We’ve been experiencing a real fare war for flights to Martinique & Guadeloupe in the past few weeks. Now, Air Belgium has joined the war. The Belgian airline not only offers cheap economy class tickets but also cheap business class roundtrips for €999. The flights depart from Charleroi airport near Brussels.
Worldwide travel restrictions are in place to slow the spread of Covid-19. We strongly recommend gathering detailed information about the travel and quarantine restrictions that apply to your desired origin and destination.
A good start is the International Air Transport Association (IATA) website. It provides current updates on a country’s immigration policies. Even better, the Covid-19 Travel Regulations Map is one of the most useful tools you can find.
Air Belgium is waving all rebooking fees for tickets booked before October. You can change the dates and destination, but will have to pay the fare difference. More information on AirBelgium.com.
Our availability calendar highlights all possible flight dates at the lowest price for trips up to 28 days. It will forward you to XXX with your preselected flight dates. You can also check what OTAs have to offer, as they sell these tickets up to €XXX cheaper.
By the way, it is also possible to fly in economy class on the outbound flight, and then return in business class, or vice versa. Such tickets cost roughly €660. Open-jaw flights are also possible, but only when booking over a travel agency, and not directly via Air Belgium.
The flights are operated with an Airbus A340-300. Air Belgium uses planes that used to belong to Finnair, and thus has Finnair’s old business class seats built in.
Air Belgium’s Business Class
The seats are configured in an alternating 2-2-1 and 1-2-1 formation, with seats that can be converted into a fully flat bed. Additionally, you can use the lounge and priority services at Charleroi airport. You may check in 2 suitcases of 32kg each, as well as take two pieces of hand luggage of 8 kg each into the cabin.
One Mile at a Time has written a review. Generally, Air Belgium offers a solid business class product, which is on a similar level to other airlines.
Search & Book
According to the fare rules, the flights can be booked until October 4, 2020 for the following travel periods:
- October 31st – December 17th, 2020
- December 31st – February 11th, 2021
- February 18th – March 31st, 2021
- April 18th – June 24th, 2021
- August 10th – August 31st, 2021
There’s no minimum stay requirement, only a maximum of one month. You can find suitable dates by simply using Google Flights. You should then book directly at Air Belgium for €999. You could also book through our Travel-Dealz flight search for €973, but that has some downsides.
Why is booking with an airline better than with an online travel agency?
More often than not, online travel agencies offer lower fares than airlines do. We still recommend booking with the airlines directly. There are two main reasons for that:
Better Customer Service
In case any problems like delays, cancellations or missed connections arise, you can communicate directly with the airline. The airline has to take care of you because you have a contract with them.
If a travel agency issues your ticket, you may have to reach out to them first. You also depend on your OTA to forward information like flight changes instead of receiving them directly from the airline. In many cases, you may get a prime exhibition of responsibility shifting rather than problem-solving.
This especially applies to premium tickets. You don’t want to spend more than €1,000 to wind up with some budget OTA’s telephone hotline in case anything goes wrong.
Baggage and Other Fees
Economy fares not including hold luggage are industry standard by now. In most cases, travel agencies charge much higher baggage fees than the airlines themselves. If bags are not included in your fare, airlines are often the cheaper alternative.
This also applies to other things like food services, insurances or priority treatment. In almost all cases, you pay less for additional amenities when booking on the airlines’ website.
Miles
The tickets are issued in booking class P, but there still isn’t any frequent flyer program that credits miles for Air Belgium flights.
Source: Flynous