After two and a half month of booking this ticket, today is finally the day of my flight to Brussels on board a MEA Flight. Its my first time on-board a MEA flight, I've heard a lot of mixed reviews about them and I thought this is the prefect chance for me to try them since they fly directly from Beirut to Brussels.
It was a morning flight at 7:20 am. At 3 am, I was at the airport and passed the baggage security. It was such a long line snake to hand the luggage at check in counters, ( I checked in online hoping to make things faster). After that I stamped the passport, passed the security screening again and headed directly to the gate 15.
Picture of the gate area below…
At 6:45 am, we were boarding the plane. The process was smooth but the gate agent was frowning a bit, she should be more welcoming.
Our bird for the flight was the Airbus A320, one of the smallest planes in MEA's fleet.
The business class Cabin
This is the economy class cabin. The seats were comfortable with great legroom for economy seats.
After a 20 minutes delay, we departed at 7:40 am. Flight attendants were extremely helpful and smiley, I was scared at first because MEA is notorious for having flight attendants that have bad attitude (at least that what i always hear).15 minutes into the flight IFE got turned on, very limited selection with boring choices. And half an hour later flying, the meal service began.
We had two choices for breakfast, Knefe or Spanish Omelette. I opted for the knefe since its a Lebanese flight and MEA's knefe is unique in the air. The meal was great for an airplane breakfast and also generous.
Somehow while flying, the cabin turned hot, like really hot and everyone turned the condition pit towards their faces. It was annoying but it was managed later on. Maybe that was because the flight was full in both classes, business and economy. Anyhow, after that I watched a movie then turned the flight info on the screen and was excited to land in Brussels.
Landing was very smooth just like the flight itself. I am glad I flew MEA and I liked the Lebanese feel it gives, It makes us feel home. Thumbs Up.
The IFE selection in my opinion doesn't deserve a 3.0/10 for a 4:15 flight. There is enough selection of movies covering this flight on 5 round-trips at least. If something, 5.0 or above is deserved. Most carriers nowadays offer nothing but an in-flight magazine on those short sectors. Thanks for the report though.
Thanks Elie for your comment. As for my rating, I am convinced with it, because actually the IFE selection was all about oldies whether music or movies or series. So not appealing for people of my generation at least. But as I said, many throw MEA under the bus but i wrote this review to highlight how impressed I am.