BRU-MAN on BA Connect

We returned home on 27th December after our great Christmas (apart from losing half our luggage!) holiday in Brugge.

We caught the train to the airport and were pleased to see a BA self service check in kiosk in the departures area. We were surprised to see it because there had been no mention of self service check in at BRU when I had looked on the BA website a couple of days before we flew from MAN. We checked in and got seats 17B and 17C and dropped our solitary case off at fast bag drop.

Our flight was scheduled to depart at 16:40 so we had a few hours to wait. We had spaghetti bolognese on Brussels Cafe, tea, coffee and Stella (which is impossible to find at home).

After going through security (which has hyper-sensitive detecting equipment as just about everyone was searched!) we went to the gates to spot. Our flight was to depart from gate B08. We were very pleased when we saw what arrived…

Embraer ERJ145 G-ERJD, the first time I’ve flown in an Embraer aircraft.

There weren’t many waiting for the flight. The boarding call was made at 16:25 and we boarded outside via the aircraft’s own steps which are part of the front door. We were greeted by two stewardesses and went to our seats, which were one row from the back. The aircraft was three abreast and very narrow. I was surprised at the number of rows though. The seats were comfortable leather ones with reasonable legroom for such a small aircraft.

Inside the ERJ.

The ERJ145 has a flimsy look and feel compared to the hefty-looking 146/ARJ. The wing looks especially flimsy when you are used to a hulking thick one with four big engines.

We could see the LCY flight parked next to us.

We were pushed back at 16:41 after the North American captain introduced himself, his female co-pilot and the two stewardesses Wendy and Natalie. He was a very informative pilot.

We taxied to the runway, turned and the little jet accelerated very quickly, forcing us back into our seats. You don’t always notice that on the larger jets. After a short run we took off at 16:49. We expected the flight to last one hour.

After take off from Brussels.

We climbed through very low cloud to our cruising altitude of 26,000 feet, where we encountered slight turbulence.

Cloud at altitude.

On BA Connect food and drinks are available to buy. We were given a menu but we didn’t buy anything, though some food sounded quite nice.

The menu.

On the opposite side of the aircraft was a view of a beautiful sunset. I went to sit in seat 18A, the very back, and my Mum moved into my old window seat.

The beautiful sunset somewhere between England and Belgium.

Looking into the rear-mounted engine from the back seat. On some aircraft the back window is completely obscured by engine but not on this ERJ.

We flew over London and Birmingham on our path to Manchester. The cloud was broken over London, but there was alot of cloud in MAN, the pilot told us, and a headwind was slowing us down.

We had a turbulent descent through cloud and had a hard landing in MAN at 16:46. It was raining as we left the aircraft via its own steps and went to baggage reclaim hoping that our case had been on the flight with us!

Thankfully it was, and then we headed to a BA bagagge enquiry desk to ask about our missing bag. It was apparently in LHR terminal four! We were told that it would be delivered back to us now that we were home. After a few days of constant checking, we discovered that the bag had gone to BRU, flew back on 30th December and then back to MAN on 1st January. We got it back on New Year’s Day.

Generally the service on BA had been very good. I would fly with them again next Christmas.