TRIP REPORT
I began my journey from Dublin to Belgrade, flying Air France to Paris and then continuing to Belgrade. I made a stopover in Belgrade and spent some time in the city. On December 30, 2022 I headed to the airport for my flight to Tianjin. As we approached the airport around 10AM the road was getting extremely busy and in front of the airport terminal there was a big traffic jam. So, in the end I decided to get out of the car some 100 metres from the terminal as we would have spent probably an hour in order to get to the drop off area.
I headed to the business class check-in desk but then I noticed that Tianjin had a whole row of dedicated check-in desks. After security and passport check I headed to the busy Air Serbia lounge. I found it a nice touch that at the lounge you can buy a limited edition Air Serbia A330-200 model plane with the Nikola Tesla livery (the plane that would be operating to Tianjin that day). It costs 34 euros, and it is a nice memory to have.
Afterwards, I headed to gate C10 where boarding would take place. It was nice to see that right at the gate next to us was Air Serbia’s second A330-200.
Around 55 minutes before departure, boarding for flight JU702 began. Even though there were two air bridges, only one was being used. The flight was full, so it took some time for everyone to board. Upon boarding, a welcome drink was offered by the crew (orange juice, water and champagne), and the crew also introduced themselves. There was a menu, blanket, pillow, headphones and bottle of water at the seat. Around 20 minutes behind schedule, we took off with some great views of downtown Belgrade on the left side of the plane.
After take off, the crew took the meal and drink orders. Passengers were then served their beverage choice and some mixed nuts. Afterwards the meal was serviced. The menu included the following.
I chose the sweet and sour pork with fried rice. The crew set up the table with cloth and then individually put everything on the table, from the entre to the bread, butter, oil, drink and main meal. Afterwards for dessert I had the chocolate cake which was very sweet and tasty. I asked the cabin crew if they had something special from Serbia on the meny so they recommended a brandy for me and it tasted very good.
The in-flight entertainment had several movies and TV shows. Unfortunately, the languages available were only English and Serbian.
After that it was time to sleep, and the cabin crew dimmed the lights. The seat turns into a lie-flat bed, and it is comfortable especially because the footwall is wide, and you don’t have your legs cramped. The pillow is big, and the blanket is comfortable. The seat also has USB and power port so you can charge devices. Unfortunately, there were no amenity kits.
I woke up some hour and a half before landing and I ordered some cookies, fruit and coffee. The cookies were delicious and sweet and were Serbian inspired. I didn’t originally plan to but then I ordered the club sandwich with chicken, cheese and tomato. I find it interesting that with all the meals, Air Serbia also provided chopsticks which isn’t so common on European airlines flying to China.
After around nine and a half hours of flying we landed in Tianjin. Overall an enjoyable flight with Air Serbia.
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Very nice trip report. Seems like JU finally did something about its meal presentation which is really good and a step in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, who were most of the passengers in business class? Chinese or Europeans?
I really hope JU manages to secure additional flights to China now that they are reopening. Good thing is that the EU isn't ready to sabotage its economic ties with China like they did with Russia so demand should only keep on growing. On top of that, the number of Chinese tourists in Serbia has grown a lot. All this should help in filling seats that were put on the market.
Air Serbia must remain competitive as we are one of the rare small European countries which can rely on such strong O&D demand.
+1
DeleteWOW, I really didn't expect trip report from this route. Nice 👍 Is this YU-ARC business class. Not so many choices for main course. Traffic at the and around airport is really criminal
ReplyDeleteThree options for a main course is a kind of standard for business class. I had the same on Qatar’s flights to/from Singapore.
Delete@Anon 09:38
DeleteCorrect, almost every airline flying longhaul has at least three main choices in Business.
@anon 09:24
DeleteIt's written in the article, the plane is YU-ARB (Tesla).
The whole debacle with access roads goes to show how incompetent BEG management is. There is no one to regulate traffic, lanes are zigzagging all the time, they keep on closing and opening different lanes and so on. However, what matters is that they increased parking fees. Another idiotic thing is that in order to access the large and most expensive parking, you have to drive past the ATC all the way to the petrol station, make a U turn and then drive all the way past T2 to the parking. With this traffic you are looking at at least 45 minutes.
DeleteIf they actually created a special, temporary lane for this parking then they would have reduced traffic down the road.
Even if you go to the cheap and big parking towards Ledine, you still have to take the bus that has to fight its way through all this traffic. Naturally this is unless you are willing to get off by the cargo building and then walk a kilometer to the terminal building.
Police is to blame too.
DeleteIs airport responsible for traffic regulation of public road? I am not sure even new Tesla parking is under airport's jurisdiction
DeleteFrom what I remember until Vinci came parkings were run by Паркинг сервис. Then they were transferred and should be under the control of the airport. I might be wrong though, I remember reading something about it a while back.
DeleteI don't think the Ministry of Interior is to blame here. After all, it's the airport that closed all those roads and should have requested help from the police.
The airport can't close public roads, no one can. There is strict procedure on this and it always includes instance in charge of given road (Sekretarijat za saobraćaj, Putevi Srbije) and MUP. For this kind of operations, one must present elaborate which has to be approved. Someone approved all this, it's by no means airport's self-will. However the in-airport experience is, and it's not much better.
Delete*it's not airport's self-will, you got the point
DeleteOf course but the airport can make recommendations which the Sekretarijat would approve without a problem. I am sure the government would try and avoid giving Vinci a headache.
DeleteWhat I think happened is that they planned this while not counting on there being so much traffic. Обрни, окрени it's down to poor planning.
Great report, glad you enjoyed your flight.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of amenity kits cheapens though the whole experience.
Quite a few Asian carriers offer amenity kits even in Economy class.
It can't be that much of an expense to hand amenity kits to passengers paying thousands of Euros for a business class ticket. They could use various items from Serbian companies like creams, toothpaste, toothbrush, branded eyeshades etc. in a branded JU bag.
Well I don't think you can compare JU to Asian carriers which are known for their high level of service quality. I suppose JU is cheaper in business class so they are after a certain clientele.
DeletePersonally one thing I don't like is the outdated IFE and especially the moving map. I think almost all major carriers (except Lufthansa, of course) have installed a more modern in-flight entertainment system. Hopefully now that JU is profitable they can use some of that excess capital to invest in improving their onboard product, both soft and hard.
I can care less for a silly amenity kit . I personally hate those as there is nothing really I need on my flight. I use to fly a ot with KLM busses and brought home all those kits to collect the dust as I felt bad throwing them out . JU is smart for getting ride of those. Your report is awesome , JU seems soo much better then many western airlines when it comes to busses. I took AirCanada in January on 777 from FRA to YYZ and it was not even close to what I can see in your report . Very much imprrressed by JU service and offering .
DeleteNice professional story. Love to riding. Hope to be continuing in same services. Just fwe days to take off on Air Serbia is on the way to me. Liked to replying trip reports.
ReplyDelete😀✈
Where I can buy this model with Tesla?
ReplyDeleteIt says in the report.
DeleteIt actually doesn't. You can buy it in the New Belgrade office that is on the ground floor in the building where their HQ is.
DeleteIt does. " I found it a nice touch that at the lounge you can buy a limited edition Air Serbia A330-200 model plane with the Nikola Tesla livery (the plane that would be operating to Tianjin that day). It costs 34 euros, and it is a nice memory to have."
DeleteYes but I highly doubt that is what he was referring to otherwise he wouldn't have asked where he can buy it. There are other places where one can get it without passing border control and paying for a lounge access.
DeleteI'm from Dubrovnik and don't know how to purchase or buy this to come on my adress in Croatia, please anyone for help or idea?
DeleteYou could get someone to buy it and send it, ask AirSerbia by mail or just wait maybe it appears on eBay or Amazon.
DeleteSince two days ago, Serbia has been included in China's list of 20 countries for group travel. There will still be plenty of work for JU.
ReplyDeleteWhat does that mean?
DeleteNice! Do you have a link for the list?
DeleteIt means that Chinese tour operators can organise group packages to Serbia. Due to Covid, this is only allowed to a few countries at the moment.
DeleteFantastic news! Hopefully it translates into more flights by Hainan since JU doesn't have spare capacity.
Deletehttps://www.blic.rs/biznis/vesti/ceka-nas-poplava-kineskih-turista-u-beogradu-kina-odobrila-grupna-putovanja-u-srbiju/ytpc419
DeleteLooking at Hainan's fleet, they are currently sending their highest capacity airplane to Belgrade, A333 with 303 seats in two classes.
DeleteTheir one weekly flight can't be upgraded to something larger so if they want to grow they have to add more flights. Would be cool if they boosted flights to 2 per week so that there would be more connecting possibilities in Beijing.
Nemjee, You are not up-to-date! Hainan has increased BEG-PEK flights to 2 per week from April 18th! Check their website, second weekly flight is added on Tuesdays :)
DeleteFantastic news indeed! Thank you for the update! :)
DeleteI have to admit, I was waiting for a trip report like this. Pure enjoyment reading it (and of course a little jealousy ;)
ReplyDeleteAmenity kits, slippers, better IFE and all that good stuff will certainly follow when the third craft arrives.
ReplyDeleteFor now they're still... "practising".
Thanks for the nice report by the man from Erie. Seems like the level of service is quite satisfactory. Amenity Kit would be a nice touch featuring specialty Serbian products.
ReplyDeleteCurious to know if there were any Chinese speaking crew.
I would assume there must be some Chinese speaking staff.
DeleteHow authentic was the food?
ReplyDeleteNice report but please don't complain about traffic at Beograd Airport. Often it takes two hours to reach Manhattan from Kennedy Airport. Beograd is never more than 30 minutes from it's airport.
ReplyDeleteNew York vs. Beograd, pretty well the same sized cities, so you are about write.
DeleteNemjee, because you are a regular visitor to the airport. What is the current situation with the taxi companies? Do you see an improvement? Otherwise, the JU service is just okay. Much room for improvement for sure but this route is obviously targeted for Chinese if they offer chopsticks.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've seen it's better now, naturally they are still trying to rip people off but they did make some improvements. I think once the construction is completed, taxis will be downstairs by the exit so there will be less room for corruption and trickery. In my opinion, Belgrade taxi drivers represent the worst layer of the Serbian society.
DeleteI don't know if it still works like that, but they did have a good system in Bucharest. You could choose your taxi operator on a digital kiosk and you would then get the badge number of your taxi which would pull up shortly afterwards. So there was a record for every ride taken. Never got ripped off.
ReplyDeleteI was in Bucharest and Sofia and in both places even though there is a system in place you would still get random guys ask you if you need a ride to the city: taxi, taxi, taxi..
DeleteBEG has a system too, at least in theory. But they still rip people off, even with a voucher and the communal police standing right next to them. A few months again I had to wait 45mins for someone to pick me up and I spent the time waiting around the taxi queues. It was quite the show, I can tell you that.
DeleteSadly, this could've been even prevented less if BEG had a metro or light rail from the airport. I mean scams will always exist but may be reduced significantly with such services.
DeleteThis smart tv is amazing and this is amazing review in smart tv. 32 inch led tv under 5000
ReplyDelete