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!
Hey Abbas, thanks for this nice and compact flight review. I think I've got a good impression of your flight. I almost always hear good things about MEA, so this was different - but still not bad. E.g. the food looks nice for Economy food, but of course that's not the main function of food ;) And I hear you when it comes to the "homey" feel - I always have this with Lufthansa, also from just seeing LH planes, even though they aren't that good nowadays in Eco. Looking forward to the outbound!
Hey, I am glad that you enjoyed my review and found it informative. Yeah the national airline always has a homey nostalgic feel to it. I hope you will enjoy my outbound flight report that will be published soon and hope you will try flying MEA soon so you can experience it.
Hi Abbas, Thank you for the report. As we say in Lebanese from a fellow Lebanese, Hamdela 3al Saleme. The food presentation looks good, however it depends on the catering station as you mentioned above. I never flown MEA from BRU, but from nearby airports (LHR, FRA, CDG, GVA) and food was great. I am just surprised food did not taste good, as I flown on a Business Class Lufthansa flight from BRU to FRA quite recently, and food was impeccable. What is interesting to know, is also different Economy Meal reviews from the BRU-BEY flight on MEA, and maybe from this point, raise it to MEA?
Last you mentioned, de-boarding was chaotic, how so?
All the best
Hi Elie, kilak zo2 Allah Ysalmak, Merci :D Yeah, I was shocked that the meal was like that on MEA (good looking but zero taste) but I said it before, i will blame it of catering option in Brussels. Maybe the can do something on that. As for the off-boarding, I was on 22A (3rd economy row) and couldn't get off my seat row due to people rushing as if hunger games. Also, due to many carry ons, they placed some economy carry ons in the business class cabin, so just imagine the rushing, pulling and aggression inside the plane.
Hi TheAbbas, thanks for sharing this report. Another good flight with MEA who offer a very solid Y product on short/medium-haul with IFE and USB charging and what looks to be a nice meal for a 4h flight. Definitely better than the competition from Europe (except for BA who fly the ex-BMI A321s with IFE in Y and full flat seats in J.
Thanks for sharing!
I am so happy you enjoyed my report :D Yeah MEA product is really competitive on the Beirut-European routes. Lebanese love to travel with comfort and style.