Virgin Express BRU - BCN.

JetB · Post by **JetB** » 24 Jun 2006, 17:46

Tripreport Barcelona :

INCLUDING VIDEO !

Date : from 15/06 to 20/06.
Airport : from BRU to BCN.
Airline : Virgin Express.
Equipment : Boeing 737-300.
Reg : OO-VEN.

Until last year I would always fly Ryanair from Chaleroi to Girona, but because problems I expicrienced flying them I decided not use them anymore.

I agree, you pay more flying Virgin but you don’t have to drive to Chaleroi, and BRU is so much nicer than its low cost counterpart.

Total price was 85 EUR including tax for a round trip ticket, not bad !.

I arrived at 10.30 at the airport, so well in time for my 12.20 flight. Thanks to a former college I could use the airport parking for free.

Lines at the Virgin counter, short !, I only had to wait for about 5 min. Staff was friendly but not so professional.

Two staff members had fun talking about how fat a lady was that just passed !. Gossip, even I do it, who doesn’t ?.
Anyway I was satisfied to get an emergency exit seat, a staff member told me that this would normally cost 15 EUR but I could have it for free because I was so adorable !!!!!!!, she made me blush. I was wondering how many times a day she would say these exact same words ?.

Walking to the A pier broth back memory’s from my Securair periode. I really didn’t like working at the A pier !.
Lines at Security, short !, and it was fun to see some old faces back. I had some stuff in my bags that during my times where not allowed, like for example duck tape and some straps !.
I was not checked and didn’t fiend out that I had these things in my bag until arriving in Spain.

I did some shopping and to my surprise the perfume was cheaper @ BRU than it was in Spain. I both some Davidoff Cool Water, really nice for the summer !.

www.flugzeugposter.de/images/gross/a04318.jpg

Boarding started on time but we had to wait like 10 min before being allowed on the AC.
The AC was OO-VEN a Boeing 737-300 in desperate need to get an “ extreme makeover”.
Not that it was so bad but everybody knows those grey old leather seats should have been replaced 5 years ago.

members.airliners.be/albums/userpics/10035/normal_OO-VEN-21112005-2.jpg

I guess with the merger between SN and VEX management decided to keep thing the way they are !.

We left the gate on time and OO-VEN was in the air before we even knew it. 3 FA’s made the flight enjoyable and at no time pushy to sell drinks / food, something you cant say off Ryanair FA’s !.

It only took 1.45 min to get to BCN where a surprise was waiting !. Total chaos, that was the best way to describe the place. We had to wait 45 min for the first bag to show up !, but it can get worse !. At the car rental place we had to wait 85 min for a car that was reserved long in advance, thank you HERTZ for that !.

This was not my first time flying to BCN but I never had seen the place like that. It would have been much faster to fly to GRO and drive the extra 60 min to BCN, but than you have to fly Ryanair….

Anyway, the sun was out and it didn’t spoil the fun and in no time we had a great time on the beach. I had some friends flying in from the UK and we would meet that evening for dinner.
Barcelona was like always a great place to hang out, the food is good, people are friendly and going out is just crazy.
Do I need to say that I didn’t see my bed a lot !.

http://www.barcelonaexperience.com/imag ... st4620.jpg

I booked the afternoon flight back on 20/06. Returning the car was fast but it was very busy around the airport with the construction going on. BCN is going to look much different in a few years.

Ibera seems to be the agent for Virgin Express in BCN, staff was ok, not really friendly.
The incoming flight was on time but no attempt to start boarding was made, not even when the original boarding time passed.
I was afraid the AC would go technical, but 10 min later we where told to go to a different gate downstairs.

We expected to be bussed away but after waiting 15 min we where told to go back to the original gate !. “Stay calm we are still on Spain time !” was a thinking to myself, these people seem to have all the time in the world !, you must grow old with such attitude !.

Boarding went fast after that, I guess everybody just wanted to go !. AC was OO-VEN, same AC as on the outgoing flight.

I was seated in the last row and just as on the outgoing flight this flight was almost full !.
Crew was very pleasant and professional, and with only 80 min flight time we landed in BRU before even knowing it.

Virgin Express is a no nonsense airline that could do better but with the merger coming up is going nowhere !. It does surprise me that Virgin didn’t grow these last years because there is a big market out there for low cost airlines that fly to major airports.
I was surprised to see how big Easyjet is becoming at BCN, they seem to grow much faster than Ryanair that fly’s from a secondary airport ( GRO ).

This was not my last Virgin flight and I hope those 737-300 and 400’s are being refurbished and fiend a place within the combined SN and VEX fleet.

I made a movie when flying into BRU but don’t know how to post this, who can help ?.

BCN AIRPORT :pang:

sab319 · Post by **sab319** » 24 Jun 2006, 18:28

nice report!

fokker_f27 · Post by **fokker_f27** » 24 Jun 2006, 21:10

Great report, keep it up!
About the movie: try using www.youtube.com.

Post by **sn26567** » 25 Jun 2006, 10:53

Great report, JetB. Nice to hear from you again. I did not know that you change your mind aboyt Ryanair.

About VEX, they seem to be waiting what the merger will mean to them. Bad attitude: they should remain proactive.

JetB · Post by **JetB** » 25 Jun 2006, 11:43

You can watch the video now on :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH-ZG5xgxLI

OO-VEN landing @ BRU

JetB · Post by **JetB** » 25 Jun 2006, 20:24

Dear André, I did not post much lately but I was never away !. I enjoyed reading members story’s online.

I made some long haul flights this year but didn’t have time to post the pictures, maybe in a few weeks. New York in December was great, and so was Vegas in March, the only disappointing trip so far was New Orleans. I helped some family members rebuild but that was about the only positive thing I can say about that place.

In September I am going back to Barcelona, now that is going to be an interesting trip. I am flying Brit Air from Lille to Barcelona via Lyon !. Does somebody have experience flying Brit Air ?.