BRU-MAN-BRU on SN on 11-12 Mar 04, with Brussels Bistro meal

[sn26567]

A new trip to what is rapidly becoming my favourite destination, Manchester. Booked two wweks in advance, the price was lower than the previous time: €419.75 instead of €598.93.

I was at the airport around 18:00, after work. Outbound flight was SN 2181, etd 19:25, normally on an Avro RJ100. Unexpectedly, it was an RJ85 reg. OO-DJO (exactly the same as last time). The plane was pretty full, with a load factor of 95% in Y and 80% in C (the first four rows). Boarding and departure were on time. I had unfortunately a middle seat 9E. Strange automatic check-in machine, that asks you whether you want an aisle or a window, and than puts you in a middle seat anyway, even though you requested a window!

Mr SN Brussels, please control your automatic check-in machines in the main hall of the airport: only one out of six was working. And the software could be improved to let you really choose your seat, and not only aisle or window.

Our captain today was Mr. Koekelberghs (spelling?). Announcements were made in Dutch, French and English by the friendly purser (Geert, Gerrit, Gerard...? if I understood correctly). He was again assisted by one single always smiling stewardess, which is very little; however, this may be due to the new Brussels Bistro concept: the boxes are easy to serve fast. A little bit more expensive food, but with savings on cabin crew.

Mr SN Brussels, would it be possible, like on most other airlines, to give your flight attendants a badge or a pin with their name, so that we can command them for their good service?

Now the meal. As soon as the "fasten seat belt" light went off, the purser started serving the meal in C class and the stewardess in Y class. The distribution of the Brussels Bistro boxes went quite fast: a beautiful coloured box, with a raisin bread roll filled with cheese, a small plastic box filled with tortellini, pork meat and vegetables, a glass of a Dutch mineral water with a strange French name "Prise d'eau", plastic cutlery, milk, sugar, salt, pepper, a refreshing towel and a serviette. Than she served the drinks. I chose a can of Belgian Stella Artois (25 cl). And before landing, she came with two small Belgian chocolates by Neuhaus (bitter and milk).

Mr SN Brussels, may I recommend that you serve Belgian water in the Brussels Bistro, else call it Amsterdam Bistro... There are enough mineral waters in Belgium: Spa, Chaudfontaine, Villers, ...

The flight itself was uneventful, as it should be, and arrival right on time at Manchester. I walked 300 m to my hotel (the Bewley's, which has already been mentioned in the City Guide), because their shuttle costs (for 300 m only) ... £3.00 (€4.50).

Return trip tomorrow on SN 2178.

[Sabena_690]

Excellent report, André! Glad you liked the new inflight catering concept...

I agree on all the suggestions you offered... But I'm quite convinced that the self check-in machine would have put you in a window seat when one would have been available.

Frederic

[Sabena_690]

PS: did you take a shuttle to the Bewleys? It's a 3-minute walk from the terminal!

Frederic

[Comet]

Great report Andre, welcome to England

Interesting that you are staying at Bewleys, we are staying there in September (5th), and the travel agent told us that the shuttle bus costs £2 and that it is impossible to walk from the airport railway station to the hotel.

[Comet]

Andre - I have just looked in City Guide and could find nothing about Bewleys Hotel in there Would like to know more about this place, as travel agents and brochures always say very little. We selected it because we have a morning departure and we wanted to be close to the airport (and also so I can spend more time spotting )

It would definitely be handy if you can walk to it, but they tell us we can't then it's more money for them in shuttle bus fares

[Sabena_690]

Louise: after I had left the terminal at MAN, it was a 2 minuts walk until we reached a road on our left side. A bit further was the Bewleys.

I don't know where the railway station is, so I can't help you about that.

Frederic

[dna]

Mr SN Brussels, please control your automatic check-in machines in the main hall of the airport: only one out of six was working.

I think the situation has been like that for months. I cannot recall seeing all six machines working properly for a long long time.

Announcements were made in Dutch, French and English by the friendly purser (Geert, Gerrit, Gerard...? if I understood correctly). He was again assisted by one single always smiling stewardess, which is very little; however, this may be due to the new Brussels Bistro concept: the boxes are easy to serve fast. A little bit more expensive food, but with savings on cabin crew.

I think SNBA have been operating flights with only two cabin crew for quite a while. I flew to Geneva in November, and back then there only were a purser and one assistant as well on both legs. (Both RJ85 if I remember correctly). But in any case, I don't think that is a result of the introduction of the Brussels Bistro concept.

Dave

[Comet]

Frederic - thanks for the directions (the MAN railway station is linked to the terminal by moving walkways, but other than that I cannot give directions to the station )

dna - two cabin attendants on SN ARJ aircraft is not new - when I flew with Sabena on an ARJ back in 2000 there were only two flight attendants on that flight. The 737s always seemed to have loads of FAs though.

[OO-SBZ]

Thanks for the detailled report.
I hope your request to 'Mr SN Brussels' will be more effective than mine to 'Mr Ryanair'.

Strange automatic check-in machine, that asks you whether you want an aisle or a window, and than puts you in a middle seat anyway, even though you requested a window!

IMHO the machine should not ask you to select an unavailable seating category...
It was probably in a bad day and mistook the preferred seating option for least favoured...

Mr SN Brussels, may I recommend that you serve Belgian water in the Brussels Bistro, else call it Amsterdam Bistro... There are enough mineral waters in Belgium: Spa, Chaudfontaine, Villers, ...

I agree with you Andre: SN Brussels Airlines should serve Belgian water...
Duke would be a good option too.

I walked 300 m to my hotel (the Bewley's, which has already been mentioned in the City Guide), because their shuttle costs (for 300 m only) ... £3.00 (€4.50).

8O 8O It must be the world's most expensive shuttle.... My last return flight to Stansted on Rynair cost me just a bit more (€ 5).


Regards

Ben
Coming soon: report on Charleroi-Bergamo and Bergamo-Charleroi

[Avro]

Thanks for this great report André. I liked it very much.

It's nice to see that the plane was full and that the new meal concept is better than before

I hope that MrSN will listen to your request

BTW the dutch water is probably served, because the meals are ordered from a dutch company (if I remember correctly).

But when I flew with SN in September they served SPA Why no SPA anymore

As a Belgian airline they should be proud of our products and serve them all over the world

Chris
8)

[Comet]

I prefer Spa water, it is the only bottled water I will drink, but round here all you see is Volvic and Evian.

[Avro]

I prefer Spa water, it is the only bottled water I will drink, but round here all you see is Volvic and Evian.

Don't worry Louise, just a few weeks left and you'll be able to Drink plenty of SPA and BEER of course (well not too much, since you don't want to be refused on board the SN plane )

Chris
8)

[Comet]

I prefer Spa water, it is the only bottled water I will drink, but round here all you see is Volvic and Evian.

Don't worry Louise, just a few weeks left and you'll be able to Drink plenty of SPA and BEER of course (well not too much, since you don't want to be refused on board the SN plane )

Chris
8)

Ah yes Chris - I shall be spoilt for choice what to drink (only 18 days left!). I shall have to hope that my bottles of beer fit okay into the overhead storage, and that it doesn't drop out in flight and land on someone's head!

When I flew on Sabena we were never offered the water, there was just an ordinary drinks service with the snack (first time I made the mistake of having orange juice, but I soon learned and ever after that I had beer )

French spring water doesn't agree with me :pukey: but Spa is fine:mrgreen:

[sn26567]

To Fredje Sabena_690: I walked. I think I wrote it in my report. I did not want to spend 3£ (even company's money) for 300 m on a shuttle.

The travel agent told us that the shuttle bus costs £2 and that it is impossible to walk from the airport railway station to the hotel.

The railway station is just behind te Bewley's, but you have to go first through the terminal to walk to the Bewley's. Mind you: the distance is short, but there are no signs to tell you how to reach the Bewley's.

[Comet]

To Fredje Sabena_690: I walked. I think I wrote it in my report. I did not want to spend 3£ (even company's money) for 300 m on a shuttle.

The travel agent told us that the shuttle bus costs £2 and that it is impossible to walk from the airport railway station to the hotel.

The railway station is just behind te Bewley's, but you have to go first through the terminal to walk to the Bewley's. Mind you: the distance is short, but there are no signs to tell you how to reach the Bewley's.

Thanks for the directions Andre. (And it is £3, not 3£).

[Jumbolino]

Hi !

Great Report and nice to hear that the bistro concept works that fine
@Louise where is the difference in your brackets ?

[OO-SBZ]

(And it is £3, not 3£).

In French it is 3£ (3 livres) but in English (or Dutch) they do indeed write '£3'.

Anyway this price is far much too high even if you write it £3 or 3£


BeN

[sn26567]

Thanks to all for your nice comments.

And now the return flight on SN 2178 flown on OO-DJY, an Avro RJ-85 that I took in picture at the gate in Manchester:



I was rather late at the airport, less than one hour before the flight scheduled at 15:55. I tried the automatic check-in, to no avail.

Mr SN Brussels, could you please arrange for the SN tickets to be accepted by the automatic check-in machines of your codeshare partner British Airways? Or even better, to have a boarding pass for the return flight to be delivered at the same time as the outbound flight?

So I had to go to the long queue waiting at the BA check-in. Ba is indeed the handling agent for SN in Manchester. Luckily, soon a gate agent came and asked if there were any passengers to Brussels on SN. I was taken out of the queue and got my boarding pass rapidly: seat 14F, a window in the back: the best seat in economy for a good unhampered view (far enough from the engines). Load factor was good: 85% in economy, but only one lonely passenger for the three C-class rows.

Boarding and departure were on-time. There were two flight attendants, the chef de cabine was Jessica, who with a smile made the announcements in the three usual languages without the slightest accent: congratulations! She was assisted by Olivier (who was not our Luchtzak member with the same name). The captain was Mr Koekelberghs.

The meal was again a Brussels Bistro box. As it was an afternoon flight, we had the choice two lighter fares: salad or pie. I chose the pie, which happened to be an excellent apple pie, with the Dutch mineral water "Prise d'Eau" again. My neighbour had a nice crisp fresh salad with crackers. Along with that I had a small bottle of white wine "Vin de pays des Côtes de Gascogne", excellent indeed.

Uneventful flight, in the clouds for the whole trip. Landing was on-time, but we arrived at Pier A, meaning that we had to be bussed to Pïer B for passport control.

Nice flight indeed. I love them like that. Well done SN!

I uploaded another picture made at MAN: an ERJ-145 of BA Citiexpress.

[Comet]

Great report Andre, and love the photos (especially the BA aircraft).

[Avro]

That's another great report André, I'll like your pics.
It's nice to see that you even get some choice for the food during the flight in economy

If only their could have been more pax in business

Greetz
Chris
8)