Food and drinks on SN: disappointing VIE-BRU trip in b.flex

[sn26567]

Boarding

Yesterday I came back from Vienna on flight SN2906, an Avro RJ100 OO-DWG. Scheduled departure time was 17:00 with an arrival scheduled at 18:50. Early boarding, completed at 16:55 in order to beat ATC delays, did not help: we were allowed to leave our parking position only at 17:20.

I had seat 2A in the b.flex section. Having participated in a 3-day meeting that could have ended earlier, I needed flexibility (at a cost of 60 EUR above the b.light fare).

Two rows (10 seats) were devoted to b.flex with a load factor of 60%, i.e. only 6 pax, a far cry from the objectives of 30% of all passengers in b.flex. b.light had a much better load, with approximately 65-70 pax for 85 seats.

How does b.flex compare with b.light on one hand, with regular economy on full service airlines on the other hand?

I was disappointed. Comfort is the same in b.flex and b.light. In b.flex you get a free newspaper (very limited choice) vs. 1.50 EUR in b.light.

The Food

You get free food in b.flex, but what free food? In my case only a co-called ciabatta, which was soft instead of crispy, filled with tomato and parmesan. The rule is (according to insiders) that if your flight leaves between 9:30-11:30 and 13:30-17:15 you don't get the b.flex box, but only a sandwich. Actually my flight left at 17:20, but it was scheduled at 17:00!

Strangely enough, two pax out of 6 received a box anyway. More surprisingly, the steward prepared (for himself) a nice hot pizza at the end of the flight! The other rule says that you get a hot meal only if your flight exceeds 2 hours (mine was 1 hr 50 min! Bad luck!). The rule apparently does not apply to stewards...

Last year, on the same VIE-BRU route flown on Austrian, I got a hot meal in regular economy, although I was not the steward!

And, by the way, the famous SN Neuhaus chocolates have disappeared, both in flex and in light. And also the nice Brussels Bistro boxes with pies or pieces of fruit you could chose on afternoon flights of SN Brussels Airlines.

About drinks

Again, the choice is very limited and the same as in b.light, except that it is free. Beer is only Maes Pils, a strange choice as this beer ranks rather low in the Test-Achats/Aankoop classification and belongs to a British brewer. Jupiler (number 2) or Stella (number 3), both from a Belgian brewer, would have been a much better choice.

Wine is served from small bottles, red or white: I chose the red one (Alexis Lichine, vin de pays d'Oc, Cabernet-Sauvignon). Drinkable, not more. On Lufthansa it would have been served from a large bottle.

When I asked for an afer diner drink, the choice was equally limited: cognac, whisky, rum or vodka. No Bailey's, which I could get on Lufthansa (and earlier on SN Brussels Airlines). I took the vodka.

Arrival

The plane landed on Rwy 02 and arrived 20 minutes late in Terminal B, which meant bussing to the main building. Better than walking from Terminal A through the catacombs.

Altogether the experience was far from satisfactory. The standards have gone down since SN Brussels Airlines, even in b.flex.

[TWA]

Plse bear in mind that you are only travelling in a flexible Y-class.

[blackhawk]

Plse bear in mind that you are only travelling in a flexible Y-class.

jup, but for that price you could have a very nice diner ...

[cyrano]

Altogether the experience was far from satisfactory. The standards have gone down since SN Brussels Airlines, even in b.flex.[/quote]

Why are you still flying Brussels Airlines?
Aren't you smart enough to book on another airline?
Get a life.

[Buzz]

Plse bear in mind that you are only travelling in a flexible Y-class.

jup, but for that price you could have a very nice diner ...

But you're not paying for the dinner, you're paying for the flexibility.

[TWA]

You should try B-light on a B733/734 with the "very" narrow seat pitch, I am sure you will start to appreciate B-flex .

[Tommypilot]

Having heard many complaints from our business people about Brussels Airlines I can somewhere agree with André.
The question is why make a booking on SN while OS is "far" better and has many flights to and from VIE too...

The reasons why our people complain:

* No business anymore
* Blight=sometimes not so cheap and what do you get?
* Very hard to get confirmed waitlists (but thanks to the Sales Manager who helps us very often we can reduce this problem)
* Long queues while contacting the customer service
* Blight=sometimes they cannot even buy something to eat or drink on the flight
...

Also when booking on codeshare flights the bflex or blight issue can give a problem...some bookings classes are gone...some "new" ones appeared...its a MESS!

Keep in mind that Brussels Airlines is becomming kind of a "low" fare airline with almost no "service" anymore...not the best choice to fly Europe anymore imho...

As for tourists...I can believe the "new" concept is a nice strategy...but for business people its a mess. Some don't know the difference anymore between bflex of blight, get confused with the different bookings classes and don't understand why there are still so many price differences and sometimes not between blight and bflex.

As a tourist I would try to fly Brussels Airlines but when I got the chance to fly another airline who is offering +/- the same price (and VERY often at a higher degree of service!!) I would not hesitate to book that one insteed. (as I already did)


Kind regards,

[Tommypilot]

You should try B-light on a B733/734 with the "very" narrow seat pitch, I am sure you will start to appreciate B-flex .

The seat pitch on the 737's should be the same in Bflex as in blight no?

Kind regards,

[TWA]

the second part of the cabin (from overwing exits to last row) on ex- Virgin B737's never changed since10 years and is still in charterstyle configuration, the first part has a larger pitch similar to the one on the avro's and A319's .


PS: I like the way people write B-light, y'all write it down like "blight" which actually means some kind of nasty pain in the ***

[Tommypilot]

Thanks, TWA good to know that they indeed changed a part of the front cabin like they have said to us some months ago! (now I remember)

I still continu writing blight and bflex...a pain? Not really

[Sterre]

sn26567 wrote:

More surprisingly, the steward prepared (for himself) a nice hot pizza at the end of the flight! The other rule says that you get a hot meal only if your flight exceeds 2 hours (mine was 1 hr 50 min! Bad luck!). The rule apparently does not apply to stewards...

I'm really sorry to express myself this way, but I'm disgusted by the way you talk about the crew and their meals!
You had a flight of 1hr 50 and got a sandwich. Big deal! The crew had to fly to VIE and back, with at least half an hour on the ground in VIE. That makes 4h10 (assumed the return was as long as the way there). The crew have to start duty at least one hour in advance. Brings the total to 5h10.
As a flight attendant myself I know for sure they usually do 3 or even 4 legs a day, so on top of those 5h10 you have to add up another few hours.
(Or maybe they already did a return flight to some destination and VIE was their 3rd leg of the day)
Let's assume their total work day was about 7 to 8 hours (very optimistic thinking). What do YOU eat during a whole day? Just a sandwich? I don't think so. If the crew gets home/in the hotel, it's probably already late (too late for dinner), so they eat their dinner during the flight.
I'm sorry, but I CANNOT believe you being SO ignorant!!!

:censored: Now Sterre is REALLY pi..ed off!

[airazurxtror]

More surprisingly, the steward prepared (for himself) a nice hot pizza at the end of the flight!

Bad manners indeed ! Lack of just plain politeness.
Where do Brussels Airlines recruit their stewards nowadays ? In the slums ?

[blackhawk]

Where do Brussels Airlines recruit their stewards nowadays ? In the slums ?

[moderator mode off]Very low reaction airazurxtror!!![/moderator mode off]

And now back on topic. We are not talking about the steward getting his lunch but about the fact our SN was disapointed with the (lack) of service he get!

[Buzz]

the second part of the cabin (from overwing exits to last row) on ex- Virgin B737's never changed since10 years and is still in charterstyle configuration, the first part has a larger pitch similar to the one on the avro's and A319's .


PS: I like the way people write B-light, y'all write it down like "blight" which actually means some kind of nasty pain in the ***

Indeed, in the back of the 737's the seat pitch is less than FR's! My knees were against the seat in front of me, and I'm not that tall (1,87cm).. The service is the same as FR's. Is there a reason they do not change it so the pitch is the same everywhere?
In the front of b.light the pitch is much better though.

[sn26567]

Thanks for many reactions. A few comments:

The question is why make a booking on SN while OS is "far" better and has many flights to and from VIE too...

... because I'm old-fashioned and still have a nationalistic fibre: "Fly the flag".

* Blight=sometimes they cannot even buy something to eat or drink on the flight

Happened to me many times already. For some reason the computer puts me always in the next to last row. I am currently in BCN airport and wanted to check-in on Internet four hours before my flight on an A319. The computer shows me seat 22F. I wanted to change this, but I need FlashPlayer 7, which I cannot install on my company's computer. Result: I will be lucky to have some food.

I'm really sorry to express myself this way, but I'm disgusted by the way you talk about the crew and their meals!

Don't misunderstand me, Sterre, I have a lot of respect for the steward(esse)s and I fully realise that they also must have time to eat, drink and rest. But if they eat something better than the passengers who have paid the highest fare, they should do it discreetly, not in view of these passengers.

But you're not paying for the dinner, you're paying for the flexibility.

Untrue: you are paying for a series of advantages advertised by Brussels Airlines. That includes flexibility AND free meals, together with other perks.

[LeFreak]

Don't misunderstand me, Sterre, I have a lot of respect for the steward(esse)s and I fully realise that they also must have time to eat, drink and rest. But if they eat something better than the passengers who have paid the highest fare, they should do it discreetly, not in view of these passengers.

I was the F/O on this flight .. the reason why we left the gate so late was due to ATC restrictions, all the other planes that were scheduled to depart at that time were given slot times about 20 minutes later than STD ..

about the steward getting himself a pizza, he bought that pizza during our layover in vienna, since the cabin crew don't get crewmeals anymore .. can't blame those people for having a bite ..

i have been on a couple of deadheading flights in b.flex and i like the food i have been given .. even if it's only a ciabatta .. as been mentioned the type of food you get depends on the time of the flight .. since the meals are loaded in brussels for both legs, the fact that your flight departs later than scheduled doesn't change a thing on what meal you get as these are already on board ..

the b.flex product is new, give it time to evolve and i'm sure you will start to like it .. people within the company are constantly monitoring the product and re-adjusting where needed .. rome wasn't build in a day either ..

everybody wanted cheap tickets and airline travel for the masses, well, now you have to face the consequences of those ridiculous low prices ..

[Avro]

Thanks for sharing this interesting experience André. The main problem of b-flex is its name IMHO. People buy the flex product and think they'll get a business class seat. If I understand it correctly it should only be considered as an economy plus....So you can't expect as much as a normal business class on another company I guess.

Oh well I hope SN manages to solve those teething problems in order to raise the satisfaction level.

On the other hand from what I see (flight reports on here) the loadfactors in flex seem to be quite good !? This is a good point !!! At least they are better than those in C class before..

Also thanks for your input LeFreak. It's always nice to have an insider onboard

Greetings and have a nice weekend all

Chris

[rocketscientist]

[You get free food in b.flex, but what free food? In my case only a co-called ciabatta, which was soft instead of crispy, filled with tomato and parmesan.

If you consider that a plane isn't as well equipped as your local sandwichbar, then it doesn't take a rocketscientist as myself that the ciabatta isn't crispy but soft and moisty. They have to keep them fresh by cooling them. If you buy a cooled sandwich in a supermarket it won't be crispy either, will it ? I guess airlines have the difficult choice between fresh and cool moist sandwiches or bacteria-filled roomtemperature ones. Why would they go for the first option I wonder

[SN30952]

You should try B-light on a B733/734 with the "very" narrow seat pitch, I am sure you will start to appreciate B-flex .

Reminds me of the guy with the heavy stone on his shoulder.
Why did he have it?
Because when he dropped it, he could run faster....
There is no reason to make conditions worse, to appreciate an other.

Each product should aim for excellency in its class.
So if the definition of B-light is made in relation to B-flex, then there is a problem with the concept.
And secondly, that is very difficult to communcatre about.
Further when the stewards have their own interpretation about the difference, that is even worse. Btw do they have B-light salaries made in relation to B-flex?

Looks to me like an ill concept, cq how can one communicate well about an ill concept? Please explain that to me?

[Tommypilot]

... because I'm old-fashioned and still have a nationalistic fibre: "Fly the flag".

I can understand André...my motto is: "Fly the best one" (quality/price) and often it has not been Brussels Airlines...and that does not mean that I have no nationalistic "fibre" anymore

Greetz,