**Brussels Airlines -- where do I begin?**
All I can say is this: I would avoid them at all costs.
I recently flew to Kenya in June 2026. Brussels Airlines was used as a connecting airline through United Airlines' Star Alliance program. Their customer service appears to be handled through an offshore call center, and it is extremely difficult to speak with anyone directly from the airline. They do not answer their phones, and the customer service agents I reached were unable to connect me with anyone who could actually help.
I originally went to the Brussels Airlines website to select a seat assignment and paid the required fee. About two weeks later, my return flight was canceled. However, there was another flight available at the same time with a different flight number. I contacted United Airlines, and they rebooked my ticket.
After that, I went back to the Brussels Airlines website to confirm my assigned seat. That is when the problems began. The website would not allow me to select a seat, so I was forced to contact their customer service.
The agent told me my flight was not confirmed and said that if I wanted to guarantee my return flight from Kenya to Brussels to make my connection, I would need to rebook the ticket for around $5,000. After several frustrating conversations, I eventually hung up.
I called back later hoping to get help with my confirmed seat assignment. This time, the Brussels Airlines agent said they would transfer me to the seating department. The person I spoke with in the so-called seating department told me that if I paid an additional $500, they could secure my seats.
I finally gave in and paid because I wanted to make sure I had a seat for my return trip. Shortly afterward, I started receiving confirmation emails about my trip. However, I noticed they were not from Brussels Airlines and did not contain the Brussels Airlines logo. They were actually United Airlines confirmation emails. That is when I realized I had not been connected to Brussels Airlines' seating department at all, but instead had been transferred to a third-party travel agency.
I contacted my credit card company and filed a dispute. Fortunately, I was able to recover my money.
Long story short, my flight to Kenya was delayed, so United Airlines moved my final connection to Turkish Airlines. By the way, Turkish Airlines was excellent!
For my return trip, fortunately, we arrived at the airport and already had seats assigned on our Brussels Airlines flight. Overall, the flight itself was okay, and the staff onboard were okay, but you could tell they were not very happy working for the company.
I even tried to find a Brussels Airlines office in downtown Kenya, but it was closed.
To summarize my experience: I would not recommend Brussels Airlines. Their customer service process was extremely frustrating, and I never felt like I could get reliable help from anyone at the airline.
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