I boarded through door L2, where I was greeted by the lovely Greek cabin manager, and escorted to my business class seat. Since I was the first onboard, I asked if I could quickly take a look around the aircraft. The first thing to know is that Air Belgium acquired their A340s from Finnair, so…
Continue reading: Review: Air Belgium Business Class A340 Charleroi To Hong Kong
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I love when airlines serve food on black china - I think it makes it look really modern and sophisticated - like some hip new fusion restaurant. I think La Compagnie and Garuda also do this?
Air Begium must easily have the worlds best premium economy based on the fact that no other airline offers premium economy with a fully-flat bed with direct aisle access?!
Curry chicken and noodles is a pretty Asian dish... not sure why you found it odd
Thanks for the review! Great to see there are new players in the game and decent enough for long-haul.
Not a bad looking flight. Those throne seats look identical to Jetblue Mint, don't they?
I wasn't sure what to expect but i'm impressed with what i've just read and seen. Ok the entertainment options need to be abit enhanced.
I continue to root for this little airline.
With the recent announcement that they now have favourable overflight rights/routings through Russia & Siberia, their trips should be shorter/ more efficient.
What languages were the cabin announcements in? French, Flemish and Cantonese??
The hairline thing is a reference to the crown outline. I think it’s pretty clever.
Drinking the same bottled water, Chaundfontaine, I had saved from an Air France flight I think! Thanks for all the travel info and advice!
Why is the sunlight in your photos moving in the wrong direction?
I think you mixed and matched photos from two different trips.
Welcome back, the reviews - I had defected to The Points Guy.
With that sort of load factor, will AB be around long enough for Lucky to use his return ticket?
Some close-ups suggest a grubby, tired cabin in need of a proper deep clean or full refurb. You get what you pay for though the nosebag looked fine and service sounds good. I thought the lounge looked like a strip mall pop-up cafe but, again, check ticket price.
Hope they succeed, can’t leave it all to the big-wallet legacies.
Thanks for a great review. I will be more inclined to book with them after the review.
Does Lucky ever stay in the destination for more than a day or two, or does he turn right around and board another plane so he can sample yet another cup of airplane coffee?
@ Debit — Ever heard of a sunset? Sunrise? Plus most of the cabin pics were saturated from both sides haha
My love for you and your comments never dies...
Shame they didn't offer the best of the best Belgium has: Stella Artois beer, Cote D'or chocolate...at least you had Jules Destrooper cookies! Love Belgium
I'm still not sure that Air Belgium is a 'real' airline becaus there's no way it can make money.
But it would be interesting to fly on a private a340 🙂
I wonder if the cabin crew will get hostile if you ask them about the owners and management
@Schar: You sure do have a strange idea of what the best Belgium has to offer...
What Champagne? I only can see sparkling wine. No Champagne on board this flight, haha. All Champagne are sparkling wine, but not all sparkling wine are Champagne. For the sparkling wine to be legally and rightfully considered as Champagne, it must come from the Champagne region of France.
@vlcnc strange? Stella Artois is one of the most popular beers in the world and instead of putting that on the menu they offer Duvel? Also they could easily showcase Guylian, Godiva, or Cote D'or chocolates which are the finest and so damn good...missed chance on their part. If you find this "strange" that's your personal preference, but definitely uncalled for & very weird on your part.
Ben, here's an idea: Why dont you do a Amenity Kit Giveaway every month for a reader? You receive and probably have hundreds, even if you collect them I'm sure you have a ton of repeats lying around. This could be an opportunity for reader engagement and also a way to give back to us, your loyal readers. What do you say? I could be the first 😉
Earlier this year I flew Emirates first class A380 Dubai to Sydney, and there was only 1 other passenger in first. Best flight ever! I had the who isle to myself, separate "bedroom" and "lounge room", etc... not sure if there are any tips on how to maximise the changes of being in a lightly loaded cabin, but it really is a special bonus.
@schar just because a beer is popular doesn't mean it's any good. Pretty much every most popular beer is a country is dreadful including Stella, but it's even more pronounced in Belgium
Lucky, it's a nice trip report but you are wasting your time. This airline will not be around soon. A new airline in Belgium? And not even in Brussels? Give a break. There is zero O/D traffic and unless they plan to build a european mega-hub in Charleroi like DXB in Middle East where make money on connecting pax, they will fail miserably. They will probably run out of money and collapse withing a year or two.
Also your readers have nearly zero chance (stastically) to fly Air Belgium before it collapses.
The "Champagne" is a Belgian sparkling wine, made by a small winery. Duvel and Vedett are brewed by Duvel Moortgat Brewery, a family-run operation. Good on them for showing Belgitude.
By comparison, Stella is produced in a giant factory in Leuven that also serves as the corporate HQ of AB InBev. Budweiser is the Stella of the USA. Feel free to drink it and enjoy it, but I wouldn't miss it.
On the other hand M&M/Mars...
@schar, Stella is just a mediocre pilsner type beer. Duvel is completely different kind of beer, with a much higher percentage of alcohol.
"Why dont you do a Amenity Kit Giveaway every month for a reader?"
Better to donate those kits to charities that deal with homeless people. They would probably appreciate things like socks, toothbrush, and toothpaste the most.
How can you complain about not having Stella when the plane is loaded with Duvel and Vedett.. those 2 beers are superior to Stella.
Great trip report. Being based in Brussels and having a view on the runway from my runway, I have seen the AB taking off now and then although they should be stationed in CRL..
I imagine that Lucky has a storage unit rented out somewhere, filled to the brim with model airplanes, Hello Kitty toilet paper, and airline pajamas.
@schar: As others have said Stella is a very common regular beer available anywhere and mass-produced by a multi-national. It certainly isn't premium and I would be very disappointed to be offered that in a premium cabin! In fact when I was a student it is known as "the wife-beaters" drink here in the UK, such is it's lowly status despite their best efforts to present it as a cut-above with their advertising.
You clearly know nothing about good beer given you think Stella is the best Belgium has! Duvel and Vedett are infinitely superior, and although I personally would have liked to see Hoegaarden served - a delicious wibier. I am surprised Ben didn't have a beer instead given he wanted to experience the Belgian-ness of this carrier...
@James In fact it now ties with TG, who offers PE in their 77Ws on the BKK-ARN and BKK-ARN routes only, with their J hard product (1-2-1 flatbeds in the smaller cabin) and a tiny-bit-above-Y soft product (same meals as Y, maybe I got protectively ordered an extra bottle of water). Though they'll be withdrawing the CPH route shortly and at some point introducing proper PE seats.
“Chicken curry with home-made pasta”
Marketing b.s. such as this always cracks me up. Big factory ≠ home.
@Lucky -
Do you think the service was so good mainly because the flight was empty?
Were there more passengers on your return and was service any different?
Out of curiosity I had a quick look at PE fares on the Air Belgium website, roundtrip CRL-HKG came south of EUR 1300 - or around EUR 900 cheaper than J - which is an *excellent* deal considering the hard product is exactly the same. Certainly much cheaper than the TG PE pricing (which tends to be around 75-80% of the J price on the CPH and ARN routes).
Ahh all this excitement may have come to nothing - the website also does mention the dedicated hard product for PE which is not the J hard product - see the Premium tab on https://www.airbelgium.com/en/classes
No idea if this is now implemented though.
@Lucky It would be useful if you are able to clarify in the article what Air Belgium's current position is and if you had reached out to them? Always looking forward to your trip reports and appreciate they take time to write up, but I think this is the kind of extra fact checking from you to ensure everything is up to date, which readers would appreciate. Thanks!
@ ChampagneSocialist -- Shared more on that in this post:
https://onemileatatime.com/7-interesting-things-about-air-belgium/
Essentially their plan is to eventually reconfigure the planes with a proper premium economy cabin, but they haven't gotten around to it yet. It's my understanding that they plan to do so this winter, though I'm not convinced they'll stick to that timeline. So this is a good opportunity for now, but may not stick around for that long.
@ Vijay -- I think the crew was generally enthusiastic, and I think that would be the case regardless of how full the cabin was. So I really appreciated that, though over time that may wear off. Of course I would imagine if the business class cabin were completely full, service would have probably been much slower. I haven't flown the return yet, but will be curious to experience it.
@Lucky Many thanks and appreciated, I'd missed that post. Heck of a deal indeed!
Lumma makes a good point about Stella popularity - Australia’s Fosters, aka cat p**s, comes immediately to mind...
On schar’s subject of giveaway amenity kits, some autos websites give away gifts received from automakers at media events. Quality and value vary widely but competition to win ‘em is keen and, as already pointed out, it’s a good (and cheap) way to gain a little more reader engagement. As if the insults hurled back and forth on here weren’t enough already.
It seems a very nice flight.
I found an interview to Air Belgium president. He said that he's happy of the results because most of the flight in autumn are loaded to 70-80% and he is looking for new routes to China, Japan and Cebu. there are too many airlines serving Hong Kong routes.
https://www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl/nieuws/categorie/2/airlines/air-belgium-breidt-uit-met-routes-naar-china
@vlcnc Stella is my favorite beer, depending on where you're from, sure, it can have a specific reputation, but I could care less about that. I love Stella. But anyway, regarding what they serve inflight, I mentioned Stella since it's my favorite but Belgium has other amazing beers like Leffe Blonde, Hoegaarden, etc. Everyone will have their personal preference, sure, I just thought that only serving Duvel out of the other better options was mediocre on their part.
Duvel seems like a rather strange beer to serve in an airplane. It would taste pretty bad in the dry, pressurized environment. Most of the flavor will be dulled and the bitterness amplified.
@Schar
I don't know where you developed your taste buds but Stella Artois is total crap. There is a reason why no Belgian drinks it and it is all exported. Coté d'Or is the cheapest branded chocolate in Belgium. They are not good at all, even supermarket brands beat them in the taste tests.
@Lucky
Thanks for the lovely review. It gives great insight. I think I might go for Premium economy since it will give you excellent value for money.
Awesome review yet given how this fledgling airline has been developing, good thing you had invested in two Air Belgium model airplanes; handsome livery
Hi,
interesting review.
Could you please tell us where was located the kitchen in the business class cabin?
I believe is important information since since noise / smell can affect the comfort
Hi Ben,
You asked about the anemity kit saying hairline. the H is highlighted because if you take out the h it says best airline ever