Brussels Airlines in 2023

[nordikcam]

Oups...what's happen ? Two days without cancellation...I think something is wrong at SN...but fortunately today everything is back to normal...cancellation as usual and big delays...! Oufffff...

[koninckske]

Oups...what's happen ? Two days without cancellation...I think something is wrong at SN...but fortunately today everything is back to normal...cancellation as usual and big delays...! Oufffff...

Just sad that you think it is needed to write something like this. Maybe time to get on with your life? So tired of reading comments like this here all the time.

[redeye]

I completely agree. It is a sick and childish hobby to look each day at flight schedules hoping that one could report a SN mishap ,only to promote the far superior AF and CDG :roll
OMG. Petit pays...

[fcw]

I completely agree. It is a sick and childish hobby to look each day at flight schedules hoping that one could report a SN mishap ,only to promote the far superior AF and CDG :roll
OMG. Petit pays...

Although the comment original wasn’t really funny, it was clearly a tongue in cheek comment! (Only “petits esprits” would call this “petit pays”.)
One cannot deny resilience is a problem at SN, shooting the messenger won’t change it.

[Homo Aeroportus]

Just booked a BRU-MUC-BRU same day.
No bag, so I took an Economy Light (Q). 283EUR + Taxes, fees, ... = 444 EUR. So be it.
Select your seat : 20EUR, even for Senator/Gold. That's new for me. Anyone?

SN web site :
"On Brussels Airlines operated flights, HON Circle members and Senators have the possibility to reserve their favourite seat free of charge for themselves and all companions in the same PNR. This privilege is subject to availability and not applicable to bookings made in Economy Light on short-haul flights and for extra legroom on long-haul flights."

I find this ... cheap.


H.A.

[sn26567]

Just booked a BRU-MUC-BRU same day.
No bag, so I took an Economy Light (Q). 283EUR + Taxes, fees, ... = 444 EUR. So be it.
Select your seat : 20EUR, even for Senator/Gold. That's new for me. Anyone?

SN web site :
"On Brussels Airlines operated flights, HON Circle members and Senators have the possibility to reserve their favourite seat free of charge for themselves and all companions in the same PNR. This privilege is subject to availability and not applicable to bookings made in Economy Light on short-haul flights and for extra legroom on long-haul flights."

I find this ... cheap.


H.A.

Wow! I guess the policy is the same on all LH Group airlines and imposed by the Carsten Spohr team?

[Atlantis]

Just booked a BRU-MUC-BRU same day.
No bag, so I took an Economy Light (Q). 283EUR + Taxes, fees, ... = 444 EUR. So be it.
Select your seat : 20EUR, even for Senator/Gold. That's new for me. Anyone?

SN web site :
"On Brussels Airlines operated flights, HON Circle members and Senators have the possibility to reserve their favourite seat free of charge for themselves and all companions in the same PNR. This privilege is subject to availability and not applicable to bookings made in Economy Light on short-haul flights and for extra legroom on long-haul flights."

I find this ... cheap.


H.A.

Wow! I guess the policy is the same on all LH Group airlines and imposed by the Carsten Spohr team?

The situation is the same in the whole group. And the service is extremely basic, even no water, coffee or tea anymore. Lately I had LH, OS and SN and all is the same. A lot of money for no service on board

[nordikcam]

There is no photo between the companies of the LH group and AF/KL group... My two flights CDG/GEN/CDG and CDG/MAD/CDG in Eco (very short distance) last week are enhanced by a sandwich and a beer distributed by the crew...free seat.

[OO-JFP]

The situation is the same in the whole group. And the service is extremely basic, even no water, coffee or tea anymore. Lately I had LH, OS and SN and all is the same. A lot of money for no service on board

On Sep 5th I flew BRU-FRA-HAM on LH and same day HAM-VIE-BRU with OS (FRA was not planned but EI-GEH didn't fly so we were rebooked via FRA)
On both LH flights we received a small bottle of water and chocolates both for free, on the flights back with OS they first came with coffee/tea or soft drinks/beer (payable) followed by another lady who offered a glass of water for free and chocolates again.
Brussels Airlines = Ryanair: nothing for free.

If you enter a LH A32X, business class rows have a curtain between business and economy giving it at least a better impression compared to the "business class"? rows of SN. I feel sorry for the American business man/woman who paid for a business class ticket via BRU and then continues on a SN flight to a European city...

OO-JFP

[oldblueeyes]

Well, in a fair comparison the likely 1-2hours trip in the US would be with an Embraer 145 or a CRJ700 with a feeder regional airline.

The product is always following the average client of a brand- SN is operating in a heavy LCC environment with a Eurowingslike product.

[crew1990]

Well, in a fair comparison the likely 1-2hours trip in the US would be with an Embraer 145 or a CRJ700 with a feeder regional airline.

The product is always following the average client of a brand- SN is operating in a heavy LCC environment with a Eurowingslike product.

On short haul yes. But on long haul there is really nothing to be jalous of Lufthansa or Swiss, I just flown MUC-DEL with LH in business (A350 with Philippine Airlines seating, yes it does not only happend to SN) and DEL-ZRH with Swiss on Economy because my DEL-FRA flight was cancelled yesterday (yes it does not happend only with SN).

[Homo Aeroportus]

To be complete I must add that, yesterday after posting, I booked a BRU-DSS-BRU early October and the selection of seat was indeed still free of charge.

H.A.

[longwings]

Well, in a fair comparison the likely 1-2hours trip in the US would be with an Embraer 145 or a CRJ700 with a feeder regional airline.

Which would come with a (US domestic) first class cabin, at least on the CRJ700 and most regional aircraft with 60-70 seats or more.

I do agree that passengers who buy a business class ticket to Europe with a connection through a European airport can feel... disappointed when they see the "business" end of an A320 or 737 operated by a European airline. Though if it matters to them, they learn their lesson and fly a US or Canadian airline to their destination next time, or choose to connect as close to their final destination as possible.

[oldblueeyes]

Well,

Let's try to be fair and see the realities.

The US is geographically still a much larger market than Europe. And the average yields you pay for budget airlines in the US such as Southwest are far above the average ticket price one is paying for Ryanair and co. in Europe.
The realities are simply different in what you pay, what you should expect and what you get for money.

And there is no rule at all that European airlines have to follow the expectation of accidental US customers coming from wherever to Europe. The frequent business traveler would anyhow know what to expect and if somebody from Oklahoma is surprised it's their problem. Most Europeans won's expect European standards in many everyday things by travelling to Oklahoma as well.

Let's see it clearly - no airline in the world would be able to offer at any time a 100% consistent product across all the fleet and on every route and satisfying each customer.

The rest is all strategy for the traveler as well - but most self payers decide anyhow by price and companies let a software offer them the best options.

[longwings]

Let's try to be fair and see the realities.

I'm not the one who erroneously compared an A320 operated by a European airline to a CRJ700 operated by a US regional carrier. Your analysis is not wrong, but I don't see where the call for fairness comes from.

The rest is all strategy for the traveler as well - but most self payers decide anyhow by price and companies let a software offer them the best options.

Again, not wrong, but most passengers in the premium fare buckets are not self payers, though their share is definitely on the increase.

[oldblueeyes]

Pretty simple.

If we try to compare like-for-like, we should look first at sector length.
The average European short haul sector corresponds to distances served rather by regional jets in the US.
WE can argue than if 1,5 Seats in a 320 cabin gives the same comfort feeling as a business seat in a CRJ700.

Continents are different and each company is trying to match best the expectations of their home clients. And this applies to everything in real life: definition of decent food might be different in the US vs Europe, by judging houses we would see in the US XXX Wooden mobile homes,, they would see in Europe tiny brick and mortar constructions etc.

Again, the average business traveler not flight his once in a lifetime business trip to Europe would know this and won't be surprised, as it would see the same standard at all flag carriers.

[Bracebrace]

If we try to compare like-for-like, we should look first at sector length.
The average European short haul sector corresponds to distances served rather by regional jets in the US.

Aicraft size is driven by expected loadfactors. Regionals are used to connect regional airports with main hubs. No difference between USA and Europe. The main difference is there are a lot more regional airports in the USA hence larger feeder networks. Either you ’connect’ and get mainline service, or you don’t and it’s a short flight.

But in that same ’regional’ idea, one has to look at the USA and consider not every state has a ’main’ airline. In Europe, considering CDG and AMS you could question the viability of Brussels as a ’main hub’ of a ’main airline’. In the USA it would be more likely that it would serve as a ’regional’. But that is a tough discussion which I am going to stay out of.

[Boavida]

The CEO on THE LOFT (awarded as Europe's leading lounge):

“Our teams work very hard every day to give passengers a fantastic experience. Whether you’re flying business class or economy: at Brussels Airlines, we want to deliver a great experience to everyone. We’re very proud that our efforts are rewarded. We keep on investing to make our product even better. Soon we will announce a few very exciting changes.”
​- Dorothea von Boxberg, CEO Brussels Airlines

Any idea what these 'very exciting changes' are?

[rwandan-flyer]

Contrary to what we think, Brussels Airlines doesn't take advantage and won't probably take advantages of Air France troubles in West Africa.

To Ouagadougou the airline doesn't take trafic from Air France. Worst, the airline is loosing trafic to OUA (-7% since the troubles started in August) and they don't have plan right now to serve Bamako. Ethiopian, Air Algérie, Tunisair, Royal Air Maroc, Transair (Senegal) and Corsair are the biggest winners.

Air Algérie, Ethiopian… Who benefits from Air France’s withdrawal in the Sahel ?

Without the main operator in the area, activity was considerably reduced in August and September at the three Sahelian airports. But some actors have managed to do well.

[....]

Those missing from the list

Alongside these few winners, the majority of players operating in this sector are recording a decline. This is particularly the case for Turkish Airlines (-28%) or even Brussels Airlines, which is not benefiting as one might have thought from the decline of the French flag, despite the relative proximity of the Paris and Brussels hubs.

In Ouagadougou, the only one of the three capitals it serves, the Belgian company is down 7% and, questioned by Jeune Afrique, it specifies "not considering for the moment" to land in Bamako. For its part, the Togolese Asky is progressing in Mali (+22.5% to 10,381 seats), but this is not enough to compensate for its declines in Burkina Faso and especially in Niger.

https://www-jeuneafrique-com.translate. ... r_pto=wapp

[longwings]

Any idea what these 'very exciting changes' are?

Reopening the lounge at terminal B? The Diamond lounges are definitely overcrowded.