TRIP REPORT
Air Serbia launched flights between Tianjin and Belgrade at the end of last year and from my own experience I can conclude it is performing well. This August I flew on the route. Flight departs on Saturdays at 6AM, which is rather early. Check-in at the airport opens at 4AM. Tianjin Airport has decent traffic but mostly domestic. There are a couple of international flights per day but, Air Serbia is the only one that early in the morning. However, don’t think there won’t be huge lines. After you check-in you need to get your customs QR code scanned and boarder police usually asks lots of questions.
 |
| QR code scanning |
I was travelling in business class so had access to Tianjin Airport’s “First Class Lounge”. The lounge is made up of just a few big sofas, the air conditioning is turned on to freeze to death, and the only hot food are instant noodles. At the airport, there is also a large advertisement for Air Serbia with the slogan "Connecting More Possibilities". However, when I disembarked the flight, which was full in both cabins, the number of people who transferred could be counted on one hand.
 |
| Air Serbia billboard at Tianjin Airport |
Our aircraft today was called “Mihajlo Pupin” which has 18 seats in business and it all were taken up. It has old 2-2-2 configuration seats. They are the same used once by South African Airways since the plane was operated by them before. They have just changed the covers on the seat from cream to black. The seat is ok with basics and has good recline for sleep. There is a TV that comes out from the side. On the seat there is pillow, blanket, headphones, water, menu and amenity kit. If you want pyjamas, you have to ask.
The in-flight service is not bad. There is a cabin crew member who can speak Chinese. The 10.5-hour flight comes with two meal service. It starts with breakfast but this one is the larger of the two meals. The food was decent but nothing extraordinary. After breakfast, cabin crew darkened the cabin and offered to make up people’s seat for sleeping by putting a cover over the seat, then pillow and blanket.
 |
| First meal (breakfast) - Beef |
 |
| Dessert - matcha lemon cake |
 |
| Pre-arrival meal - fruit plate |
 |
| Pre-arrival meal - beef with noodles |
 |
| Coffee with Serbian sweet |
Overall, the flight was good. The in-flight entertainment is outdated, and the screen isn’t very responsive, although there is a remote control. There is an option with Chinese movies.
After arriving in Belgrade, I got a nice view of our plane and I went to the business class lounge “Air Serbia Premium Lounge”. The first 15 minutes were calm and then it became so crowded that it was better to sit out in the corridor. My Tivat flight was delayed 3 hours so I had a long transfer.
 |
| View at Belgrade Airport |
Finally, time came to board our flight to Tivat. Again packed. An A320 was used. The business class cabin had 8 seats. We took off, with apologies for the delay from the pilot. I was very surprised that within minutes after taking off crew came with trays of food. By the time I had a few bites we started descending. The flight lasted just 40 minutes.
Overall experience was good.
Share your travel experience by submitting a trip report to exyu@exyuaviation.com
The design of that Air Serbia ad is really poor.
ReplyDeleteWorks for the intended target audience. You are not the target :D
DeleteChinese people like white characters on a white cloud background? Or the AirSerbia link on the bottom left which is barely legible?
DeleteA simple picture of Hram Svetog Save with a clear sky and a message on it in white characters would have been 100x better than whatever this is.
You can't even read what it says but you feel entitled to vilify it? LOL
DeleteAir Serbia has giant posters at departure concourse C with inspirational messages. Elegant and marketed towards different audience. They are capable of understanding different markets.
DeleteNow show us your portfolio of ads for Chinese market.
Tnx for the report. It was interesting to hear about your experience and to read about Tianjin airport.
ReplyDeleteThis IFE is shocking!
ReplyDelete@Anon 09:40
DeleteIt is a basic system from 2011. I wasn't expecting much.
Maybe JU will update the cabin and the IFE at some point in the future.
Does anyone know how this works with the catering on international flights. Are they shipping the Serbian products (Vrnci or wine) to the local caterer abroad by sea container, or are they carrying it on the aircraft?
ReplyDeleteDrinks are carried on the inbound flight.
DeleteThank you, a bit of an “exotic” report. Business is JU is nothing more than fair, with entertainment as one of weakest parts - reason is obvious, it’s expensive the charge the system with a number of new movies. As they are fixing some big issues, like getting rid of old ATRs, the big challenge now is also commonality of the product - the planes differ teo much one from another, it’s a real lottery what you will get. This is hugely aparent in business class on A330. Hopefully they will deal with it sooner than later.
ReplyDeleteHopefully they will a third A330 soon, so they can unify all 3 one by one. Interesting that on the A320 they have the "old" business seats, with the ATR 72 you would not get anything. Hopefully AirSerbia is going to refresh the soft products, first of all the app. The App is nothing. Serbia is the land of IT-brains! Make it possible!
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteBelgrade is the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe.
It is?
DeleteThat would be Estonia.
DeleteIt wouldn't because Serbia has a much higher IT revenue than Estonia.
DeleteRomania.
DeleteBelgrade's IT 'economy' is at least 3x smaller than the one of e.g. Bucharest or Warsaw. So this IT self-perception is only wishful thinking...
DeleteThe food looks really nice!
ReplyDeleteWas gonna say the same, wonder is it from a Serbian or Chinese caterer?
DeleteChinese. They can't cater the food in Serbia for both outbound and inbound (except for alchoholic drinks). Apart from a space issue, there is also an issue that food can't sit so long on the plane (and in the case of Tianjin even more so because the plane sits there for a day). Outside of BEG they take on catering in New York, Tianjin and Chicago.
DeleteNice to see there is Chinese speaking crew
ReplyDeletewhat is this QR-scanning? thanks
ReplyDeleteAко може неко да одговори на ово КР скенирање, о чему се ту ради ? Летим и ја следеће недеље за Тјанђин.
DeleteIt is for Chinese citizens, not foreigners.
DeleteI will be flying Pupin on SEP 9 from ORD to BEG with my 9 month old baby, in business class. He will be in my lap. What seat do you recommend, I have us booked at 1H, I can also pick 3H. What seat do you recommend? I am 191 cm tall, I assumed the first row has some extra bulkhead space…
ReplyDeleteHaha, poor fellow passengers in business class on that flight. I wouldn¨t want to be one of them. Does your baby have an on-off switch? :)
DeleteAnonymous, if you could afford to travel with your baby in a business class, you would still choose economy over business, since you are so thoughtful, right?! Please spare me your useless comments, if you can’t answer my specific question, just keep scrolling down. And fyi, my baby is well behaved, I will do my best nobody to even notice him on that flight.
DeleteHey friend, a long time crew here: just a couple tips to make your trip a bit easier. There are two “crying” moments most babies have on flights. First one is when you need to put on the Infant seatbelt prior to take off, and to mitigate it you should clip the seatbelt around the baby first, wait a few minutes for the baby to forget about the belt and then clip your seatbelt through the loop. If you do the other way around there are usually tears involved. Second tip would be to be sure to have a bottle prepared for when the aircraft starts descending. The Captain usually makes an announcement just before it starts. When the baby is making vacuum in its mouth, their ears don’t hurt due to the change of air pressure on landing and it saves both you and the baby from getting stressed.
DeleteHave a safe flight and be sure to ask the crew for help if you need anything.
Thank you Anonymous @16:48 for such a great tips. We already did Serbia and Italy trip back in May when he was 4 months old. Agreed, prepared bottle for take-offs and landings is a saver! Back then was the whole family traveling, and now only two of us, which makes me a little bit nervous, but I think we’ll be fine. I didn’t think about seatbelt order, but it does make sense what you are saying. Thank you once again.
Delete