Review: NEW Brussels Airlines A330 Business Class

Tried both Brussels Airlines and Air Belgium and can't say I had a memorable experience. It was just ok. I find Belgium and most of my experiences there pretty boring in general.

Better than I would have expected. Both the food and the friendly service and the box of chocolates.
Condsidering they are a hybrid low cost /full fare not sure what airline we are 'eurowings' mix and match I think it is not bad.
I think you're a bit harsher than they warrant this time.

You don't like beer?

Hey! If departure was ay 10:35 lunch were served around 12.00, right? Nice.

Looks like a beautiful hard product

This seems terribly underwhelming but the self-serve Nespresso is a great idea. Hopefully it'll catch on.

That's got to be one of the most extensive beer menus in the sky!

Considering all the feeding in J class, the crew should be selling gym memberships before landing.

How would you compare the business class product between Brussels and Austrian?

I miss Sabena but that's just me being nostalgic, I never actually flew them or anything but remember seeing their planes here and there

So Eurowings uses these planes on which routes, or they aren't in use by Eurowings at all??

SAS has a self-service espresso machine in the business class snack bar section on their A330s

Neuhaus is excellent chocolate too! I used to fly Jet Airways through BRU, connecting on SN to other parts of Europe for business awhile back. Although the SN portion was just their regional biz class flight and they would only give one or two pieces of the chocolate, I always felt the need to grab a box or two at the airport to bring home. For what looks like a rather average TA biz class experience, I like that they are at least showcasing some of their national brand between the chocolate and that beer menu! If only they served belgian waffles and fries as well, they would pretty much have Belgium covered...

SAS has an onboard self-serve espresso make in Biz (both their ”new” cabins and their old ones, which were retired in 2015-2016).

I have to say that those super cramped staggered seats are really dissapointing for a new biz product in 2019.

It says Eurowings on the outside, yet it's Brussels on the inside (and set up as a Brussels product)? Talk about a company not being sure how to utilize their equipment.

Flew Brussels to Africa many years ago in economy. I remember being impressed that the meal was as good of a meal as I'd ever had in economy. Flew business class on the way back - but on BA (which was pretty ho-hum at the time).

@Lucky, were you able to ascertain the nationalities of your flight crew? I've often wondered where most Brussels crew members are based and where they're from, what with their parent company, their destinations, and the rather heterogeneous nature of languages spoken in Belgium.

Nice beer selection for sure. This is the SWISS business seat with different finishes. Even the middle seats are plenty private for my tastes.

I fly SN quite a bit to BJL and their product is just average but their flight crews are usually superb. They had a monopoly with Star Alliance in the market until Turkish and TAP just started flying to The Gambia

Brussels is pricing themselves out of the market with JFK BJL in business from.$6700 to $12000. BJL to JFK on the other hand is $3700. Guess they think Americans are rich and will pay for the resfreshed product I switched all my flying to Turkish and Tap...until Brussels gets competive and also gets internet

I think if they actually did go for "a boutique hotel in the sky", they should have plush bedding, amazing home-made looking or restaurant quality meals, and they definitely need amazing service. In a boutique hotel, the effort put into the soft product measures how good it is.

Wow. Just checked airline quality for Brussels airline. Not very favorable!!!

I just flied to Abidjan and back and they had herringbone seats. I think the a330 is leased from some Chinese airline.

We were in the plane 8 hours from Brussels to Abidjan as the plane touches down in Burkina Faso before arrival and they served one 3 course meal! And Ice cream. Same menu as above. Honestly one meal in 8 hours is apalling.

I flew SN not long ago to Brussels to Monrovia,over in Economy,returning Business.
The Crew is usually very friendly ,food in economy was actually above average,but the return in Business was quite poor.Business Class was empty,maybe 6 of us,the crew rushed the service I guess to increase their rest time.No fresh items on the menue,guessing they cater it round trip.No salads,or fruits,or anything that can spoil with warm temp.
All served on trays from a trolley with economy like food,just larger portions.
A light continental break was just fine for that 7 hour flight.
Def nothing to write home about.

Wow, that's a massive improvement over the last Brussels Airlines flight I did 10 years ago. BRU-BJM-NBO.

The seats were more like regional J, the 'champagne' was served in plastic beakers from a weird cardboard cutout tray, and the menu was a single laminated card that looked like it had come from a school cafeteria.

Hi Ben

Just for info, in SAS we have had the "self-serve" espressomaker in our Business Class buffet for more than 15 years:-) We use Illy Espresso pods and have a built-in steamer to make cappuccinos. Hope to see you onboard an SAS flight soon.

If you would have choosen the Throne Seat in row you wouldn't have to deal with the small footrest.
Flew same Business Class seats yesterday on Swiss (Seat 04A) and had a great flight experience - including six hours of sleep 😉

That should have read "Row 1".

Happy to hear that you are impressed with the Beer List, which for me as a Belgian is pretty standard. And apparently exclusively AB Inbev.
There are so many way better beers from small breweries in Flanders and Wallonia !
But indeed these beers always come shockingly expensive abroad.
Best example is Stella which is a standar lager here but positioned as a premium elsewhere.
@ Tortuga : almost all of crew is Belgian for sure, most of them from Flemish part ( 60 % of population) as it is more difficult to find people that speak English decently in the French part (let alone speaking Dutch).

For the sake of clarity: I mean to say thst tge 'standard beers' , that are really bulk products, such as Stella, Leffe etc. are way overpriced abroad.

@Lucky.
Hard seats: These seem to have spread through the industry. If I recall correctly, they came into play with the slimline type of seating, first in Y, now in J.

This might be a good topic for you to look into with your industry sources, and also with the other experts in the field.

A scourge, I say! A scourge.

Gorgeous finishes but the hard product is the same Thompson Vantage seat as the previous gen hard product.

Oh and the have Beurre d’Isigny! So good

Enjoyed this review especially when comparing to your recent review of Air Belgium from Sept 2018. Your reviews always so much fun to follow -

Unfortunately, this will be the last time I will be writing a comment because I will stop reading reviews from this website. Your reviews are very biased towards certain airlines and are also inconsistent and somewhat "petty", sometimes it gets so bad that it seems you are just trying to find fault with the smallest things to write a bad comment or review of airlines that you do not like even if the flight was great. It is sad to see such a great website that was once one of my favourite to become the bottom of my list.

So I flew Brussels Airlines 4x 5 & 6 years ago on the JFK-BRU routes.
I loved the food, service, and staff very much.
Loved that they hold the economy class back while allowing business class to disembark first (so few carriers do this anymore). Also the "goodbye gift" of chocolates is such a nice touch.
Glad to hear many of these things still exist on the new business class.
However, I noticed you said " The seat was really hard, which kind of surprised me"
Yeah....it appear to be the exact same layout and seat design as SWISS - both of which are ultimately owned by Lufthansa.
SN always had VERY competitive fares in j class and now that they fall under the Eurowings umbrella - I would imagine the same. Although the fares you mention transatlantic are astonishing.
I don't know why SN can't just be a direct subsidiary of LH like Swiss, Austrian, etc. Falling under eurowings I think cheapens the brand - and as you said identity crisis mess!

Can you explain what they actually got wrong in this review? As a frequent traveler, I thought the review captured the Airline’s business class perfectly. It’s not great other than a “fresh look” and some chocolate to take away…