Brussels-Menorca with TUI fly Belgium, on the day of the Brussels power outage!

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sn26567
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Brussels-Menorca with TUI fly Belgium, on the day of the Brussels power outage!

Post by sn26567 »

I had booked flight TB4855 BRU-MAH on the TUI fly Belgium website, but strangely enough I could not get an electronic boarding pass and I thus had to print it before leaving home. Travelling with hand baggage only,I intended to arrive at the airport at 05:30, one hour before departure.

In fact I arrived at the airport at 05:15 and I had a big surprise: hundreds of people in front of closed doors. The police wouldn't let anybody in, and did not provide any explanations why. But fortunately everybody was keeping calm.
People blocked outside the airport at 05:24
People blocked outside the airport at 05:24
Half an hour later, the situation was unchanged: only the number of people had dramatically increased, and the word had been spreading through the social media that there had been a power failure (again!). The press was also present, with a few TV cameras.
No change at 05:58
No change at 05:58
Strangely enough, there were many people inside. I later learned that they had arrived very early and had to wait for the computer systems to reload in order to be able to check in.

My flight would depart in half an hour, and I was still outside! Fifteen minutes later (I had been waiting for one hour already), the police started to let people enter the hall by small batches of 20-30 persons. I was lucky enough to be in a second batch and I rushed through the airport (some areas were still without light) to the connector and security and to my gate A49.

The plane (Embraer E190 OO-JEB) was still there, but there was no gate attendant and only a handful of people waiting. Passengers started to arrive by small numbers at a time. But no information at all from TUI. At 07:49, finally an SMS from TUI on my phone:

Van Tui Benelux customer service: Geachte
Door een stroompanne op de luchthaven zal uw vlucht later vertrekken.
Hiervoor onze verontschuldigingen!

Cher(e)
A cause d'une black out, votre vol est en retard.
Nos excuses!


Thanks, but everybody was aware of it: the flight should have left 80 minutes earlier already. The needed information (expected delay) was still missing.
A 06:30 scheduled departure, but no delay announced
A 06:30 scheduled departure, but no delay announced
Around 08:00, a gate attendant was present and boarding could start. But passengers kept coming in until almost 09:00. In the meantime, it was announced that the baggage handling system could not be re-started after the outage and thus most passengers would arrive at destination without their bags.
OO-JEB at Gate A49
OO-JEB at Gate A49
OO-JEB at Gate A49
OO-JEB at Gate A49
At 09:12, with a two hours and three quarters delay, the plane could finally push back. Alleluia! The nice thing is that the TUI teams waited until ALL passengers had cleared the airport operations and were aboard before closing the doors. I know that other airlines took off with many passengers still stranded at the airport.

Flight: TUI fly Belgium TB4855 (operated by TUI Airlines Belgium)
Date : 15 June 2017
Aircraft: Embraer E190 OO-JEB
From-To: Brussels - Mahon/Menorca (BRU-MAH)
Seat: 13F (emergency row: +15 EUR)
Scheduled/Effective Time of Departure: 06:30/09:12 (GMT+2)
Scheduled/Effective Time of Arrival: 08:40/11:03 (GMT+2)
Scheduled/Effective Duration of the flight: 2 hr 10 min/1 hr 51 min


Load factor was about 90%. Classic take-off from Rwy 25R, Ring route and then South to destination.

I had not eaten anything. I thus ordered a good hot ham & cheese panini, an orange juice and a coffee. the rest of the flight was uneventful, luckily after the pre-flight events.
Uneventful flight
Uneventful flight
Interior view
Interior view
The captain could make up a small part of the delay, but I still arrived 2 and a half hours late, shortening my visit to the island by the same duration.
First view of Menorca
First view of Menorca
Landing on Rwy 19. No bridges at MAH, thus it was a bus to the terminal.
On the ground at Mahon
On the ground at Mahon
On the ground at Mahon
On the ground at Mahon
Itinerary
Itinerary
In the terminal, everybody received another SMS from TUI:

Van Tui Benelux customer service: Beste reiziger, de bagage voor uw vlucht kon niet ingeladen worden wegens overmacht. Gelieve bij aankomst op de luchthaven aangifte te maken. Uw bagage zal zo snel mogelijk naar uw bestemming gestuurd worden. Onze excuses voor het ongemak. TUI Client Support

Cher passager, le bagage pour votre vol n'était pas embarqué sur votre vol à cause du force majeur. Merci de faire une déclaration à l'arrive. Votre bagage sera livré sur votre destination le plus vite possible. Nous sommes désolés pour le désagrément. TUI Client Support


And indeed, only two or three bags were unloaded from the aircraft. I can think of the logistic nightmare this power failure will be for TUI. The next flight from BRU to MAH would only be 3 days later!

But then, may I suggest that TUI hires a few French-speaking staff (at least and at long last) to write correct French in their communication. The catastrophic French of their SMS messages make the French-speaking customers look as second zone citizens!

Return flight with Ryanair via Barcelona: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=61709
André
ex Sabena #26567

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