I feel compelled writing to share a recent experience I had with Sabena, the Belgium Carrier, with you all.
It should be noted, that whilst I booked the flight with Sabena and my Ticket was a Sabena Ticket, the flight was actually operated by Virgin Express, a code share partner with Sabena.
Whilst I accept that weather is outside the control of airlines, I do not accept that this seems to be frequently used as a "cheap" excuse by the airlines.
To elaborate:-
I was unfortunate enough to have booked a flight on Sabena from Brussels (BRU) to London Heathrow (LHR), using the following Itinerary:-
14.11.2000, BRU to LHR 10:25 15.11.2000, LHR to BRU 18:25
I use the word "unfortunate" for the simple reason as I, like my fellow passengers, have
been subjected to a delay totalling nearly 9 hours on two segments of about 40 minutes flight each way.
On the outbound leg of the journey, we accumulated a delay of 3 hours 45 minutes and on the return leg of the journey we accumulated 4 hours 50 minutes delay.
Now I call this unacceptable, in particular, as some of the delay was due to sheer incompetence of the Ground Staff!
On the outbound segment, after we finally had been boarded, there was all sorts of confusion, as the Ground Staff informed the Flight Crew that they were 26 Coupons short! This added nearly 45 minutes onto a flight that was already 3 hours late. This is what I call INCOMPETANCE!
On the return segment, we had been informed, at check in, that due to fog at BRU, the flight would be delayed until 19:30. Having called BRU, I was informed that there was no fog worth mentioning. It was not until much later, that the Captain of the flight informed us that the delay was caused by Fog on the first flight of the day.
Needles to say that the flight departure was moved from 19:30 to 20:00, to 21:00 and finally to 22:00, when we finally where asked to board at 22:10. Again, the flight was further delayed while the crew attempted to find passengers, so we did not push back until 23:00. The delay caused by missing passengers could, in my opinion, have been easily avoided if the Check-in crew would have known what they where doing. The 18:25 flight had been cancelled and a lot of these passengers, me included, where booked on the "earlier flight" which we where told would leave at 19:30. Passengers attempting to check-in for the flight after the 18:25 where told that they would have to wait until 22:00. However, and this is where incompetence comes into play again, a number of passengers of the 18:25 flight had been informed that they would be on the flight advised to leave at 22:00. When in fact they had been checked in on the, so-called, 17:25 flight, scheduled to leave at 19:30. Confused? So where half of the passengers! I personally found five passengers wich had been informed that they had been booked on the flight scheduled to leave at 22:00, when in fact they had a boarding pass for the same flight I was booked on, which was scheduled to leave at 19:30. And Sabena wondered that they had missing passengers?
I think that the final straw for all of us was that, when we arrived finally at BRU, we had to wait another 10 minutes on the plane, while they tried to find a bus to ferry us to the terminal. Once this bus had arrived and we had been crowded onto this bus like cattle, the bus started to take us to the terminal building. Now call me naïve, but I would have thought that a bus driver, who's job it is to drive a bus from planes to the terminal all his working live would have been able to find the terminal. You would have thought that too? Well, how wrong can you be?! The whole journey turned into an utter farce, when the bus, packed to the hilt with passengers, suddenly braked very hard, the driver put the bus into reverse gear and REVERSED back to the terminal stop he just drove by!!
This was the moment everybody on board the bus broke into a kind of disbelieving laughter. This finally brought it home to everybody that they just experienced total and utter INCOMPETANCE and convinced everybody that Sabena is no longer an airline, but a farce!
And this brings me to my major point. Whilst I personally accept that the flight is operated by Virgin Express, most passengers, including myself, find Sabena partly responsible.
Most passengers I spoke to think that Sabena should seriously re-consider its position with regard to code sharing with an incompetent airline. I also feel it being unwise, that a carrier like Sabena, who still has got quite a good image, is associated with a budget airline, which is totally incompetent.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Yes, if I recall correctly Morgenhund
www.uk.ciao.com/member_view.php?MemberId=9444
also had a problem with Sabena. You can read his opinion here:
www.uk.ciao.com/opinion_view.php?pfad[]=1&pfad[]=17&pfad[]=14148&pfad[]=15319&pfad[]=15334&OpinionId=25404
So did Boodil
www.uk.ciao.com/member_view.php?MemberId=2054
You can also read his opinion:
http://www.uk.ciao.com/opinion_view.php?OpinionId=3683
Regards,
Nik, Category Manager, Travel
Connoisseur_Haggler 29.11.2000 16:31
Did Sabena or Virgin tell you the exact reason of the delay? This sounds unbelievable? 9 hours you could have flown to California or Bombay!
I hope you sent a written letter of complaint.
Personally, never flown Sabena.
Only once had a 4 hour delay on a BA flight to Belfast, which was down to a mechanical failure, which is a lot considering flight is only 45mins!
Good op.:)
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Nov 29th, 2000
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