Brussels Airlines announces new short haul product

[FlightMate]

I just hope they won't cannibalize their own market, with b.light pax deciding to downgrade to check&go.

Otherwise, I think it is a good idea to offer more choice to passengers.
Those willing to pay more for a much improved service (true business class), and those willing to forego comfort for discounted tickets.

In the end, it will come down to ticket price and cost of running 4 classes to the airline.

Not much of a change (except for the lower ticket price), but a good marketing opportunity anyway.

[Inquirer]

I've noticed only now that André mentioned another interesting thing in his report about the press briefing yesterday, which didn't get picked up yet: that of a new loyalty programme for European passengers.

I don't know if they elaborated on this further, or whether you had the opportunity to ask a question about it, but is it something which will run in parallel to M&M? isn't that more or less what Germanwings has too: an airline specific loyalty programme for their own passengers which never travel on the other group's airlines, and a wider programme, for occasional (codeshare) passengers?

Are they turning Bru.air into Germanwings Belgium without telling, maybe?

[Boeing767copilot]

Correct, parallel to M&M.

[Flanker2]

The Germanwings concept is not proven to work in close competition with FR/VY IMO.
In fact, it's not even proven to work at all, it's a rather poorly performing airline until now.
While LH saved some money by using the lower cost base of Germanwings, many customers also don't recognize Germanwings as being part of Lufthansa, probably leading to loss of revenue compared to the LH operation at secondary German airports.

Mileage programs are a waste of money, it costs more to run than the loyalty benefits to the passengers.
Pax prefer to receive discounts or perceivable benefits.

[airazurxtror]

69 euros return is a good price to compete with the LCCs, it's right in their present range of prices from Brussels.
But will the LCCs just stand there seeing their customers go to Brussels Airlines - and do nothing about it ?
I find it most unlikely.
On the contrary, I can see a nice little price war developing in Brussels - always good for the customer !

(the other prices, according to "Le Soir" : from 109, 349 and 699 euros)

[b720]

I feel for the SN F.A. who will have to run 4 levels of service, or lack of during a flight. Must be horrid during
a short flight though.
Concerning loyalty programs, I think that it is a good idea to reward and gain the loyalty of frequent travelers in Europe.
With the current Miles and More system it really does not reward travelers within Europe. I think that rewarding very frequent travelers with higher status, i.e. access to lounges, fast track security, and pre- boarding does appeal to most people.. makes the difference between flying LCC and SN actually, provided the ticket costs roughly the same. Another fantastic system they had was the passes to a specific city. fixed price, guaranteed seat in b-lite (when still available) no credit card fees!! and was very cheap for the flexibility it offered.. ideal for F.travelers to specific destinations.. and there are many in the BRU area.

[CTBke]

and then there's the other thing .. the hand luggage in the cabin .. if you offer a fare without checked in luggage more hand luggage will be brought into cabin which will lead to more problems for the cabin crew to coop ... already now it's a huge problem on some flights as you don't see any difference between business flex and light in terms of hand luggage ... so in the end they'll offload the hand luggage of the lowest class and it will be transported in the hold free of charge or will they be there with the machine like easyjet to let you pay ? it's a nice idea but in reality it'll be a disaster esepcially on short routes with 4 classes, pre orderd meals ... I can only think of the ground staff and cabin crew... and about the upgrade of the meals ... we already saw that with the current product... just wait and see ... it's an ambitious plan .. but aren't they just transforming it into Germanwings belgium with their future plane for an Airbus only fleet on Europe... ?

[Lysexpat]

I've noticed only now that André mentioned another interesting thing in his report about the press briefing yesterday, which didn't get picked up yet: that of a new loyalty programme for European passengers.

It wass already announced at the January 2014 press event. I hope it will be something like what SNBA had when they started: fly 7 get one free, a real free not one of those M@M"s ripp offs. (I just booked a ticket to BRU for Friday: a ticket with easyJet as it was cheaper than a M&M "FREE" ticket!)

The RETURN in the low fare ticket bothers me, if you want to compete with LCC you need a competitive one way ticket. I like Flankers idea on cheap last minutes, it will direct passengers towards BAir and could make a difference for future bookings. Didn't they try this LCC model already after the VEX merger?
Overall I have the impression though that Ryan @ co are hurting BAir a lot more than what they want to admit. The thruth will be in the 2014 balance sheet.

[Passenger]

In brief, the low fares without the stress of the LCCs.

I'm sorry : what stress ?
I bet Gustin has never taken a Ryanair flight and doesn't know what he speaks of.

Maybe Gustin pointed at the stress that these Ryanair-passengers encountered yesterday?

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/mi ... es-7429783

Two separate families (one including an infant) both boarded an East Midland flight to Almeria. Once seated, other passengers claimed their seats. It then was revealed that they were on the wrong plane: both families (unknown to each other) had boarded the Riga flight, not the Almeria flight.

When they were back in the airport, the Almeria flight was gone. Ryanair told them: "take a taxi to Birmingham (pay it yourself), wait there for ten hours, fly to Murcia (we'll rebook you for free) and then arrange transport from Murcia to Almeria (pay it yourself)".

Error of the boarding staff? No, says Ryanair: "it is the responsibility of each customer to ensure they board the correct aircraft".

I think that is the extra mile that Gustin means, if such would happen with Brussels Airlines: SN wouldn't hide behind "it's the responsability of each customer..."

[airazurxtror]

Maybe Gustin pointed at the stress that these Ryanair-passengers encountered yesterday?

I think that is the extra mile that Gustin means, if such would happen with Brussels Airlines: SN wouldn't hide behind "it's the responsability of each customer..."

Ryanair carry on average some 225.000 passengers each day.
From time to time, a mistake can happen, depite the controls at the gate and at the aircraft door; unbelievable, seemingly impossible, but it happens.
I once saw at Malpensa a man that had boarded the easyJet flight to Brussels instead of the SN one ( half an hour delay for the EZY before finding him, and in the meantime the SN had departed - I don't know what happened to him).

It's thus an extra mile that Gustin has promise his "guests" - it was written "extra smile" on the picture above, which had no sense at all. Come to think of it, an extra mile has not much sense either ...

[Passenger]

Maybe Gustin pointed at the stress that these Ryanair-passengers encountered yesterday?

I think that is the extra mile that Gustin means, if such would happen with Brussels Airlines: SN wouldn't hide behind "it's the responsability of each customer..."

Ryanair carry on average some 225.000 passengers each day. From time to time, a mistake can happen, depite the controls at the gate and at the aircraft door; unbelievable, seemingly impossible, but it happens.

Yes, shit can happen to every earline. That's not the fact. But only one airline tries to waive responsability if they make a mistake themselve, and that's Ryanair.

(and it doesn't matter if it's error by own staff or ground handler)

[sean1982]

They did not waive responsibility. They offered a free re-booking and the family themselves chose the alternative routing the same day. Other option was to take the next day flight.

But let this not turn into another FR bashing thread, even though that's passenger's signature move.

[convair]

No FR bashing, as I guess these incidents happen from time to time, and not only to FR I presume, but, still, I'd be interested to know what the EU regulations say about the financial responsibility towards the passenger(s) for an airline that lets passenger(s) board the wrong flight.

[sean1982]

I don't know if there is an EU regulation for that as it is also partly the passengers fault

[Lysexpat]

According De Standaard check&go is NOT all inclusive as Mr Gustin said, but comes with a 8€ credit card payment supplement.
It looks like the extra mile and smile have to be paid for!
http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20140716_01181447

[sn26567]

Overall I have the impression though that Ryan @ co are hurting BAir a lot more than what they want to admit.

SN says that they have increased the number of pax on routes where they compete with LCCs.

In brief, the low fares without the stress of the LCCs.

I'm sorry : what stress ?
I bet Gustin has never taken a Ryanair flight and doesn't know what he speaks of.

L. Redeligx gave an example: a passenger unable to print his boarding pass at home (no more ink in his printer) and obliged to pay 50€ at the airport to have it printed.

And there is also the run to have a good seat on the aircraft. With SN seats can be pre-selected 24hrs in advance.

[Lysexpat]

Overall I have the impression though that Ryan @ co are hurting BAir a lot more than what they want to admit.

SN says that they have increased the number of pax on routes where they compete with LCCs.

Probably yes, BUT did they make more profit (better: did they loose less) on these routes?
Would you bother to introduce a 69€ fare, if you are having more and more passengers willing to pay 100€?
In that case Mr Gustin would have said: "we are very happy with the arrival of FR at BRU, as it increases both our loads and yields on the routes we are competing on..." In January he said they had different products ready which were not linked to the arrival of FR, it took six months to reveal these products and even eight to roll them out.
Once again the 2014 balance sheet will reveal the thruth. Anyone remembers the profit which was forecasted for 2014 in the famous " beyond 2012-13" plan?

[sean1982]

And there is also the run to have a good seat on the aircraft. With SN seats can be pre-selected 24hrs in advance.

Which run are you talking about?? Instead of 24 hours in advance, passengers at FR can book a seat 7 days before departure or be assigned one for free.

[Inquirer]

69 euros return is a good price to compete with the LCCs, it's right in their present range of prices from Brussels.

That's my opinion too, especially as it still comes with some minimal perks and avoids some of the inconveniences traditional low cost tickets always seem to come with: if they offer ample seats in this booking class, it's going to be something the low costs definitely won't like to see.

Will the LCCs just stand there seeing their customers go to Brussels Airlines - and do nothing about it?

I don't think the main purpose is to take many passengers away from the low costs at BRU, although it sure will be a welcome effect to them; I think the main purpose is to make that low costs competition irrelevant to their own passengers.
A 69 euro return ticket can't be undercut by much, especially given the taxes being as high as they are.
Are traditional Brussels Airlines passengers going to be willing to swap airline for maybe just a few euro's less and accept their often stricter policies?
Some will, but most may not bother any more because the incentive just isn't big enough any longer.

I can see a nice little price war developing in Brussels - always good for the customer!

Oh, but I think the price war is already well underway since some months!
This is definitely a planned next step in that war, rather than just the opening move and I suppose this next step is based on the results from a low profile test run of this commercial strategy over the past half year, a strategy of which we haven't seen the financial results, but of which the operational results are quite surprising, to say the least.

[sean1982]

Initially SN said they weren't phased by the arrival of FR at BRU and their regular passengers where happy enough with their current pricing policy with B.light starting at 99EUR and they would happily pay that for the "extra service"

We're 5 months down the line and they are allready changing strategy ... smells like desparation mode to me.