Welcome to my trip report on Brussels Airlines!
My ride: OO-SBC
Photo: Luc Van Belleghem
Introduction
This has been an airline I wanted to fly for a long time thanks to the beautiful special liveries featuring my childhood favourte - Tintin! When I was looking at the flights on how to get to Bilbao, I had a few interesting choices such as flying with the low cost carriers but when the chance to fly with this airline came about, I decided to go ahead with it despite having to pay quite a bit more to fly with this airline comparing to flying direct airline with one of the low cost carriers. Vueling was another option and in hindsight, it might have been better to fly with this airline during that time as it is still operating an Airbus fleet because the airline, decided by the IAG group would be converting their fleet to a full Boeing 737 fleet. How I feel about this move, this is another story! So once this option is decided, I looked at which airline would fly me back to London and it was not a difficult decision, Air Europa was my choice and I booked with the airline not long after, stay tuned for my trip report with this airline coming up soon.
Without further ado, let's begin this trip report!
About Brussels Airlines
Brussels Airlines is the national carrier of Belgium and is based at Brussels Airport. This airline is a successor to its predecessors, Sabena and SN Brussels Airlines and is currently managed by the Lufthansa Group. As a member of a the Star Alliance, this airline flies mainly to Europe, North America, some parts of Africa and West Asia and for the rest of the destinations, it does codeshares with other members of the alliance.
This airline was founded in November 2006 and started operation about 4 months later. With size of arouned 50 aircraft, this fully Airbus operator helps the Lufthansa group by operating flights from Brussels onto some of the profitable markets such as Africa.
Map routes of Brussels Airlines (Brilliantmaps.com)
Booking with the airline
I used the airline's mobile app to do the booking and it was easy to use, most importantly, no issues at all.
That's the airfare that the airline was charging me and I opted for the economy classic mainly for the seat selection.
After choosing the seats, I won't have to worry about paying extra if I opted for the economy light tier.
These were the available seats during the time of booking.
For the first flight, I opted for 5A and the second leg, I opted for 7F.
Would I want to pay extra to fly on this business class? I thought about it but decided to give it a miss.
Overall, I give this app a rating of 4/5.
On the day of departure
I left my Airbnb accommodation at an ungodly hour.
Walking to the Barking tube station took about 15 minutes.
What does this design structure looks like to you?
Changing for the Elizebeth line to London Heathrow.
Here we are, welcome to the Queen's Terminal - Terminal 2!
This is the terminal mainly hosting Star Alliance airlines.
The check-in desk area (landside)
Overview of the departure hall (landside)
There are a good mix of airlines from all the continents.
This is quite a pleasant terminal and yes if anyone is wondering, airport complimentary WiFi is available.
Since I had no luggage, I used the self check-in kiosk to obtain my boarding pass.
I obtained the boarding passes for both flights.
Once that is done, I made my way to the airside.
My boarding passes!
Welcome to the airside!
Departure information board displaying your gate information and usually you need to check over here for your flight's gate information.
The overview of the departure hall of Terminal 2 airside.
It is quite a spacious and pleasant terminal to depart from.
I bought a drink from one of the convenient stores.
There is even a vending machine selling budgets, a common sight in Japan.
Food and snacks vending machines.
At this point, I made my way to my assigned gate.
My ride to Brussels and Bilbao.
It was on arrival into LHR, arriving on time.
Here it is and I went over to the gate to try to capture its arrival.
Welcome on board!
My ride: OO-SBC
My flight route: LHR-BRU
Distance: 351km
Average Flight Time: 40 minutes
Airlines flying on this route: British Airways and Brussels Airlines
My seat: 6A
(Photo: Aerolopa.com)
Airline: Brussels Airlines
Flight: SN2094
Route: LHR-BRU
Aircraft: Airbus A320neo
Registration: OO-SBC
Seat: 6A
Terminal: 2
Gate: A25
Load: 80% in Y Class
Flight Time: 45 minutes
Actual Flight Time: 43 minutes
Schedule Departure: 1105
Boarding: 1023
Push Back: 1052
Take Off: 1102
Schedule Arrival: 1315
Actual Arrival: 1244
Departure Runway: 27L
Departure Weather: Cloudy
Arrival Runway: 19
Arrival Weather: Cloudy
My inflight experience
I felt disappointing to get myself the standard livery A320neo and that's not the only disappointement, a few hours before this flight, the scheduled aircraft for the 2nd leg was changed to this same aircraft so that goes my chance of flying on one of the special livery aircraft, well that's life! Once on board, I had a good lookat the interior, the cabin looks alright, nothing spectacular especially it is a fully configured economy class seats so that means those who are flying on business class will get the standard business class seats on the 3-seater with the middle seat vacant. How do these airlines get away with this? Premium economy class but not business class standard for the seats and personally this is more important to me than the inflight meal or even the lounge access and extra baggage allowance. Those are the standard business class perks so this is why I didn't bother bidding to upgrade myself especially with a 1105 departure, I would have to arrive at Heathrow very early to enjoy the lounge. Pointless!
Once on board, my only source of entertainment is the window view, a perfect view of the engine wing vew which allows me photograph together with the scenery. There are charging ports available but for entertainment? Nothing, not even inflight streaming is available. This feels like flying on a low cost carrier, not much difference whem I think about it.
With the tight seat pitch, I felt a bit uncomfortable after a while but luckily it was a short flight. As for the inflight meal or beverage service, it didn't exist so the cabin crew had a relaxing time on this flight, just make sure the passengers follow instructions before take-off and after arrival. Our ride to Brussels was smooth for most parts except for the arrival into Brussels where it was quite windy and the pilots had a bit of challenge dealing with the wind especially after the auto pilot was disengaged.
With the aircraft parked at the gate, I could have asked them to let me stay on board since this aircraft was assigned me to fly to my next destination. Of course if there is this option, I won't take it as before this trip, I had not been to this airport and it was nice to explore and check out whether this airport impresses. For that, you have to read up on my next blog post!
Cabin configuration: Y180
180 Geven Essenza Slimline seats configured in a 3-3 layout.
Seat pitch ranges from 28 to 34 inches.
Business Class
The first 5 rows of this cabin for my flight were assigned to business class this means the middle seat for the 3-seater remains vacant.
(Photo: Live and Let's Fly)
Economy Class (Limited photos)
For most rows, the seat pitch is at 30 inches, with the emergency rows has a more spacious legroom space of 34 inches.
There is an indication card placed on this seat to indicate which rows are business class.
My window seat
View from my seat
With 2 windows for myself, I have no complaints at all.
Not the most comfortable seat, that's for sure but it was bearable for short flights.
2 charging ports for each row of seats.
Individual aircon vents are available.
How can you call this business class when these seats are exactly the seat with the middle seat blocked out? Premium economy class - yes! This issue also applies to other European airlines with this configuration.
The seat back features the literature holder near the eye level when sitted, foldable tray table and personal storage space below them.
I apologise for the lack of photos due to how full the flight is and it wasn't convenient for me to snap a clean shot of the cabin.
What's provided for each passenger?
Nothing! No inflight snack or entertainment!
Safety Card
Inflight magazine featuring the airline's standard and special liveries.
Inflight sales also helps to bring in some revenue for the airline.
Inflight menu
Disposal Bag
Window view photos
(Take off to Landing)
Pushing back with Icelandair's Boeing 737 MAX 8's tail in sight.
I have plans to fly on Icelandair most probably in 2027, watch this space!
One more look of this airline!
Passing by the aircraft traffic parked at terminal 2.
Air Canada's Airbus A330-300 in old livery with part of the engine cowling in the new livery, making it look odd.
Passing by a British Airways aircraft.
This is the iconic Concorde aircraft parked near the threshold of runway 27L.
I am one of the lucky ones that get to witness the beautiful take off and landing of this aircraft, it often used runway 09 at this airport from what I remember. Those were the days!
We started rolling down the runway.
This is typical UK weather, often overcast with showers taking place quite frequently.
Vietnam Airlines' livery does brighten up this dull weather.
Almost reaching V1....
V1....rotate and what do we have here? An interesting 747 aircraft!
Take off was slightly bumpy due to the windy condition.
At least the view was breathetaking!
After a few turns, we headed towards our direction towards Belgium.
We were fortunately not to have any clouds around our flight path.
This means we get to enjoy the view of the cities along the way.
However as we flew further up, we had to fly through some clouds.
Flying through them to reach our assigned flight level.
Weather at this point was slightly better.
At this point, we started our descent.
It was cloudy condition at our destination.
The weather was similar to London, only difference is the more windy conditions.
Once we broke through the clouds, it was another depressing sight of the city.
Few more seconds to touch down!
We touched down firmly with the windy condition constantly interrupting our momentum.
Speed brake and reverse thrusts were deployed.
Taxiing past the passenger building of BRU airport.
Here we are, we reached the gate with minutes to spare.
This is RwandaAir Airbus A330 aircraft.
That's the weather we had during my brief stop-over at this airport.
I arrived at this gate only to depart from this same gate about less than 2 hours later.
My flight summary
With the aerobridge connected to the gate, one would expect it connects to the terminal building. Because this aircraft arrived from a non EU country, it would to depart to a EU country later on, all passengers arriving from a non EU country would have to go through immigration to be allowed into the EU.
So we had to climb down the stairs to make our way to the immigration for the non EU arrivals.
I got to enjoy the view of the tarmac including my ride.
We were ferried to the terminal by the airport bus.
Once we alighted from the bus, we walked towards the entrance to the building.
From here, I followed the sign towards the flight connections.
Once the passport immigration check was done with the friendly officer chatting about local issues, I was cleared to the departure hall.
These were the flights departing in the early afternoon of that day.
This is the departure hall (airside) - gate area of Pier B.
Sign board information is reasonably clear.
There is even a piano for anyone willing to showcase their talent!
I walked towards the main concourse.
A lot of restaurants and shops are available at this part of the airport.
To be continued in my part 2! Stay tuned!
My ratings
Airline Website/Mobile App: 4/5
Airport Experience (London Heathrow: 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%
Conclusion
I was expecting more when flying with this airline with at least a complimentary inflight snack or a beverage especially for the price the airline is charging. It's perfectly normal to have the inflight menu available and chargable for passengers if they are still hungry or thirsty.
I could fly with Vueling for three quarter of the price and yet receive a similar cabin experience so overall I find the experience quite underwhelming. On the bright side, at least the aircraft interior was clean and the cabin crew were in a jovial mood.
What I like about the airline? Simple livery but stylish and the newer Airbus cabin interior enhances the comfort level for both the crew and passengers. What I don't like about the airline? No complimentary inflight beverages or entertainment available for the passengers but at least there are charging ports. The feeling I get from this airline made me question what is the role of this airline, is it a full cost airline pretending to be a low cost one or has it quietly become a low cost carrier but charging prices of a full cost carrier!?
Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy this review.
Stay tuned for my part 2 of my Brussels Airlines experience!
Have a good one!
Charles
With that said, the journey continues - see you in my next post!
For my previous trip report (Royal Air Maroc Part 4: CMN-LHR 737 MAX 8), click here
For my next trip report (Flying with Brussels Airlines Part 2: BRU to BIO, coming up soon)
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