66 reviews
Hey peeps,
Today in this review I will be reviewing the MEA flight from Brussels to Beirut onboard their A320 plane, their small plane in the fleet.
It was a rainy and tiring day all the way to the airport but I finally reached two hours prior to my flight to Brussels Airport. Check-in process was easy and quick, cleared customs and passport control in around half an hour and quickly off to the gate B10.
My bird for today, the Airbus A320 in the nice looking MEA livery… (My friend though the Cedar was a Christmas tree and this is the Christmas livery hehehe)
Waited there for another half an hour and boarding the plane was at 11:15 am (10 minutes later than scheduled). The flight was fully booked in both Business and Economy class. They allowed Business Class passengers to board first then followed by economy (usually on this flight its the opposite). Greeted by a busy male flight attendant at the door, I quickly moved to my seat. My seat was 22A near the window, I am a window seat type of a person.
The seat has a great legroom in general though its not enough for tall people as its the usual dilemma with economy seats worldwide, but me being a tiny person, I was more than great.
The plane is fully full and ready for take off (below you can see the nearby Air Arabia plane at the runway. It took off directly before us)
After an entertaining Lebanese culture inspired safety video, time to take off. It was a smooth process.
One thing I have a serious issue with on MEA (Actually two, the lack of on-board WiFi is one of them), is the 15 minutes forced cheesy advertisements that we have to watch pre the activation on the entertaining system. Unacceptable… I know it is a source of income for airline but not forced on customers.
Anways, after that the IFE was activated. This time, the selection of movies was great unlike my last trip in August. Bravo
I watched the movie: The Joker and then I watched Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
35 minutes into the flight, meal service started. Carried out by 3 flight attendants (2 females and 1 male). They handed no menu this time (a drawback), just asked a choice of Fish or Chicken. I opted for the fish dish.
The main dish was Salmon with bean veggie and boiled potatoes, appetizer was salad russe with smoke salmon, dessert was cherry jam tarte and also bread with crackers and president cheese. I drank also Apple juice with ice.
Honestly, I didn't like the meal. Not the MEA caliber we are used to (May be its the Brussels kitchen bad quality because food out of Beirut is top notch on all airlines). The meal tasted bland and i added salt and pepper to have some flavor at least. The dessert even wasn't that great. I only liked the appetizer, it was good.
After that they offered some Nuts and a choice of coffee or tea, I took coffee.
One of the flight attendants whom she was older than the rest (in her 50s i guess), she was frowning and she could've been more gentle with the other customers.
Time went on and on. Smooth flight, no turbulence. Duty Free on-board shopping started hour pre-arrival.
The views are breathtaking with the snow covering the tip of the mountains.
Lastly, we arrived in Beirut on time with no delays.
The off-boarding process was chaotic but i took mt stuff and proceeded to passport control and baggage collection.
Thank you for reading. I will be reviewing the outbound trip further on!
To conclude, I enjoy flying with MEA. It is Lebanese and has a Lebanese feel to it, makes it feel so homey. Improvements could me made in certain aspects? Sure thing, but no denial that MEA is a great airline and hoping to try their Business Class product soon. I enjoyed my BEY-BRU trip in august way more but its fine. MEA is surely recommended.
6 Comments
Last you mentioned, de-boarding was chaotic, how so?
All the best
Thanks for sharing!
Login to post a comment.