TRIP REPORT: Lufthansa’s business class from Belgrade

TRIP REPORT

I flew on Lufthansa last Saturday between Belgrade and Frankfurt on board their Airbus A320neo aircraft. I was booked in business class for this journey. I arrived at the airport at 5.00 AM as the flight was at 07.00. There are dedicated check-in desks for the Lufthansa Group since there is also an early morning Austrian flight to Vienna. The check-in process was quick, and I should commend the check-in agent since I had a bit of a complicated booking and long itinerary on different airlines, but she managed to handle everything without too much of an issue and check my luggage to the final destination.

I went through the dedicated fast track lane for business class passengers at passport control only to be told off by one of the police officers in the booth that I cut the line. I told him there was no one in line and he was showing me the other people that were waiting in the regular line for passport control. I showed him my boarding pass and said I was a business class passenger and he responded, “What does that have to do with me”. I explained to him that there is a dedicated business class lane and that his booth is the one who checks the documents for it, showing him where the lane is marked with a sign, but he just looked at me blankly as if this was the first time, he had ever heard of it. Might I add this lane has existed at Belgrade Airport for at least 5 years already. He eventually angrily stamped my passport. This is nothing new since the police officers at Belgrade Airport are extremely rude, unfriendly and unprofessional. Last year, for example, I had a flight departing at 00.50 and they didn’t want to let anyone pass until midnight (there was four of them chatting in one booth). After I told one of the officers that Belgrade Airport must be the only one in the world where immigration has set working hours, he said why did I want to go through anyway. Crazy.

I went through to the business club lounge at the airport, but it didn’t open until 6AM. I don’t understand why they don’t open it at 5 considering there is an Austrian Airlines flight departing before 6, as well as the Lufthansa flight at 7. I saw at least 5 passengers try to enter the lounge, but it was locked. At 6.10 a guy appeared and told the people waiting in front of the lounge that it will take him 5 minutes until he is able to open (even though the official working hours are from 6). He went inside and unlocked the doors 15 minutes later. There wasn’t much point going into the lounge anymore as it was time to board. The airport placed Lufthansa’s and Air Serbia’s Frankfurt flights, which depart 10 minutes apart, side by side, meaning they share the same gate space, which I don’t think is such a smart idea.

I look forward to VINCI overhauling the airport, but it must also invest a lot in staff training. Unfortunately, a lot of the staff is very rude (and I’m not referring to the police officers as that is not VINCI’s responsibility), half of the staff were not wearing masks, at the security check lots of the staff were chatting loudly how they can’t wait to get off work, I saw one staff member arguing with a passenger, the lounge agent who was late to work and didn’t even seem to care or apologise to people waiting for him to start work… and this seems to be getting worse each and every time.

As soon as I passed security, boarding started for the flight. The crew greeted every passenger by giving them a disinfectant wipe. There were 11 passengers in business class. The rows have a blocked middle seat, and I was lucky as there was no one sitting in my row. The aircraft was just one year old.

We pushed back 5 minutes before departure and took off right on time. After departure, the crew served breakfast. Lufthansa has really gone downhill in the last 6 months with their catering. Their meals are now inspired by traditional German cuisine, which is fine, but we got a rather unappetising sausage with pickled vegetables. It’s nice that they are drawing upon their heritage, but they could consider that most people don’t feel like eating sausages or pickled vegetables at 7am. The desert was nice though. Drinks were served by the time everyone finished their meal. After the trays were cleared, the staff offered an apple and a chocolate.

For comparisons sake, this is the meal on the exact same flight in August 2021, before they introduced cost cutting measures.

This is the buy on board menu that is now offered to economy class passengers.

We landed 10 minutes ahead of schedule and I was very fortunate that besides getting an airbridge gate we were actually allowed to use the airbridge as we arrived at the non-Schengen part of the airport. Very often, if the plane parks at the Schengen area of the airport, the air bridge can’t be used. Since my connecting flight was also in the non-Schengen area, it worked out well for me.

Prior to landing, the crew read out of the gates for passengers continuing with Lufthansa and I always find it interesting to hear where people are continuing their journeys to. This time it was Barcelona, Tel Aviv, Bilbao and Dublin.

Overall, the flight was good but it’s a shame Lufthansa has really ruined their catering. I’ve flown with them several times since these new meals were introduced and I don’t know which one tasted worse. From what I’ve been reading online, most people have the same opinion. Otherwise, the flight was good, and I was happy that everything went smoothly with the schedule, giving me time to catch my onwards connection.

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