This report is intended to make you feel the difference between two airlines codesharing on the same destination with the same type of aircraft, the Avro ARJ-100.

The 6th trip this year to what is now my all-time favourite destination, Manchester. Booked with SN only four days in advance, the price was pretty high: EUR619.71, because of the return on BA at the full flexible economy fare Y (the outbound flight on SN being on the M fare).

The taxes were even higher than the EUR53.14 I paid in June and now totalled EUR60.71: 20.93 for BRU (unchanged), 31.78 for MAN (+3.57) and 8.00 for ATC between the 2 countries. These high taxes explain why an LCC will never choose BRU or MAN as a base...

I left home at 7:20 to go to the airport by train after a 15 min walk to Genval station. I arrived there at 8:35 (it is definitely faster by car, even with the morning traffic jams on the Brussels Ring, but safer by train). When I tried to check in at the new automated machine, none of them would accept my ticket. I thus checked in at the hand-baggage only counter, where there was no queue. A friendly agent delivered my boarding passes, not only for the outbound on SN, but also for the return flight on BA (which is a first for me: previously, the SN and BA computer systems did not deem to be interconnected).

I then hurried to the Diners Club lounge where I drank 2 coffees together with 4 speculoos (a Belgian kind of cookies), as I did not have breakfast yet.

BRU-MAN with SN

Flight: SN 2173, codeshared with BA and AA
Date: 20 September 2004
Aircraft: Avro RJ100 OO-DWK
Seat: 7F blue leather in a 2-3 configuration (window, under the wing; not really the best seat in the aircraft: view on the engines and little room for handbags because of the wing)
Departure time scheduled/actual: 09:30/09:36
Arrival time scheduled/actual: 09:50/10:02
Load factor: 85%

View Large View Medium

Photo © Ralf Meyermann

(landing at MAN)

Boarding was from gate B91, the B pier satellite which means bussing to the plane, which was parked at Pier A. Luckily, the BGS (formerly Sabena Handling) staff had ended their strike of last week after getting better working conditions. The buses were thus OK. Unfortunately I was in the second bus, which means less room in the plane for hand baggage. The new SN policy of controlling the identity of every passenger was also in force.

Pushback started 6 minutes late. Captain Ehlen proceeded smoothly to runway 25R for take-off. Meanwhile our two friendly stewardesses (Sylvie as purser and one colleague) made the safety announcements in Dutch, French and English.

As soon as the "fasten seat belt" light went off, the stewardesses started serving the meal in C class and twenty minutes later in Y class. The distribution of the Brussels Bistro boxes went quite fast: a nicely coloured box, with orange juice from Juice Works in Manchester (UK), a roll of brown bread, English butter from Country Life (UK), molten cheese "Grosjean" (France), a chocolate muffin, semi-skimmed milk from the UK, sugar, a refreshing towel and a serviette (hardly a Brussels meal). Than they served drinks: I chose coffee, which was fine. Before landing, the two small Belgian chocolates by Neuhaus (bitter and milk) were also on the menu.

The flight itself was uneventful, as it should be, mainly under a cloudy sky. Only upon arrival near Manchester was there some sunshine. The flight lasted 1 hour and 10 minutes, and the plane touched down at Manchester at 9:56. After arrival at the gate at 10:02 it took not less than 5 minutes for the airbridge to be in place.

Two AA planes (a 757 and a 767) were parked right next to our SN Avro.

RETURN

For the return trip on the same day I had booked SN 5426. I arrived at the airport at 15:15, still in time to catch SN 2178 at 15:45. However the queue at the SN desk was at least 30 people long. I wondered what had happened, and I soon learned that SN 2178 had been cancelled. What a pity: I could have flown on a decent Avro with 5 seats abreast instead of the dreadful BA 146 with the uncomfortable 6 seats! I later learned through Luchtzak that the incoming flight SN 2177 had taken off from Brussels and returned soon thereafter due to engine problems.

As I had time to spend, I wanted to go to the Diners Club lounge. Unfortunately, this was in Terminal 1, and since I was boarding in Terminal 3, I could not access it. I already complained about that in the past to both Manchester airport and Diners Club, but as expected, none of them could help...

A nice view at MAN was the 744 of PIA in new colours.

MAN-BRU with BA

Flight: BA 1620, operated by LAR Transregional (Portugal) and Transmile Air Services (Malaysia)">TH (BA CitiExpress) and codeshared with SN
Date: 20 September 2004
Aircraft: Avro ARJ-100 G-CFAE
Seat: 12A (window) blue leather in a 3-3 configuration
Departure time scheduled/actual: 17:30/17:43
Arrival time scheduled/actual: 20:00/20:01
Load factor: 100%

View Large View Medium Photo © T Silgrim

View Large View Medium Photo © Gary Watt - AirTeamImages

Due to the cancellation of the previous flight, this one was full. Boarding started at 17:15 and took a long time. Many passengers did not find room for their bulky hand baggage, which had to be checked and sent to the cargo hold. Boarding was only completed at 17:40, pushback at 17:43 and take off from 24L at 17:53.

Two stewards and one stewardess tended for the passengers. As said before, the 3-3 configuration adopted for the Avro by an increasing number of airlines (BA, LH, KL, ..., but not SN) is absolutely scandalous. This aircraft was built for a 5 abreast seating. With 6 passengers there is absolutely no shoulder room whatsoever. I have to add that the inconvenience was softened by the presence to my right of two charming ladies, to whom I was very close by necessity...

Another drawback of BA was their total absence of language skills. Announcements were only in English. For the first time on BA, they announced their codeshare with SN.

The meal consisted of a sandwich (choice between ham and eggs, and cheese) and a slice of chocolate cake, all wrapped in transparent plastic. I chose the ham and eggs, which was good. The presentation could well be improved. Due to the high passenger load, the drink service came long after the meal had been served. I sampled the red wine, a decent Bordeaux in a 17.5 cl bottle.

The route was interesting, flying over London, with a nice view of LCY airport. It was also impressive to see large planes flying to LHR well under us. At some time, the pilot order the safety belts to be fastened because of turbulences.

Landing on 25L was at 19:54 and arrival at the gate at 20:01. They had made up for the delay, but the BA schedule (one hour and 30 minutes with tail winds, instead of one hour and 20 minutes with head winds for the outbound flight on SN) gave ample time to do so.

A nice bird was parked at the terminal C satellite: a Condor 757.

My conclusion: if you have a choice, always select SN instead of BA on a same route.