Technically speaking these were not Sabena flights; when Sabena operate flights with their own aircraft and crew the service/comfort is quite reasonable, although the catering needs a lot of work.

Things get a bit inconsistent though with codeshare flights operated by other carriers. Usually the choice of partner is excellent(as in this case Aer Lingus), but sometimes they choose a real duffer of an airline, such as Virgin Express who operated the BRU-FCO flights. As a low-cost airline they reflect poorly on Sabena. I personally don't think the two mix very well, but Sabena's competitive business fares from UK and Ireland to selected European cities make up for it.