TRIP REPORT: Air Serbia, Belgrade - Istanbul - Belgrade

TRIP REPORT


Written by Aleksandar Karić

I purchased tickets on July 3 for a price of 19,950 dinars per passenger, roughly €170, for the Economy Light fare. Initially, I wanted to buy tickets via Turkish Airlines, but due to a price surge on the day of purchase, I decided against it. Considering Sabiha Gökçen Airport's location, I didn't even consider Pegasus or AnadoluJet.

Flight JU422, November 8

We arrived at the airport about two and a half hours early. Since we had already completed online check-in, we proceeded directly to passport and security control, which we passed through very quickly. I noticed that the much-talked-about e-gates still weren’t finished. After the standard walk through duty-free, we headed to a café near Gate A1 to wait for our gate to be officially announced. However, I already knew the gate upon arrival at the airport, as this was the first flight of the day for the aircraft.



The plane in question belongs to GetJet Airlines and was part of Air Serbia’s fleet under a wet lease agreement.

An hour before the flight, our gate was officially announced as C9. We headed there after finishing a surprisingly bad coffee (during a trip in August, I had a better coffee at the same café). Passing through the C section, we noticed how deserted it was.


At the gate, we were called on the intercom for document validation. The boarding process was delayed, as passengers boarded according to seating rows. This process went beyond the scheduled departure time by about 10 minutes. The flight ended up being delayed by nearly 30 minutes but landed on time in Istanbul. However, due to the airport's size, it took an additional 30 minutes to get to the gate.



During the flight, the crew handed out water and a Plazma biscuit. As always, I purchased Air Serbia’s orasnica, but sitting in seat 2A, I managed to get the last pack, which seemed odd. I also noticed a notification in the seat pocket indicating that this was a wet-leased aircraft.





Istanbul Airport is enormous. It took an effective 30 minutes of walking from the plane to the metro station. Passport control took about 10 minutes.





Aircraft: LY-WIZ, 16 years old, 90% LF (load factor)

Flight JU423, November 11

We arrived at the airport via the Havaist bus, which is supposed to take an hour from the city to the airport. Surprisingly, we reached it in just 30 minutes! This worked in our favour because Turkish airports have security checks at two points: at the entrance and just before or after passport control. It took us almost an hour to get through to the large shopping plaza inside the airport.




Istanbul Airport, aside from its impressive size and design, also has impressively high prices. Two nearly inedible sandwiches at Subway cost almost €40. You can also find a kilogram of baklava for just €300.






Boarding was completely disorganised, with all passengers crowding into a single line. Since I was in seat 2A again, I decided to wait until the very end to board. I also noticed that there was no boarding music during this process.



The flight departed an hour late but landed about 30 minutes behind schedule. The flight itself was accompanied by a beautiful sunset. Once again, the crew handed out Plazma biscuits and water. Unfortunately, they didn’t have orasnice on this flight.





After landing in Belgrade, we disembarked very quickly. There were no queues at passport control.


Share your travel experience by submitting a trip report to exyu@exyuaviation.com


Comments

  1. Anonymous09:49

    These freakin’ orasnice. They NEVER have enough of them. I wonder why is it so difficult to have enough of them?!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:41

      Not just Orasnice, flew them from BEG to ARN last month, and they were out of every other thing on the menu. Was sitting in row 3 and for a flight out of the hub it was not impressive.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous06:35

      Same happened to a friend of mine who flew from MAD to BEG a few weeks ago. Fully packed A319 and he was in front of the plane. They were out of sandwiches. No bueno y'all.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous09:49

    Nice report. How was load factor?

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    Replies
    1. Aleksandar Karić10:16

      I accidentally omitted the load factor on the return flight, which was 100%.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:34

      Great!

      Delete
  3. Anonymous10:54

    Nice report, I enjoyed reading it. Next time I will try orasnica

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous10:56

    Does Turkish offer free meals on BEG-IST

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    Replies
    1. Aleksandar Karić11:02

      Yes, they do. They offer some sort of salad with grilled turkey, olives, and an almond cake, as well as a selection of drinks.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous19:35

      but what's the difference between the price tags of Air Serbia an Turkish I think that is an important factor

      Delete
    3. Aleksandar Karić23:53

      In some cases, Turkish Airlines is cheaper, while in others, Air Serbia is. It literally depends on the date. Before the price increase, the difference was around €5. Of course, there are times when Turkish Airlines can be €100 more expensive, but the prices are usually only minimally different.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous06:36

      Both are extremely expensive. That is why there are Pegasus and Anadoloujet for those who can't afford to fly into IST. SAW is the cheaper alternative.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous13:49

    Obrni okreni ali uvek kasni. Nesposobni su da idu na vreme to je vec nekako postalo pravilo!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous14:15

      Also sprecht Lufthansa...

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:17

      +1

      Delete
    3. Anonymous14:29

      JU jos uvijek radi na ekspanziji. To nazalost nije normalno, ali je za ocekivati. Zvuci malo kontradiktorno, zar ne?

      Iz Sarajeva cesto kasne za Beograd, i ATR-ovi cesto lete jako sporo. Kao da pilot vozi golfa dvojku.

      Ne mogu dovoljno cesto da ponovim, Srbija, ali i region, su zrtva politickih desavanja 90ih godina proslog vijeka.

      JAT je mogao, da je opstala SFRJ, biti velicine Turkish Airlinesa. Znam da to zvuci kao naucna fantastika, ali budimo realni, ljudi iz Sirije, Egipta, Iraka, Irana, Indonezije itd. bi mnogo radije letili prego Beograda ili Zagreba, nego preko Istanbula.

      Kao prvi razlog navodim nekadasnju neutralnost Jugoslavije, koju vise nemaju zemlje nasljednice. Jedan dio zemalja je u EU i NATO-u (pisi zapadni blok), a drugi je manje vise politickom agendom blize zapadu, nego istoku (Srbija, koja je zvanicno na putu ka EU, ma kakav god stav imali glasaci te iste zemlje). Ne pisem "pro" bilo koje strane, zelim samo o zrakoplovstvu/vazduhoplovstvu da pisem, ostalo me ne zanima.

      Drugi razlog je geografski polozaj ex yu, koji bi i dan danas pogodovao zemlji. Pri tome mislim na letove za Kinu, Japan i Koreju, koju KLM, Lufthansa, British Airways itd. ne mogu toliko efikasno da obavljaju, radi zatvorenog zracnog prostora.

      Treca tacka je tzv. Hospitaly ili gostoprimstvo. Iako se Arapi i Turci mogu pohvaliti svojom gostoljubljivoscu, nas narod je barem toliko ugodan i gostoljubljiv. Zar nije biti domacin identitet svakog postenog i radnog Srbina? Pa cijeli svijet ih zna po tome i po domacoj i zdravoj hrani. To se odnosi i na Hrvate, Bosance, Makedonce, Slovence i Crnogorce. Mozda imam predrasude, ali radije cu se zasladiti nekim hrvatskim strudlama, bosanskom keksom/kolacom ili srpskim kiflicama od oraha (necu sad da nabrajam druga jela iz ex yu, jer i na njih mislim).

      JU nazalost malo vise u nekim segmentima jos pati, dijelom radi propustenog rasta od 1991. do 2010. godine, ali i zbog turbulencija na demografskoj i ekonomskoj sceni, jer budimo iskreni, ljudi se sele iz nasih bivsih republika. Cvjetaju relacije tipa Memmingen, Götheborg, Bec i druge gasto rute.

      Uz to, OU i W6 nisu neka tolika konkurencija, koliko bi mogle biti. Naposljetku, JU ima jako dobre rezultate, koje ce nadam se dovesti do toga, da cemo u regionu biti sto bolje povezani. Sve drzave bi trebale raditi na kooperaciji.

      Zavrsna rijec od mene:

      Mi zasluzujemo bolje. Svako ima pravo na svoj nacionalni identitet i tradiciju. Ako se ja osjecam kao Hrvat, Srbin, Bosanac ili Makedonac, to je moja privatna stvar. Ne dijelimo ljude po tome je li se krste ili krizaju sa tri prsta ili sa otvorenim dlanom ili idu petkom u dzamiju na dzumu. Leticu ako mi je pogodno JU ili OU. Letimo Ryanairom, Britishom ili Lufthansom, pa i ne pomisljamo na animozitete prema nekim drugim zemljama.

      Zao mi je sto JU kasni i nadam se da ce dobiti dovoljno dobrih ljudi, da se proces poboljsa, kako na aerodromu BEG, tako i u vidu on flight producta. Zivim van bivse drzave i mogu samo dodati, da nije ni u EU kao nekada. Nijemce su uzimali kao primjer za organizaciju i rad. I oni pate od manjka domaceg stanovnistva i od socijalne nemarnosti vlade i institucija.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous15:19

      О ком се тачно кашњењу на SJJ-BEG ради? Ево сада гледам FR24 и видим следеће:

      01.12: 52'
      28.11: 21'
      23.11: 102'

      Свим другим данима лет из Сарајева је стизао на време у Београд.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous16:16

      Kasne cesto po ca. 15 minuta. Nije sad to neko veliko kasnjenje, niti je neki "delay". Ali SJJ nije LHR, pa da uvijek nesto kasni.

      JU653 krece po planu u 15:15 sati.

      28.11. 15:51
      01.12. 16:19
      02.12. 15:40
      05.12. 15:35

      Mislim da nece zbog toga nikome u Sarajevu pasti kruna sa glave. :)

      Znam da je teski "nitpicking" tj. cjepidlacenje, ali eto jednog od primjera.

      Nazalost i OU cesto kasni. Ovih dana je bilo bolje, ali eto, nisu bas najbolji. Manje vise, uvijek isti kasne, OU, JU i Pegasus. Naravno nasi su puno bolji po tom pitanju, od svojih kolega iz Turske.

      Naravno da mene ne tangiraju ta kasnjenja toliko, ali ne vjerujem, da Japanci, Kinezi i Nijemci na to tako gledaju. Njima je to mozda veci tabu nego nama.

      Dok god su ta kasnjenja u nekom podnosljivom omjeru, ne bi trebalo da kvari reputaciju.

      PS. Negdje sam procitao, da JU je mec top kompanijama, koje reaguju sa svojim servisom na kasnjenja. ;)

      Delete
    6. Anonymous06:38

      Ја сам излистао доласке у Београд и њихова кашњења. Ако и мало окасни из Сарајева он то може надокнадити у лету. Ето у нешто више од месец дана само је било једно кашњење од 100 минута. Све остало је ту до пола сата што стварно није проблем.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:21

      Ma da, sve je to manje vise irelevantno. ^⁠_⁠^

      Ne znam koliko je do njih, a koliko do aerodroma SJJ.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous15:16

    Aco thank you for the trip report. Fares seem quite good, €170 for a return flight is good value.

    Why din't you consider SAW? Do you know it has a metro link with the city?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aleksandar Karić18:20

      While researching ticket prices, I also came across the M4 metro line. Initially, I chose IST for its location, but after comparing prices, I decided to stick with a flight to IST. Neither AnadoluJet nor Pegasus offered cheaper tickets than Air Serbia, and Pegasus was even more expensive, with only a backpack included.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous15:25

    "Considering Sabiha Gökçen Airport's location, I didn't even consider Pegasus or AnadoluJet..."

    As if the new Istanbul airport is any better.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:06

      True. Although S Gokcen is really quite a crowded chaotic place. Transfers there in the early morning can be horrid! With a wait of an hour or more in a long line to go through the security check. IST has its issues but at least its very pretty! But i agree getting to many parts of central Istanbul are fine from S.G

      Delete
  8. Anonymous22:54

    I also like their orasnice (walnut cookie) :)

    ReplyDelete

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