BRU-MAN on SNBA 10/03/2005 (with Belgocontrol Strike!)

[Comet]

Our short trip to Brussels had ended too soon. On the 9th March we did our beer shopping in Bier Tempel, and enjoyed a Guido beer.


The reason for the trip - real beauties here such as Sloeber, Ename Blonde, Satan, Straffe Hendrik, Gouden Carolus Classic, Oud Zottegemse Bruin, Cristal. Photo taken in Brussels hotel.

On the morning of 10th March, we had breakfast, and then caught the bus to Noord station, the nearest station to the hotel and our preferred Brussels change stop. I bought the depressing single tickets to Brussels airport, and we did not have to wait long for the train.


The sign for the airport train. IR is an iffy code, sometimes good and sometimes not! On the Tuesday the train from the airport had been a rubber thing. No such luck today!


A sh*tty thing comes into view.


A sh*tty thing stops at our platform. I hate these trains


The interior of the sh*tty thing. No armrests at the seats make for a very uncomfortable journey, especially the one we endured between Brussels and Dinant.

The journey to the airport was not too long, and we caught a glimpse of the wonderful Atomium through the gathering mist.

We were able to check in straight away for the flight, due to leave at 15:05. We were first to check in, and were given seats 10A and 10C. After check in we headed to the shops, I bought two models - Little Europe CRJ and Jaguar 737. We had spaghetti bolognese in Brussels Cafe, and also a Stella. Then we headed back through the check in area.

A television crew had arrived, and we assumed that maybe they were making a documentary about the airport, something like the one we had about Heathrow, and thought nothing else about it. We went through passport control and into the departures area. Then the fun started

We looked at the information screens, and the fourth one along showed a notice saying that due to an unexpected strike by Belgocontrol, all flight activity was temporarily suspended. Yes!!! Wonderful!!! Anything to delay my return to this most hated town known officially as Scarborough! I said "thank you Belgocontrol" but I don't think VC10 was as glad as I was! The notice said to contact your airline for information, but we could not do that as we had passed through passport control and the SNBA desks were in the check in area.

I guarded the bags of beer whilst VC10 went to find someone to ask. A policemand near the passport control area gave her directions to go down the stairs near the security baggage checks and into the transfer/arrivals area where she would be able to find someone. We followed his directions, but found no SNBA staff. An airport employee directed us back upstairs to the security area. We went through the check and beyond that was an SNBA desk. VC10 went to enquire, and was told that the strike would last another half an hour. So we waited.

This gave me a great spotting opportunity, as nothing was moving from the gates.


My first SNBA A330 OO-??O, I think this was going to Banjul.


Delta 767.


An124.

We saw loads of airport buses and cars driving around, and then the first aircraft to leave the B terminal was a Turkish Airlines 737, followed by Virgin Express. Soon traffic was back to normal, even though some flights were delayed or cancelled. Ours' wasn't!


The sign at gate B08.


BAe 146 OO-DJG, the very same aircraft we had flown on between BRU and BHX on 3rd November. This aircraft was operating flight SN2177 that day.

At 14:45 the hated boarding call was made, signalling the end of a trip to Utopia. We were greeted upon boarding by the female purser, whilst another stewardess stood at the back (don't SNBA have stewards on these aircraft any more, we always seem to get stewardesses these days!) The greeting seemed to be the end of the pleasantries on that flight.


View through window.

The magazine was handed out, and we were pushed back at 15:10. The safety demonstration was over in the blink of an eye, I have never heard one gabbled so fast before, and the crews' names were also gabbled too fast for anyone to catch them.


The safety card of the BAe 146. Study this photo, if you get this crew you probably won't see the demonstration, all over in absolute record time

The load factor was approximately 60%, and the flight time was expected to be one hour. We took off at 15:21 and flew over the Heysel area, having a superb view of the football stadium and the Atomium before we turned on course and flew above the cloud.




Flying over Brussels.

Shortly into the flight, the snack was handed out. We were back to Modge - a peach lattice cake which did not taste remotely of peach and contained huge apple pips.


Modge in a Box is back with a vengeance!

I had orange juice to drink, and then the Neuhaus chocolates were handed out.


The descent into Manchester was through cloud, and I was not glad to see the place again. We had a smooth touch down, and taxied to the gate, passing an ERJ145 with a mosaic tail, the one I had seen in BHX last November and an aircraft I had wanted to photograph. On leaving the aircraft, the purser did not say "goodbye" but stood looking the other way. (I thought this was supposed to be SN not NZ?) Reminiscent of the crews we had with the national airline of New Zealand, the purser on Tuesday's flight did not say "goodbye" either. Is this the new rule at SN?

I'm sorry to say that the service on the flights we had last week was far inferior to the superb service was had on our first SNBA flight in March 2004. Stewards seem to be more passenger-orientated and generally more friendly than the stewardesses, who seem more concerned with their hair and make up, even tutting if they have to bend down to collect the remains of your Modge Box.

This is the first time I have encountered attitude like this on ANY Belgian carrier, I will praise the crews when they deserve it, but the ones last week most certainly do not and as such I have no qualms about saying how poor they had been.

I hope the service on our flights with SNBA in September is better than it was last week.

[Sabena_690]

Hi Louise,

First of all about those 'sh*tty things' (is this kind of childish language actually needed by the way): the seats in your picture are those in the beginning and in the end of the train. Next time, take the middle part, and you will get nice blue seats with armrests.

About your flight: SN brought you from A to B without too much hassle (Belgocontrol strike wasn't their fault). About the meal you received: I don't see the problem with a piece of cake for a 1h afternoon flight. In the US, you'd have gotten a drink, and a bag of pretzels.

About the crew: just like you, I dislike it when they are not greeting the passengers while boarding, or saying goodbye while leaving the aircraft. Another thing I dislike is when the pilots don't give information about the flight.

Stewards seem to be more passenger-orientated and generally more friendly than the stewardesses

The only male purser I've had till now was NOT greeting the passengers during boarding (was on a FCO-BRU flight last year), and the best flight attendant I've ever had was a female f/a of SN, also during that some FCO-BRU flight.

As you see, there is no consistency, so saying things like 'stewards on SN are more friendly than stewardesses' isn't correct at all.

Thanks for the report...

Frederic

[sn26567]

Thanks for your extensive report, Louise. Sorry to hear about the attitude of your cabin crew.

we did our beer shopping in Bier Tempel

I cannot understand why you always go at that expensive shop (which, I agree, has a large selection) rather than in a supermarket where you would pay half the price.

About the snack you got, I already had the very same one, and I found it delicious. 'De gustibus et coloribus non disputandum'. Our new member, the retired Latin teacher from Liège, will translate if you wish

[Comet]

First of all about those 'sh*tty things' (is this kind of childish language actually needed by the way): the seats in your picture are those in the beginning and in the end of the train. Next time, take the middle part, and you will get nice blue seats with armrests.

Frederic - I had experienced those seats with armrests, yes they are OK, I had thought that was a different type of carriage to the other ones because more often than not with these trains we had those awful seats without armrests, and that spoilt the long ride to Dinant. The "sh*tty thing" nickname was one I gave them in 2003 after we had endured many cramped rides between Mechelen and Brussels in those trains, I did not know the correct official name for them (AM80) and the name has just stuck.

With the stewards and stewardesses I am talking as a whole, from my experiences with other airlines too. The better crews on ANZ were usually the stewards, and when I flew on Air France all the crews were great, but the stewards were having jokes with the passengers while the stewardesses usually did not. On our SNBA flight last November, we had a male purser on the A319 who gave each passenger a newspaper, which has not happened before or since with SN. And the steward from my first SNBA flight in March last year was the best flight attendant I have ever come across, but I wrote plenty about that in my report of the flight at the time.

I cannot understand why you always go at that expensive shop (which, I agree, has a large selection) rather than in a supermarket where you would pay half the price.

Andre - you answered your own question there! We go to Bier Tempel for its large selection, and the beers are comparatively cheaper than what we would pay at home anyway (supermarket prices in Belgium are amazingly cheap compared to beer prices here!) They sell beers you never see in supermarkets and also they pack the beer in a protective "jacket" (I don't know the name of the material but it's similar to what you get your drinks in at a takeaway/fast food place only thicker) and another place I once bought some beer just put it in a bag with no protection at all.

Back to my report - the peach lattice is very similar to the peach normandie cake we had in September. The vegetables and dip are much more preferable, and the nicest snack I have had so far is the chicken salad sandwiches we had on our flight to BHX last November. Nice chunks of chicken and reasonably crisp lettuce!

[sean1982]

You see guys, It is not always Ryanair where the attitude of the crew is bad.

Much more emphasis is put on crew behaviour towards passengers in Ryanair the last couple of months

[waldova]

Very nice and honest report! Thank you very much.

I see you didn't have much luck with the stewardesses on most of your flights. I must say that I my experiences were mostly good with stewardesses. The stewardesses on Vueling flights that I take regularly are most of the time joking and talking to the passengers. Only there is one that is a real b**ch. She is more concerned about her nails and her jacket in the overhead bin than about the passengers and everythin you ask her is to much. But again, she is the exeption on Vueling.

[sn26567]

when I flew on Air France all the crews were great, but the stewards were having jokes with the passengers while the stewardesses usually did not.

If you read the recent report of airfrancefan about his ATL-CDG flight on AF, you will see that he had a joking stewardess.

I had myself an awful trip in First Class on Air France between Paris and Tokyo, because the stewardesses kept chatting between themselves during the whole night, without caring too much for the high paying passengers...

It is all indivudl cases and I don't think you can generalise.

[concordino]

Your views of Brussels are in fact of Diegem, Kraainem & Zaventem, but who am I to nitpick?

[tolipanebas]

Another thing I dislike is when the pilots don't give information about the flight.

And curious: what information? What is it you want to hear us say?

"We are flying at 32,000ft, at a speed of mach point 70, or roughly 750km/h, the outside temperature right now is minus 55 degrees and the weather at destination is nicely sunny and warm, surface temperature 27 and the sea temperature is 12 degrees. When you look outside you can see the snow covered top of the Mont Blanc to your right, or alternatively when sitting left: the sharp top of the Matterhorn"

I mean: that's all charter stuff, you might be keen on hearing those things, but on a scheduled flight to a business destination, 90% of the pax don't give a sh*t about all that, what they care about is arriving on time for their meeting, so this brief speech will do just fine:

"we're have started our descent, estimating the landing at our destination on time"

[Sabena_690]

Another thing I dislike is when the pilots don't give information about the flight.

And curious: what information? What is it you want to hear us say?

I mean: that's all charter stuff, you might be keen on hearing those things, but on a scheduled flight to a business destination, 90% of the pax don't give a sh*t about all that, what they care about is arriving on time for their meeting, so this brief speech will do just fine:

"we're have started our descent, estimating the landing at our destination on time"

I don't agree at all.

You surely do know that the overall friendliness of the staff (INCLUDING the cockpit crew) an important reason is for a passenger to chose airline X or Y again. Business passengers also care about other things of course (timings, delays, FF program etc), but they also like to be informed about the progress of the flight (of course, there will always be people who don't care, whether those people are charter pax or business pax).

Service of airlines is something which really interests me, that's why I read a lot of reviews of airlines like SNBA. You can be sure that ('the pilots didn't care to inform us about the progress of the flight') is something I read a lot.

Nobody cares about the temperature of the sea (like you wrote in your message); this would be ideally:

1. Announcement 1
- before pushback
- a welcome message from the flightdeck with basic flight information (we expect an on time take off/we will push back shortly/...
- enjoy your flight

2. Announcement 2
- after take off
- flight information (cruising at x feet, we expect a flighttime of x minutes, we expect an on time arrival, we will be 20 minutes late but will make an effort to reduce the delay (always give the impression that you are doing everything to make the flight as comfortable and professional as possible)
- something like 'enjoy the service' (assuming that you fly for SN: SN have invested a lot to try to give their passengers the impression that "SN is passionate about you". It is extremely important that everybody of SN thinks "passionate" about the customers, and also tries to show this)

3. Announcement 3
- 10-20 minutes before landing
- 'we expect an on time arrival', 'we will land within 20 minutes',...
- 'thank you for flying SN Brussels Airlines, have a nice day/afternoon/evening/...'

This is how it should be... By the way, the most informative announcements I've heard till now were on British Airways. Are BA a charter airline?

Frederic

[Comet]

Thanks for replies.

I would say that bad crews on any airline are a minority, otherwise no one would want to fly with a carrier if the crews treated the passengers like dirt. I am writing purely from my own experiences, which is why I made particular mention to Air France - all the crews I met on there were friendly and polite but the stewards were the ones who joked with the passengers and made everyone's flight a fun experience.

On my first ever Sabena flight we had a great steward who turned the safety demonstration into a stand up comedy routine - they are the kinds of crew who really make an impression on you.

I have to agree with Frederic about info given by the flight deck crew, I too like to hear something about route, altitude etc. On my first ever SNBA flight on 31st March 2004, we had a brilliant crew, from the cockpit backwards! The pilot on there was very informative - giving cruising altitude, expected route (telling us about flying over London and even which point of the Belgian coast we would be crossing!) and weather and temperature (very important to know your destination weather!) We realised at that point that we were overdressed with our waterproofs and fleeces and had a very hot day in Brussels, but that flight was the best I ever had, with any airline, and the crew were the best I ever came across. I have always hoped to get that crew again when I fly SNBA, but I only knew the name of one of them so I don't know if we will because I wouldn't recognise the others.

[Comet]

the stewardesses kept chatting between themselves during the whole night, without caring too much for the high paying passengers...

That sounds just like the kind of crews we used to encounter on Air New Zealand.

And if I want to be treated properly on SNBA then I will probably have to stop wearing my Luchtzak tee shirt on the flights.