Just heard on the news, that Sabena is bankrupt. Sorry, no further details for the moment. Apparently, most planes stranded in Brussels Airport. <BR>Check your sites for further news later on today. <BR> <BR>

SABENA= Such A Bad Experience Never Again!! that´s an old joke from the `80 when SABENA was infamous for its delays and bad service. At present it is considered to be a reliable and relatively cheap airline- yet it is better to be avoided since suspension of operations due to financial troubles is imminent.

Hot news! <BR>It's over. <BR>Sabena doesn't exist anymore. <BR>All of you who had planned to fly into Brussels (or with a layover in Brussels), please try to have your tickets changed. There was chaos at the airport today and the chaos expected for the next days is incalculable. Incoming flights are diverted to Frankfurt or Paris. No-one knows if there will be any outgoing flights in the next days. <BR>So sad!

Just hearing it on the news that Sabena has filed for bankruptcy and has suspended all flights for the moment. <BR>The full picture will probably not emerge for a couple of days. <BR>Other airlines will probably honor Sabena tickets and will expand their route network to fill in the gaps left by Sabena. <BR>Good luck to all those affected <BR>

Sabena is in real financial trouble at the moment...reportedly 1.4bn GBP in debt and perhaps imminently to collapse. I wouldn't book with them, not least because you might find yourself having to scrabble around for alternative ways of getting on/home if they do finally go down.

my wife was on the return flight from brussels to boston late in the afternoon and was informed that that was the last flight to the us. the plane wass to return in the am to brussels and they were out of a job

Yes Peter, more than 7000 people have lost their jobs yesterday. These same people have tried by all means to save their company. A few years ago they have agreed to work for less pay if that could help Sabena survive. And this is what they get in return. <BR>There will be established a new company that should be operational by November 15th but it will be much smaller and they will only need about half of the present personnel. <BR> <BR>

According to CNN as of 7 Nov 2001, Sabena airlines no longer exists....they shut down today and didn;t even bother to let the employees know that they no longer had jobs nor have they been paid recently. I would not count on this airline being alive much longer.

It *is* sad, Myriam -- I've flown Sabena a few times and had a lot of respect for them. I'm sure the EU's prohibition against bailouts in the airline industry is goo in the big picture -- but I'll miss seeing the Sabena "tail" lined up with the other international carriers at O'Hare's Terminal 5.

Sabena disappearing... it is indeed a major shock. This airline was one of Europe's oldest (I think it was the second historically), founded in 1923. It pioneered civil aviation in Africa, and was until today one of the largest airlines operating on that continent. It had also a very comprehensive network over Europe. Furthermore, the SABENA technicians were outstanding and had a real reputation in the industry, performing the maintenance not only on Sabena's fleet but also on other fleets as well. <BR> <BR>Potential reasons for Sabena's bankrupcy are numerous, but I would quote in my own ranking: <BR> <BR>1) Swissair's failure to keep up to their financial promises, and their absurd management over the last 4 years <BR>2) the lack of ambition, vision and strategy of the Belgian Government as man shareholder of the airline <BR>3) the crisis in the whole air transport industry in the aftermath of Sept 11 <BR>4) Inefficient "civil-servant" management practices in the past. <BR> <BR>The effort that Sabena's employees made to foster productivity and enhance the customer service over the last 10 years was however impressive, accepting significant salary cuts. Obviously, it was not mirrored by adequate management practices at the top level.

I am sorry to see Sabena fold. But it should be noted that they were only to turn a profit once since 1958. Obviously, better management was needed for quite some time. Swissair pushed an expansionist plan on Sabena and then didn't live up to its financial end of the bargain. The Brussels airport is in a state of chaos at the moment, with flights diverted elsewhere.

My flight on Sabena to Prague next week has been cancelled. Sabena does not have any reaccommodation agreements with any other airlines. For a brief period today, American was reaccommodating Sabena passengers (at no charge) that were departing through November 8th, but at 2pm EST today, American cancelled that plan. Swiss Air is offering discounted tickets to Sabena passengers for $180 one-way (only if you have completed 1/2 of your trip) and $400 roundtrip for all others that have not left their origination point, but this is only from NYC and Boston.<BR><BR>I went to Logan today to try to get any accommodation from any airline that would fly to Prague -- no such luck. A layed off Sabena CSR was trying to answer questions for Sabena ticketholders. I thought it was very nice of him to show up at the airport -- even unpaid, and he said that he cared about the passengers.<BR><BR>The new airline that Sabena becomes will accept the "unuseable" tickets, however, all reports are that this new airline will not be flying across the pond. If you have charged your tickets and not paid for them, you may have recourse through your credit card companies. However, anyone that has paid the bill (like me) can only wait it out and hope that these tickets will be accepted by another airline in the future, or that a refund might be possible. Whatever you do, don't cancel the tickets if they are paid for, as you'll end up being penalized with a cancellation fee.<BR><BR>As a side note, while waiting to speak with the Sabena CSR, a tour group of Sabena ticket holders lined up 6 hours prior to departure at the Swiss Air counter. They were told by their tour company that Swiss Air would accept the Sabena tickets without a fee. I found out before I left, that they were each being charged $400 for new tickets and $97.13 for taxes. <BR><BR>I did end up getting new tickets on Swiss Air, but through Orbitz, at a cost of $389 including the tax - I depart on the same date, but return a day later than I originally planned to. I just hope there aren't anymore glitches.<BR><BR>For any of you still planning on waiting it out hoping for a reaccommodation plan, just beware of the 7-day airfare rule in case a reaccommodation plan does not come to fruition. Lufthansa is offering discounted tickets to Sabena ticketholders, but there aren't any bargains available.<BR><BR>Leslie

Yippeeeeeeeee!!! Orbitz just called and told me that I will receive a full refund for my Sabena tickets. Now, I have to mail Orbitz my tickets, and it will take 2-3 credit card billing cycles to get the refund, but Orbitz CALLED ME!!!

But you switched to Swissair?!??! There is talk of them not being around much longer also!

Based on the WSJ reports, Swiss Air has effectively been bought out by new investors. It is operating, although the old schedule has been greatly reduced. The name will change either in January or March. At least it is flying to where I am going, so I don't care what they call it.

Yesterday's (Nov. 7) issue NY Times in the World Business section has an article titled "Filing for Bankruptcy, Sabena Shuts Down".

I had rebooked on a swissair flight when I heard sabena wouldn't be flying out of Chicago. However, when I call Swissair after the news of the bankruptcy, they said I would be charged an additional $360. I called Travelocity and rebooked on a completely different airline (alitalia) and will send my tickets back to Travelocity for a refund which may take 1-2 months. I decided not to mess around with Sabena or Swissair anymore.<BR>

I live in Belgium and unfortunatelly it's true: it's over for Sabena since the end of last week and 6000 people lost their job because of this. Due to actions of the ex-Sabena staff their have been some problems at the Brussels airport the first days, but it's back to normal now. We even already have a new belgian airline, called DAT (Delta Air Transport). To start, it's a smaller airline then Sabena was and the first month they will especially concentrate on European flights, but they will continue with Transatlantic flights in the near future. I don't know who the new partners will be yet, but we do know that there is almost an agreement with Virgin Express for cooperation on short flights.

I was scheduled for Sabena next June. When I heard they went bankrupt, I then called American Airline, thru which I had booked my flights with FF miles. They changed me to British Airways with a stopover in London. I am going to take advantage of that and spend a few days in London.