Welcome to my 2nd part of my Brussel Airlines flying adventures!
My ride: OO-SBC
Photo: Luc Van Belleghem
Another reason to fly with this airline is to experience the Belgium hospitality at their homebase in Brussels even though the layover is a short one. I have often heard from my European friends about this airport and the city and I have came to this city before but that happened at a very young age with my family and things have certainly changed since then. So how was my experience of this airport and more importantly, did the connecting flight changed my impression of this airline? Do read on to find out.
Window view photos
My flight route
Welcome to Bilbao Airport!
About Brussels Airport
Brussels Airport is the main international airport in Belgium, located about 12 kilometres northeast of the capital city, Brussels. This airport is the primary airport in Belgium and is a home for Brussels Airlines and a major hub for Singapore Airlines Cargo.
This airport has one terminal connected to 2 piers A and B.
Pier A is used primarily for flights within Schengen zone (European open-border area for EU countries) and Brussels Airlines flights to Africa.
Pier B is used for non-Schengen international flights, flights flying outside the EU countries such as United Kingdom, South and North America and Asia.
Map layout of the airport
(Photo: Brussels Airport's website)
Flight connection at this airport
This is the main concourse.
Passing by the security check area.
This is RwandAir's Airbus A330-200 aircraft.
Tintin's famous rocket is based on the Destination To The Moon story.
One of the many duty free shops in this airport.
Tintin's merchandise
Let's go to the moon!
This display is certainly the center of attraction.
There are a lot of shops and restaurants to check out.
Do remember to check your flight information and give yourself some time to walk over to the gate.
A lot of flights departing at this time of the day.
This airport's airside has a lot of shops to check out.
After checking out the shops, I made my way to the gate.
This is one of the airline's special liveries! The livery is dedicated to both the men and women representing the country in the international football competition.
Unfortunately, I didn't spot the other special liveries as they were flying to other cities.
The announcement was made and it's time to board for my connecting flight.
I made my way towards the same aircraft that flew me here, OO-SBC.
My ride: OO-SBC
Do you prefer the A320neo with the racoon mask or without? Not all the A320neo operators opted for this option. (Photo below)
Do check out Scoot's A323neo, the airline opted for the cockpit without the 'racoon mask'.
Flight route: BRU-BIO
Distance: 1,013 km
Average Flight Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
Airlines flying on this route: Brussels Airlines and Vueling
My seat: 7F
Photo: Aerolopa.com
Date of departure: 23rd February 2026
Airline: Brussels Airlines
Flight: SN3714
Route: BRU-BIO
Aircraft: Airbus A320neo
Registration: OO-SBC
Seat: 7F
Class: Economy
Gate: A51
Terminal: Main
Load: 100% in Y Class
Boarding: 1338
Push Back: 1414
Take Off: 1423
Schedule Departure: 1415
Schedule Arrival: 1610
Actual Arrival: 1603
Departure Runway: 25
Departure Weather: Cloudy
Arrival Runway: 30
Arrival Weather: Clear
My inflight experience
The boarding process was in a mess with many people queuing up all over the gate area but at least we departed on time. The cabin experience is the same as my previous flight so I won't go into details on that and as for the cabin crew, they are a different set of crew. Not much comment about them as there was little interaction with them as they only came around to do the pre-departure and arrival check and take orders for those who wished to purchase food and beverages.
We took off in a slightly windy condition and with the cloudy condition making it as depressing as the weather in U.K. Once we flew out of Belgium, the weather improved and it was clear blue skies all the way to Spain. I watched a pre-download movie on my device and enjoyed the view especially during the descent towards Bilbao airport. Between this and the previous flight, I prefer this for the better weather in Spain. It's a pity that I got myself the same aircraft, a standard livery airline so that means if I want to try my luck to fly the airline's special livery A320, I need to fly with this airline again.
Welcome on board!
The first few rows are designated for business class passengers.
First row - bulkhead row offers ample legroom space.
Shouldn't there be an extra head cover on to indicate the seats are for business class passengers? What do you think?
The view from my seat
My seat: 7F
Tight legroom space for a 192 cm tall person like myself.
Did I manage to score the whole row for myself?
View of the front seat.
The A320 diameter fuselage is slightly wider than the Boeing 737.
Front view of the cabin
Foldable tray table
Inflight magazine and menu are available for each passenger.
The overhead panel
(Take off to landing)
This is Danair.aero's Airbus A320ceo, a low cost airline based in Romania.
Pushing back from the same gate I arrived.
On this flight, I enjoyed the view from the right side of the aircraft.
Heading towards the runway in this cloudy weather.
We lifted off with some bumps due to a bit of crosswind during take off.
One question for you readers: Do you prefer sitting on the left or right side of the aircraft?
Personally I prefer sitting on the left side.
My preferred seat is position slightly in front of the engine which allows this sort of window view.
The view of the airport tarmac
The view of the airport
Flying past some unfriendly clouds.
It looks like a storm was brewing! I don't fancy hanging around outside in this sort of weather.
At this point, we were ready to fly through the clouds.
Here it goes! So far the bumpiest clouds in any region I flown so far has to be the area around Singapore, but for this case, it was hardly turbulent when we flew through the clouds.
A litle peek of the blue sky and that is my sky colour.
It turned out there was another layer of clouds to fly through.
Finally! Out of the dreadful weather as we headed for the sunny weather in Spain.
The window may be slightly dirty but I was able to enjoy the beautiful view that awaits for us later during the flight.
Soon, we started our descent into Bilbao, it was my first time arriving into this airport. I know of this city, thanks to a particular football club, Atletico Bilbao which is commonly known as Atletico Club.
The sun was against my direction during our cruise.
We made a few turns during our descent.
What a scenic view of the mountains!
This view reminds of me of Santiago, Chile!
I was fortunately to be sitting on the right side for the arrival.
What a beautiful view, thanks to the good weather.
Unlike the weather at Brussels, this is much better and the sort of weather that makes me fall in love with aviation.
With an excellent background view with the engine and wing view, what more can I ask from an aviation enthusiast point of view!
The approach into Bilbao airport was a smooth affair with the pilots completing the checklist for arrival.
Few more seconds to touchdown!
Another city and airport added to my list of places visited!
Almost there!
We touched down smoothly thanks to the PIC (Pilot-in-command).
With the reverse thrust deployed, we slowed down to taxi speed.
Last few minutes on board OO-SBC, let's enjoy it.
As the airport is quite a small one, it didn't take long for us to reach our assigned gate.
We parked besides Vueling's Airbus A320ceo featuring this special livery of FC Barcelona!
This is our parking lot for our aircraft. Thanks for the ride, OO-SBC!
For the cabin and flight crew, they prepared the flight back to Brussels BRU airport.
My flight route
Welcome to Bilbao Airport!
Straight away at the gate is an advertisment that caught my attention while walking down the aerobridge.
This is the airside of the departure hall. Since we arrived at the Schengan area, there is no immigration or security check needed to hang around at this area.
Airport Wi-Fi service is available but you need to register an account and log in in order to access.
Whatever it is, I wished I was on a different aircraft for this leg.
Once I finished checking out the airside, I made my way out.
With only my backpack, I made my way out and wait for the hotel shuttle which transported me to the hotel.
This is the arrival hall.
This way out!
This is the departure hall (landside).
The check-in counters are located at this level.
My flight out of this airport would be operated by Air Europa, another new airline for my flight logbook.
This is where I waited for my ride.
That's all, folks! Hope you enjoy my part 2 of Brussels Airlines!
A preview to my upcoming trip report!
My hotel review of Holiday Inn Express Bilbao Airport by IHG
My ratings
Airline Website/Mobile App: 4/5
Airport Experience (Brussels Airport BRU: 4/5)
Inflight Service: 3/5
Seat Comfort: 2.5/5
Inflight Entertainment: 0/5
Cabin Ambiance: 4/5
Cabin Condition: 5/5
Cleanliness: 5/5
Inflight Meal/Beverage: 0/5
Punctuality: 5/5
Total Score: 32.5/50
Percentage: 65%
(No change in the score compared to the flight in part 1)
Conclusion
I felt I overpaid for this budget style experience and I was underwhelmed by the experience, but at least I have finally ticked this airline off my list and also able to share my experience with you. I am struggling to find positives about flying with this airline with the inflight experience is more or less similar to the other european carriers such as Lufthansa, Swiss, British Airways and the few others. Coming from Asia, the experience is certainly lucklaster and different in terms of inflight service and amenites comparing between the European and Asian airlines. Even on short hops such as from Singapore to Jakarta, you get offered a hot service meal even on this short and on the south american regional short flight such as from Santiago to Buenos Aires, beverage and snack service are offered so overall, I was underwhelmed with both flights. What the airline offers on board, I can get them with the low cost carriers and if I have to travel to BRU, I would vote with my wallet and go for the one that offers me the best value: price and flight timing.
Thanks for reading and as always, see you in my next blog post!
Have a good one!
Cheers,
Charles
For my part 1 of Brussels Airlines trip report (LHR-BRU), click here
Coming up next: my hotel review at Bilbao, coming up next!
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