Brussels Airlines Airbus 319 Business Class from Munich to Brussels Airport

Summary

• My Lufthansa flight from Cairo to Munich was pleasant with a good crew and comfortable facilities.
• Because my flight with Brussels Airlines was overbooked, I was offered €125 in compensation to take the next flight.
• In the end, there was space on the flight because someone had missed their connection, and as a thank you for my voluntary help, Brussels Airlines upgraded me to business class.

My return journey from Cairo International Airport (CAI) to Brussels Zaventem (BRU) took me via Munich Airport with the Lufthansa group. The first leg was with Lufthansa and departure from Egypt was scheduled for 03:25 local time. Although we left late, we landed at Munich Airport practically on time. I spent most of the flight sleeping, taking advantage of the legroom in the emergency exit row and the pillow and blanket provided. The crew were great and my flight was very comfortable.

In Munich I had about a two-hour transfer time before I got a Brussels Airlines Airbus A319 in Economy Class. Here too, I chose the emergency exit row for more legroom. My overall program looked like this.

*The local time in Egypt is one hour ahead of that in Germany and Belgium.

On my outbound flight with Austrian Airlines via Vienna, I received an upgrade to Business Class on the longer route. I didn’t realize at the time that I would be granted the same upgrade on the return flight, albeit only on the short route to Brussels.

Check in

I checked in online with Lufthansa. I provided my passport details and confirmed my choice of seats in the emergency exit row. I then received an email with the check-in confirmation, but no boarding pass. I would have to go to the physical check-in counters for that.

It took a while until we got to the check-in counters. Cairo Airport. Everything was reasonably well signposted and I made my way to the security check for “international departures” which was in front of the check-in counters. Here I was harassed by airport staff who tried to convince me to skip the line by coming with them.

Funnily enough, they all asked me in English which flight I was on and I replied that I was on the Lufthansa flight to Munich, arriving at 00:10 in over 3 hours. They then decided that I absolutely had to follow them to skip the line – which honestly wasn’t that long. I told them in Arabic that I had plenty of time and was happy to wait and soon they got it and left me alone.

At check-in, I stood in line for Lufthansa Group flights. Austrian, Lufthansa and SWISS all fly from Cairo, but today only the first two had flights (and at roughly the same time). Check-in was closed. After 40 minutes of waiting, the check-in agents finally arrived. It didn’t take long before both of my boarding passes were issued and I was able to fill out my entry/exit form before going through security.

Transit experience

After my uneventful flight with Lufthansa in the A320neo, we landed in Munich. We parked in Terminal 2 at the G gates. The queues were extravagant at all points of my transit journey – from security checks to the shuttle service from the G gates to the K gates where my Brussels Airlines flight departed. The walking time to any point in the terminal was equally extravagant.

When I got to passport control I found myself face to face with the non-EU passport line. My jaw dropped as the line was once again ridiculously long. Thankfully the electronic passport scanners for EU passports were completely empty and I was through in seconds. If I had been in the other line I would have been rushed to catch my flight for sure.

When I arrived at the K-Gate, I bought a blueberry muffin for breakfast. After completing my mission, I sat down and prepared for my interview that same day (you can find the result in the article below).

Overbooked and upgrade

Shortly afterwards, Brussels Airlines flight SN2642 was announced. This time, however, it did not seem to be a boarding announcement, but rather an announcement for volunteer passengers who wanted to catch the next flight due to overbooking. I made my way to the gate to observe the situation.

As excited as I was to fly with my national airline (and especially the homey feeling of the cabin announcements in English, French and Dutch), I was pleased with the offer of €125 ($138) compensation for the Lufthansa A319 flight in two hours. Although it wasn’t a lot of money compared to the usual, my logic was this:

1. I still had time and would be back in time for my interview.
2. I had a little more work to do and am more productive on the ground than in the air.
3. The blueberry muffin was delicious – I’d love to get another one.

I went to the counter and said I would gladly accept the offer on the condition that in addition to the compensation I would be given lounge access for the two hours at the airport. Unfortunately, despite my insistence, the gate agent refused. However, after a brief discussion about the status of my checked baggage to make sure I would be able to find it in Brussels, I agreed.

The flight was already delayed until 9:30am, so in reality I only had to wait an hour. I was told to stand by and once everyone was scanned I would be given a new boarding pass. In the unlikely event that someone missed their connecting flight to Brussels, I would be allowed on board, I was told.

When boarding was almost complete, I made my way to the counter. At first I didn’t realise what was going on as I was told to go through. One of the gate agents approached me with a new boarding pass – which meant I thought I was being rebooked onto the other flight as planned.

Instead, they thanked me for my patience and volunteering and said that they would be happy to move me to seat 3C in Business Class on the original Brussels Airlines flight. This was indeed a welcome surprise, not least because I had also received a free upgrade on the outbound flight with Austrian Airlines.

The seat, the crew and the food

I boarded the plane and was greeted very warmly by the crew. The plane was clean and spacious and did not show its age at all. There was plenty of legroom and the middle seat was of course blocked off for this short-haul flight in business class to Brussels. The seat had no power outlets. Both the economy and business cabins were full.

Shortly after takeoff, a food and drink service began. I opted for a cup of English Breakfast Tea to go with my meal. The breakfast itself was OK, but nothing special.

The mini pain au chocolat was served cold and hard, while the other pastries (whose names I can’t place) were fine but equally small. The fruit was a nice touch, as was the use of metal cutlery. My drink came in a paper cup rather than a proper glass, which was a shame but not surprising.

It’s not that the food was bad in that sense, but I came to the conclusion that it’s not really worth paying for business class on such a short flight with this level of in-flight service. Perhaps that doesn’t say much about Brussels Airlines’ business class product per se, but rather their offering for short haul flights under two hours.

When I landed in Brussels, I walked through the airport to the baggage claim. Within 15 minutes, my luggage was there and I was able to leave the airport without any problems.