Philippe1983: if you had looked for a cheaper flight on the competition at the time of Sn26567's booking, you wouldn't have found a cheaper alternative on any other airline.

As mentioned before, there was no alternative to any Berlin airport, whatever the time of the day, on my outbound flight.

Now the return flight. SN2586. An interesting experience about the 30 minutes rotation time that I will tell in another thread.