TRIP REPORT
Written by Mina
I flew on Wizz Air’s A321 from Barcelona to Belgrade this Friday. Around 3 hours before the flight was due to depart, I received a message that it was delayed by an hour so I left for the airport a bit later. I was expecting this would happen since it’s an evening flight and the last rotation of the day for this plane.
I arrived at Barcelona’s LCC terminal to find check-in to be extremely busy. Only two check-in desks were used for this flight and there were huge lines. The reason why check-in was going very slowly was because if you haven’t purchased a ticket which includes luggage, you have to check-in online to avoid a fee. Most people didn’t know that, so some were arguing with the check-in agents and some going to the other desk to pay for the fee and then coming back to the check-on desk.
At around 10.20pm we finally boarder our A321. The plane was full to the last seat. It seemed to have been a mix of passengers. Mostly it was Serbs coming back from a holiday from what I could gather, with quite a few families with children. There were also Spaniards and a group of Macedonians too.
The cabin is in standard 3x3 configuration with blue seats and a pink outline. These slimline seats don’t have much padding and there is no recline, but they get you to where you need to go relatively cheaply. I was pleasantly surprised by the legroom which is about the same as in any other legacy airline. There was an inflight magazine (but no charging ports or Wi-Fi), as well as menus.
I was neither hungry nor thirsty so didn’t order anything. Quite a few people ordered food and drinks. Crew was nice and professional. They were Serbian. The rest of the flight was uneventful. Perhaps worth noting are the tray tables which are really small. They can’t even fit a laptop properly, so just take note if you plan to do some work.
We touched down in Belgrade at 1AM, about an hour behind schedule. I was off the plane quickly and luggage was out fast too. Belgrade Airport is a construction zone and a bit of a mess at the moment. The day before my arrival they closed off part of the arrivals area so there is a very small space where people are waiting for passengers and it can get very crowded (as you can see in the first photo below). After you leave the terminal you have to navigate a maze as there is construction all around you, although I must admit they have good signage. It is no longer possible to go from arrivals up to departures via the stairs or elevator because this part has been closed. You have to go outside, walk through the maze, car park, next to the new control tower and then towards the terminal.
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Overall, I had a good flight with Wizz Air.
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It really makes you wonder why JU did not boost BCN with so much extra demand. Seems like it's a market where they made it easy for Wizz Air to position itself.
ReplyDeleteBtw as for your flight being delayed, I was watching BEG on FR24 that Friday and the main reason why it was delayed so much was because of the taxiyway that is parallel to the runway being closed. The A321 that was supposed to go to BCN had to wait for 20 minutes to taxi back to the terminal. This on top of an existing small delay which caused BCN to depart much later than initially planned.
Wizz Air looks quite decent.
ReplyDeleteActually they are. They have nice unifroms, their crew is always nice and well groomed and planes are always clean and well maintained. They put many airlines like LH or OS to shame.
DeleteThis route turned out to be quite a success for Wizz Air. I hope this encourages them to start Belgrade-Lisbon flights.
ReplyDeleteI heard Nice isn't doing that badly so hopefully it encourages them to add more flights in the future.
DeleteI hope for Belgrade-Catania flights.