Fines for Belgians but not for foreigners? The SNCB airport-ticket row explained
SNCB staff quoted by the Francophone site 7sur7 say passengers caught without a valid ticket for Brussels Airport are fined if they are Belgian but effectively let off if they are foreign travellers — a de facto inequality they trace to the near-impossibility of collecting penalties from tourists who are about to fly home. The claim, so far single-sourced and not confirmed by the rail operator, revives a long-running grievance over the airport's Diabolo access surcharge and raises awkward equal-treatment questions for a federal public company.
For the millions of residents and workers who use the train to reach Brussels Airport, the claim touches a basic expectation of fairness: that a public rail company applies its penalties evenly. It also exposes a wider truth about enforcement — that fines tend to fall on whoever can be billed rather than whoever is most at fault — and it revives a long-standing grievance over the Diabolo surcharge that already makes the airport the most expensive stop on the network to reach.
The story concerns the Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Belges (SNCB), Belgium's federal public rail operator, and enforcement of ticket penalties on trains to Brussels Airport-Zaventem station. Access to that station requires the Diabolo supplement, a boarding surcharge added to the standard fare to repay the private financing of the airport rail link opened in 2012. The Francophone site 7sur7 reports that SNCB employees say passengers caught without a valid ticket are fined if they are Belgian residents (who are traceable and billable) but effectively not pursued if they are foreign travellers about to fly out. Rail is a federal competence under the government of Prime Minister Bart De Wever; the airport lies in Flanders; and EU law bars nationality-based discrimination between EU citizens, making the enforceability explanation the more consequential framing.
Background
The Diabolo project added a dedicated northern rail connection and tunnel to Brussels Airport, opening in 2012, and was part-financed through a public-private arrangement repaid by a per-passenger boarding surcharge. That surcharge has been criticised for years as an extra levy on air travellers and airport staff. SNCB's fare-penalty framework has periodically drawn complaints over how fixed fines are applied and collected, and rail fares more broadly have been a recurring flashpoint amid federal budget pressure and negotiations over the operator's public-service contract.
What to do
Passengers travelling to Brussels Airport by train should ensure they hold a valid ticket including the Diabolo supplement; the reported enforcement gap does not change the rule that a valid airport ticket is required, and Belgian residents remain the most likely to be billed for penalties.
Impact
Regional — The station is in Flanders (Zaventem) and serves a heavily international passenger base, but fare policy is set federally, so any change would come from SNCB and the federal government rather than Flemish authorities. Brussels and Walloon commuters connecting through the capital to the airport are among those most exposed to the surcharge and to the penalty regime described.
Opposing perspectives
- SNCB frontline inspectors (via 7sur7)
Staff quoted by 7sur7 describe a de facto two-tier outcome: Belgians caught without a valid airport ticket end up paying the penalty because they are registered and billable, while foreign travellers heading straight to departures are effectively let go. On their account this is not a deliberate rule but the practical result of chasing only the fines that can realistically be collected.
- SNCB as a federal public operator
The company's standing framing is that fare rules and penalties apply identically to every passenger regardless of nationality, with inspectors exercising the same discretion they would anywhere. On this reading the surcharge and fixed penalties are uniform, and the difficulty of recovering money from someone with a foreign address and no follow-up is an enforcement limit, not a policy of unequal treatment.
- Equal-treatment and rail-user advocates
For passengers and equal-treatment advocates the concern is that penalties should not fall hardest on whoever is easiest to bill rather than whoever is genuinely at fault, and that a public company must be seen to enforce evenly. They also note that any deliberate nationality-based differentiation between EU citizens would collide with European non-discrimination principles, which is why transparency on how airport penalties are issued matters.
Sources & evidence
- View source7sur7 — Aller à Brussels Airport sans ticket? Les Belges auraient des amendes mais pas les étrangersPrimary· 7sur7.beRetrieved 26 July 2026
- View source7sur7 — ...selon des employés de la SNCB· 7sur7.beRetrieved 26 July 2026
