Trip report: BRU-TSF-BRU on FR

[Stij]

Flight: FR2935
Date : 11 Sep 2014
Aircraft: Boeing B737-800
From-To: Brussels - Treviso (BRU-TSF)
Seat: 14B
Scheduled/Effective Time of Departure: 19:20/19:30 (GMT + 2)
Scheduled/Effective Time of Arrival: 21:00/21:10 (GMT +2)
Scheduled/Effective Duration of the flight: 1 hrs 40 mins/1 hrs 40 mins

With a colleague I flew to Treviso for stuff we couldn’t discuss via teleconference. Because we were discussing the problem all the time, I didn’t take note’s and all numbers are to be considered “about right”.
So, FR for the first time out of BRU!
We chose Ryanair because they were the cheapest (140€ round trip per person vs. 260€ round trip with SN), TSF is closer than VCE to the supplier’s office and the schedule was perfect for us!
As usual we arrived by train 1:15 before departure and went straight thru security. BRU was pretty busy, but only 5 people were ahead of us.
After security we went for a beer and then to the gate (A37 or something). At the gate two agents were asking pax if their trolley could be stowed in the belly of the beast. My colleague’s trolley was labeled and we sat down and waited for the busses to be filled. I really don’t understand why people are still standing in line for half an hour when your trolley is already labeled and you have an assigned seat…
The boarding pass and ID check was only done by a single gate agent and thus took a while up to the point where this caused a delay! Swissport, maybe 1 agent can do the luggage check and 2 the boarding pass check???
Anyhow, we were bussed to the plane, boarded and were greeted by a friendly crew. After the safety demonstration (disturbed by very talky Italian pax), we taxied to the other side of the airport for a take-off from 07R, waited for a SNA319, an AZ A319 and a couple of others before it was our turn to blast through the skies!
The flight was uneventful: the normal Ryanair sales round for the hot stuff pro order and then the cold stuff. But in general… less disturbing than before the revolution.
Our captain couldn’t make up for the delay, so we arrived 10min late in TSF.
Luggage took a while to appear, but we arrived in time for our late dinner meeting with the supplier.

Flight: FR2936
Date : 12 Sep 2014
Aircraft: Boeing B737-800
From-To: Treviso - Brussels (TSF-BRU)
Seat: 22B
Scheduled/Effective Time of Departure: 17:15/17:25 (GMT + x)
Scheduled/Effective Time of Arrival: 18:55/19:00 (GMT +x)
Scheduled/Effective Duration of the flight: 1 hrs 40 mins/1 hrs 35 mins

After a couple of good meetings we left the supplier at 15:45 and arrived at TSF around 16:20, 55min before take-off.
All checks were quick and smooth, we waited for the actual boarding to begin before we left the 1st floor for the chaos on the ground floor. TSF’s ground floor is still “hard-core” Ryanair: almost no chairs: just 400 people standing in line (which is good, because if they would wait in the comfy seats on the 1st floor, I wouldn’t have a seat there! )
We pushed back 5 min late and, again, a friendly, uneventful flight. We landed on 01 almost on time and taxied to our stand and disembarked.
After the usual walk at BRU our luggage was already on the belt. Well done Swissport!!!

The conclusion:

FR did what they promised: they’ve become a friendly budget airline: no nagging about a purse, seat assignments so you can sit together guaranteed, flying from BRU. It’s like flying Easyjet now…

I don’t know when I’ve posted it, but it was years ago: I predicted that the LCC and full service offer would move to each other, just as they have done in the USA. Turns out… I ( and a whole lot of other people) was right: the differences have become small: I just see 1 big difference left: the ability to make connections…

Yes, I’ll fly them again, and even dare to bring my kids, something I haven’t done / recommended in years…

Cheers,

Stij

[sn26567]

Thanks for your nice report. I have two questions:

1. You were bussed in BRU? Normally you walk straight from the gate to the planes of easyJet and Ryanair. Where was your plane parked?

2. What was the load factor on your two flights?

[airazurxtror]

Thanks for the report. Ryanair is not so terrible, after all !
Treviso airport is a nightmare. The terminal is recent, but has been badly devised at the start and remains most unpractical, although the ground floor has been enlarged.

[Stij]

@ André,
1. On one of the normal LCC stands, but yes, we were bussed! Don't; ask me why!
2. Close to 100%, should have mentioned that!

@Airazurxtror
Ryanair isn't so terrible... any more! Before the yellow interior came, they weren't bad either, but the "Yellow" period wasn't pleasant!
About Treviso: correct, only someone forgot to put seats in there!

Cheers,

Stij

[Inquirer]

Why would they be terrible?
You get what you pay for, as with everything.
As you have noticed too, they are working hard to become an Easyjet clone, not surprisingly not only on the product, but also only on the fare side. After all, there's no such a thing as a free lunch and all those improvements need to be paid for somehow.
Other than that, I agree with you: seems like everybody wants to be Easyjet these days: those positioned below, as well as those positioned above, with both products and prices converging towards each other.

[simulator]

Andre,
The "snake-alley" used for (de)boarding only goes to parking positions 134 / 136 and 138.
For posn 122 and 126 busses are used, distance too far from gate..
For this winter the airport will provide a sheltered snake-alley to LC pax...
Rgds

[Stij]

@inquirer

Yes, price quality was fine, but the price was to low, the quality as well! Now, we're fine, still cheap, but better.

So yes, despite the low price, I found them terrible and avoided them.

For the record: no complaints about (most of) crews, I think they disliked certains policies just like most of the pax.

Cheers,

Stij

[sean1982]

Nice to hear that Stij
We, as in the crew, are working hard to provide for experiences like this.
Hope to have you on one of my flights from bru in the near future

[Stij]

Hope to have you on one of my flights from bru in the near future

Hi Sean,

Well, I'm flying BRU-TSF on Tuesday the 23rd and returning TSF-BRU on Friday the 26th!
But as the actual routing is CRL-TSF-BRU-TSF-CRL I believe we'll get a CRL based crew, or am I wrong?

Cheers,

Stij

[Jetbob]

I was a loyal Ryanair customer from the beginning but after years I stopped flying them.
This for many different reasons but mainly because I had some very bad experiences.

So this year with the start at Brussels BRU and the RYR media campaign trying to convince people to be "friendly" I gave it a try.

I booked a return flight in June and September to Barcelona.

On all flights some flight crew did what I hoped for "being friendly".
But on the same flight you also had the extreme opposite, the most rude crew ever !.
I recall an Irisch long black hair FA that just didn't care at all, what a shame.

But the most rude are the ground staff in Barcelona, bullying people because they are not in a straight line !.
And sending people all the way to the back for no reason.

One time I was the lucky winner of seat 11A no window :/

50% of my flights NOT on time !.

Price = Dirt cheap

Conclusion, I would stop to fly Ryanair if I had a alternative at a fair price, and this is where Brussels Air 69 euro deal goes wrong (because you can hardly fiend it).

Even if I had to pay 40 euro's return at RYR, I would pay 99 euro's for let's say Brussels Air.
But often the price at Brussels Air is around 200 euro's return, making the 69 euro promo campaign an empty box. What a shame, Brussels Air is rolling out the red carpet for Ryanair in Brussels !.

[sean1982]

Hope to have you on one of my flights from bru in the near future

Hi Sean,

Well, I'm flying BRU-TSF on Tuesday the 23rd and returning TSF-BRU on Friday the 26th!
But as the actual routing is CRL-TSF-BRU-TSF-CRL I believe we'll get a CRL based crew, or am I wrong?

Cheers,

Stij

That's correct stij. The TSF sector is operated by CRL crew

[Stij]

That's a pity, I would have loved to fly with you again!

Well, maybe when my business requires me to fly to FCO... But fortunately our supplier there is very reliable and doesn't require face-to-face to get stuff done.

Cheers,

Stij

[Stij]

And we did the same round-trip again...

Flight: FR2935
Date : 23 Sep 2014
Aircraft: Boeing B737-800
From-To: Brussels - Treviso (BRU-TSF)
Seat: 22F
Scheduled/Effective Time of Departure: 19:20/20:00 (GMT + 2)
Scheduled/Effective Time of Arrival: 21:00/21:30 (GMT +2)
Scheduled/Effective Duration of the flight: 1 hrs 40 mins/1 hrs 30 mins

Nothing new, but:

The screens kept indicating "On time" whereas the incoming aircraft was clearly 25min delayed.
The delay allowed us to have a small dinner before take-off in the Black Pearls! They should enlarge this, it's getting more crowded every time I eat there!
Swissport was checking boarding cards with 2 persons this time (no bags had to be taken away due to low load factor.)
The load factor must have been around 50%.

Flight: FR2936
Date : 12 Sep 2014
Aircraft: Boeing B737-800
From-To: Treviso - Brussels (TSF-BRU)
Seat: 22C
Scheduled/Effective Time of Departure: 17:15/17:25 (GMT + x)
Scheduled/Effective Time of Arrival: 18:55/18:55 (GMT +x)
Scheduled/Effective Duration of the flight: 1 hrs 40 mins/1 hrs 30 mins

Nothing new, but

The load factor must have been almost 100%
We landed on 25R making the taxiing between runway and parking stand extremely short.

My opinion about FR between BRU and the Veneto:

I like it as BRU is more convenient for me than CRL, but the people on board are still the same as those from CRL: some price-sensitive business people and a lot of tourists in both directions. This could explain the very low load factor on Tuesday evening.

So, I doubt they enlarged their Belgian cake: I think they just "moved" traffic from CRL to BRU.

I don't know about other markets...

Cheers,

Stij