Hi and welcome to new series of flight reports covering my latest trip to Portugal with Brussels Airlines.
It's been a while since my last report but that's the way it is when you change your job and need to focus at least for a while more on work than on flying. Hopefully my holidays in Portugal have been booked long time ago and I was assured when coming to the new company that I don't need to worry about it. After two difficult months it was finally time for my late summer break.
SN had the best offer on WAW-LIS route at the moment of booking (May/June). I wanted to fly directly with TAP that operates two daily LIS-WAW-LIS flights, but even the most basic ticket with cabin bag only costed 300 euros while Brussels Airlines offered the same for more or less 170 euros with comfortable stop in BRU. It was one of the best prices for a flight to Lisbon I have ever seen, so the choice was simple. As an AvGeek I was happy to fly a new airline that by now I knew only as one of these that offers everything for purchase and has nice special liveries.
The whole trip plan looked like this:
1) 07.09 - SN 2560 WAW-BRU - A319 2) 07.09 - SN 3815 BRU - LIS - A320 3) 16.09 - SN 3816 LIS - BRU - A320 4) 16.09 - SN 2559 BRU-WAW - A 319
Later on I will realize that my journey back home will look completeley different than planned but let's focus right now on the first sector and leave something for the next reports.
AT THE AIRPORT
I'm not a big fan of early morning flights as they result always in feeling sleepy for most of the day. Our flight to BRU was scheduled to depart at 06:45, so even living very close to the airport I couldn't wake up later than 04:00. We reached the terminal at 05:10 to find it partially crowded due to many flights departing between 06:00 and 07:00.
While being a part of Lufthansa group, SN shares its check-in desks with mother LH and two sisters: LX and OS.
The whole process was very quick and a nice touch was a possibility to check in for free your hand luggage. SN has anyway a very good hand luggage policy: not only you can check it for free but you can also take with you up to 12 kg and not 8 kg as on most carriers. You need to pay for a standard 23 kg luggage having chosen the lowest fare and the price at the moment of booking was 25 euros one way.
We passed rather quickly the security control and headed to our gate 43 that was located in the southern edge of the terminal.
A funny thing was that a LOT flight to BRU was scheduled to depart at 07:25 from the nearby gate 44.
Our A319 that arrived from BRU the previous evening.
The gate during boarding
Blue Air/LOT B738 seen from the jetbridge. Blue Air planes operate on behalf of LOT on some westbound routes like DUS, CDG and AMS.
Our A319 seen from the jetbridge
THE FLIGHT
You can see inside that the aircraft is not the newest but it is in very good condition, with new thin seats and overhead screens that are used only for the safety demo.
Pitch is surprisingly good. I thought that as SN is a semi low cost airline in economy, we will be cramped like in Ryanair but luckily it was a very comfortable flight.
At the very beginning my window is foggy but it gets almost completely clean as we taxi to the runway.
Time to leave sleepy Warsaw
Flying over the S8 and A2 motorways junction
As Brussels is a new airline to me, I can't wait to study the seat pocket content
The most interesting part in the Shop&Eat catalogue is the model section with all the special SN liveries. My plan is to buy an Aero smurf A320 on the way back.
Some food and beverages options as Brussels serves nothing for free in the basic economy fare
The Great Belgian - French Fries War. Note that the Belgian fries box is happy, while the French one is sad…
A glimpse into the inflight magazine with route map and fleet
The safety card. It's a pity they have one card for both A319 and A320, the collectors know what I mean ;)
The flight is very calm, all the very nice and always smiling FAs try not to bother passengers that use this 1,5 hour early morning hop to BRU to get some sleep. I try to spot something out of the window but all the route seems to be cowered with thick layer of clouds.
As we start our descent, I realize that there are more than one cloud layers. No chance for a sunny day in BRU today.
Last clouds disappear when we are already very low
Landing is smooth even though the runway is wet. The first aircraft I spot after landing is Thai A350 followed by Ethiopian and United 777s.
Another heavy section
SN A319 next to our stand
Cabin during deboarding
and our A319 seen from the terminal
That's all for now, need to find our gate to Lisbon. Many thanks for reading!
See more
Verdict
Brussels Airlines
6.1/10
Cabin8.0
Cabin crew9.5
Entertainment/wifi5.0
Meal/catering2.0
Warsaw - WAW
8.8/10
Efficiency9.0
Access9.0
Services8.5
Cleanliness8.5
Brussels - BRU
7.8/10
Efficiency9.0
Access5.0
Services8.5
Cleanliness8.5
Conclusion
My first flight and first impression with Brussels Airlines were quite postive. The aircarft was neat and the crew very friendly, but total lack of any service in economy is a shame if we compare it to other LH group members (Austrian and of course Swiss seem to be a different category than SN). What is good is the hand luggage policy with 12 kg limit and a free of charge check-in possibility.
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Hi Loukas, thanks for sharing--it's nice to see new reports from you :-) Out of all the big LH Group legacy airlines, Brussels Airlines had definitely been positioned as the least premium--at least in intra-European flying. The weird LCC hybrid model is kind of confusing, but the positive side is of course the good pricing--170 EUR is much better than the 300 EUR for a direct on TAP. So, even though the LCC aspects are a bit disappointing for a Flag/Legacy carrier...the price is certainly good.
I've read the LH group has been considering replacing Brussels Airlines brand with Eurowings in BRU. I could see how that may make sense on short-haul, to come degree, but it would be a shame to see Belgium lose their flag carrier's branding (after having already lost Sabena) to be replaced with a generic LCC brand.
A beautiful report as usual and congrats on your new job!
Hi Kevin, many thanks for your kind words! SN is exactly as you wrote: the least premium in LH family but it has many good offers for flights that sometimes cost twice as much in other airlines. It would be a shame to replace Brussels with Eurowings, even though these two airlines look very similar in many aspects. Thanks for stopping by!
Thanks for this FR. Given the price difference between TAP and SN and the fact that flying via BRU is not a detour at all, the choice was easy! I agree that SN should at least offer free tea/coffee as offering only BoB is IMO not appropriate for a national airline (hello BA and IB), but LH thinks SN=EW which is so wrong...
Hi, yes, it was a good choice and we didn't spend a fortune ordering a beer and something to eat on the second leg, however it is always better to have something "included" in your ticket than paid extra. Thanks for commenting!
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6 Comments
WAW is definitely a nice airport and FIDS were updated in a good way!
Onboard service is still disappointing on SN.
Pa i do zobaczenia!
Out of all the big LH Group legacy airlines, Brussels Airlines had definitely been positioned as the least premium--at least in intra-European flying. The weird LCC hybrid model is kind of confusing, but the positive side is of course the good pricing--170 EUR is much better than the 300 EUR for a direct on TAP. So, even though the LCC aspects are a bit disappointing for a Flag/Legacy carrier...the price is certainly good.
I've read the LH group has been considering replacing Brussels Airlines brand with Eurowings in BRU. I could see how that may make sense on short-haul, to come degree, but it would be a shame to see Belgium lose their flag carrier's branding (after having already lost Sabena) to be replaced with a generic LCC brand.
A beautiful report as usual and congrats on your new job!
Given the price difference between TAP and SN and the fact that flying via BRU is not a detour at all, the choice was easy!
I agree that SN should at least offer free tea/coffee as offering only BoB is IMO not appropriate for a national airline (hello BA and IB), but LH thinks SN=EW which is so wrong...
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