TRIP REPORT: Belgrade - Larnaca - Athens - Belgrade

TRIP REPORT

Witten by Nemjee

Good morning everyone!

As I sat to write all this, I realised that I have the honour of writing the last trip report of 2024! As a Serbian myself, I can't say it was a particularly good year for our aviation. I hope 2025 will be better. However, as time goes by I am starting to lose my optimism. Anyway, let's get back to business.

I decided to go to Cyprus for an extended weekend (Wednesday to Monday). Naturally I immediately checked Air Serbia and I booked myself on the Wednesday flight departing BEG at 10.20. I was hesitant when it came to the flight back as the Monday flight was supposed to be operated by one of the wet-leased A320s. Given that it was the pre-Christmas period I didn't feel like paying over €300 (44.000 RSD) for that experience. I checked Aegean and found a decent connection via ATH for €320. I haven't flown with Aegean in a while so I decided to check them out and to compare these two Balkan carriers where both aim to make their home airport a relevant transfer hub.

Our journey begins at the unreasonably expensive BEG parking (400 RSD per hour). Here you can notice the Air Serbia markings which I assume will be reserved for their business class passengers using the dedicate check-in desks in the terminal.

Here is the extended check-in area where QR passengers were starting to line up. This was actually taken from the only coffee shop before security. When I asked them for a glass of water to go with my coffee I was told that it wasn't wise since the pipes are as old as the airport itself - nice.

Preparations were being made for the introduction of passport scanners. Unfortunately, Serbian language does not feature Cyrillic, only Latin. Seems like they are copying Air Serbia which had completely eliminated Cyrillic from their company.

Once you pass the passport and security controls you find yourself in the, I have to say, relatively nice duty free shop. Their offer is quite good and prices are not out of this world.

At the end of the duty free shop there is a Rakia Bar which serves a whole range of alcoholic drinks, beer on tap included.

The recently opened In & Out restaurant.

Once you are done with your shopping and eating this is currently the way towards the gate area. I do hope that they will have an open space next to the In&Out as it would make the C gates far more accessible. These are the ones which are used by long-haul flights as well as by Air Serbia.

This is what is left of the old Tesla Square (not that there was much before anyway)

The new Хлеб & Кифле which is much bigger now and has fantastic views on the runway. In the back you can see our YU-APM which had just arrived from a morning rotating to Podgorica.

Anyway, it was time to head to gate C2 as the screens were screaming FINAL CALL ... despite the fact that just a few seconds ago they told us: Go to gate

BEG-LCA

Air Serbia

Aircraft: A319 (YU-APM)

LF: 112/140 (80%)

STD: 10.20/ 10.41

ATD: 13.45/ 13.50

And here we have it. This is the first yellow card for Air Serbia and their rude and incompetent ground handlers. I have been flying with JU my whole life and this is the first time they copied Wizz Air since they had us wait in the airbridge for the plane to be ready for boarding. Screens immediately showed final call despite the fact that boarding had barely begun and all passengers (business class included) were processed only to stand like idiots for 15 minutes in the airbridge.

To make matters worse, once on the plane we had to wait another 15 minutes due to ATC restrictions. So why do this? They knew about the slot, the plane wasn't full so what was the reasoning behind this obvious lower quality of service? Just a week before this flight, I flew to Vienna onboard Austrian Airlines. We did not experience this as boarding started once the plane and the crew were ready to welcome us onboard. It's worth noting that Austrian Airlines does not use Menzies in BEG. Seems like this will become a new reality when flying with Air Serbia. I guess it was an idea put forward by Menzies which JU no doubt accepted.

YU-APM parked at gate C2

My seat for the next 2.5 hours

After being welcomed by a friendly and smiling purser at the door, I was then greeted by leftover service from the flight from TGD. I assume they served Plazma which tends to leave crumbs. I thought Air Serbia cleans their planes between rotations in BEG so this was rather strange.

It's very good that Air Serbia headrests are back. They are much nicer than the ads they used to have in the past. Those looked cheap.

The view from my window. It was getting busy ahead of the regional wave of departures. At around 10.00 it was just us and LHR departing. I think next one was China Southern at 11.00.

I noticed my seat felt strange so I stood up only to realise that the seat cushion was detached from the seat and it kept on sliding. The velcro which was supposed to keep the seat in place was obviously worn out.

I checked the seat next to me and it was the same situation. This particular plane used to be operated by JP and this was their cabin. I assume it's been well over a decade since these Lufthansa style seats were installed. I never understood why Air Serbia didn't replace these seats with their own. YU-APM joined Air Serbia's fleet in December 2020 so it's been 4 years.

I actually flew on this exact plane in February this year (TGD-BEG) and I thought to myself how this particular plane had the best kept cabin interior within the JU fleet. I guess the busy summer season left its mark on the cabin interior.

Anyway, I settled into my broken seat and shortly after we taxied to the runway and took off.

Once airborne we made a sharp turn towards Kragujevac which gave us a very nice view of the airport. If Serbs had the capacity for long-term planning then we would have blocked off these empty areas around the airport for future expansion.

It was a bumpy take off as we had to fight our way through two layers of clouds. The seatbelt sign remained active for a long time. Once we reached Nis it was deactivated so service could begin.

The rear galley looking nice and tidy with one of their ovens labelled as INOP

I had to use the toilet and I noticed that their soap dispenser was broken. Instead of fixing it, after take off the crew went around and placed these plastic soap bottles. Personally I don't think they look nice especially since they are dripping which you might be able to see on the picture.

Once we were around Sofia, two friendly crew members started handing out the complimentary onboard service. I was happy to see that Air Serbia introduced new branding of their sandwiches as before they used to be in simple white boxes which looked cheap. A wet wipe is more than welcome and so is the bottle of water.

The sandwich itself was nice ... some three, four days ago. It was absolutely stale and disgusting so I decided to check the declaration on the packaging. Our flight was on December 18th meaning our sandwich was 4 days old. To make matters even worse, Air Serbia and their catering partners believe that a sandwich can remain edible a week after it was made. Interesting.

Anyway, they collected what remained of this stale onboard product so BoB started. It was funny how during the announcement they spoke of how they sell freshly made sandwiches. In other words, if you don't want a week old sandwich feel free to purchase a fresh one. Anyway, I got a beer and chips for €6 which was a good price.

Good thing is that you can finally pay by card since JU got some new machines. For a very long time you could not do it.

Anyway, the rest of the flight was uneventful and we reached Cyprus more or less on time. Pictured below is the port city of Limassol while next to it is the British air base. Actually, Akrotiri is the biggest British airbase outside the UK.

YU-APM could use a new coat of paint in addition to new seats... and a new soap dispenser... and a new frequent flyer program... and a new corporate program..

After a long taxi we reached our gate and we said goodbye to Air Serbia ... for now.

I like flying on Air Serbia but it's obvious that it's becoming increasingly difficult for their crew to do a great job when their management is making huge mistakes. Imagine you have to face a whole bunch of angry passengers who were stuck in an airbridge for 15 minutes, only to sit on a broken seat and be served a stale, 4 day old sandwich?

Air Serbia crew was great including the pilot who made two announcements where both were informative and detailed. The purser was wonderful, polite, kind and smiling and so were her two colleagues. Their new uniforms looks fantastic and they really make Air Serbia stand out from the rest of the Euro-gang. Like I wrote before, there is only so much they can do. It's up to their management to provide them with tools with which they can make sure passengers have an enjoyable time onboard thus turning them into happy, regular customers.

Monday came so it was time to head back home.

Good morning from LCA. Aegean ads are everywhere around the airport. They even had some billboards on the highway.

Here she's is. Our 2 year old A321neo which spends her day flying exclusively between LCA and ATH. Its first flight was that morning at around 05 and despite arriving to ATH some 20 minutes ahead of schedule, it left with a delay of some 40 minutes. This didn't make me particularly happy as I had only an hour in ATH.

I knew we were going to be late since 5 minutes before our scheduled departure time, they were still unloading cargo from the plane.

This was the scene at exactly 10.25 so the time when we were supposed to be taking off. Behind me in the airbridge there were at least another 60 passengers. I tried to understand Aegean's boarding logic but I failed each time. They have several groups but I don't know how they decide who is where. Various groups were seated all over the plane which made this experience extremely chaotic. This particular boarding experience must have been the worst I've ever seen.

Business class section

As you board you are given a jelly which is a nice touch

Boarding chaos continued inside the cabin where several passengers sat at the wrong seat. So the crew had to move them around while passengers were still boarding and were looking where to place their bags in overhead bins. Aegean did introduce special tags which indicate that your hand luggage goes under your seat. As expected, most Greeks and Cypriots ignored this and proceeded to do as they wanted. Of course, Greeks being Greeks they were arguing and fighting with the crew especially when several of them found out their hand luggage would have to be taken into the cargo hold.

With a delay of 35 minutes, we were finally in the air.

Take off was rather bumpy as on that day the weather was rather bad. Until then it was sunny with 20+ temperatures.

Before complimentary service was given to adult passengers, Aegean's crew passed around and handed out special packages for children. Their meals included a different kind of sandwich, cookies and a juice. The rest of us had a choice between two kinds of sandwiches: vegetarian or ham.

Aegean's sandwiches were made on that day and their expiry date was on the next day... hear that Air Serbia?

As one set of crew handed out complimentary snacks, another started the drink service which had pretty much anything on offer.

Aegean no longer offers screens inside their planes as they have a fantastic online platform. You can access it by either scanning the QR code or by connecting onto their wifi. Once there you can watch movies, tv shows, documentaries, check for connecting flights or follow the interactive moving map.

Once I connected to their wifi I could, without any charge, surf the internet, use social media etc. From my experience on that flight, seems like wifi is free of charge.

Wifi worked all the way until we landed.

The Aegean neo fleet features new seats which I found to be very comfortable. Their headrests feature a textile cover and not a paper one as is the case with almost all carriers out there. This is a very nice touch.

We landed at exactly 12.27 and I disembarked at 12.44. I had 26 minutes until my flight to BEG takes off. By 12.50 I was in the gate area only to find out that our plane was slightly delayed from Sofia so boarding had not yet begun.

This small area featured three bus gates with Wizz Air to Tirana and Aegean flights to Belgrade and Istanbul.

What I found especially funny was that Aegean insists on boarding by groups even when you are heading into a bus. Anyway, our flight was 95% full so we needed three bus to board everyone.

Our flight to BEG was operated by an older A320 which did show its age. As was the case with our previous flight, you are offered a candy when stepping into the plane.

After take off the crew came around once again and started the onboard service. Children were served first and this is what they got.

Adult passengers were offered a choice between a vegetarian and a turkey breast sandwich. I took the turkey breast one and do notice that despite it having the same meat as the children's meal, the sandwich is not the same. This goes to show how attentive Aegean is. This is impressive service and I don't know if any other carrier out there does this.

This is not all. On both flights the purser came around and handed out gifts to children. On LCA-ATH they got an Aegean themed puzzle while on ATH-BEG they got this LED drawing screen. They were also handed Christmas cookies.

Clear blue skies were long gone and we were welcomed by a snow storm in Belgrade.

It was time to say goodbye to Aegean after a wonderful flying experience.

We landed in Belgrade at 14.04 so I was happy to avoid the afternoon rush-hour. Little did I know that the snow storm would cause complete chaos in the city so it took me three hours to get to Lion from the airport. By the time I got home our A320 completed its turnaround in BEG and had already landed in Athens.

Final thoughts:

- Air Serbia's service is bland and the fact they serve such stale sandwiches doesn't bode well for them. Both Aegean flights were a bit longer than an hour. During that time they served both children and adults separate meals, had a drink service and they even handed out toys. This is depressing when you take into consideration we got a fraction of this on our BEG-LCA flight which was twice longer than either of the Aegean flights. So what's Air Serbia's excuse? How can Aegean offer such service despite facing tougher competition at its home market while having a less competitive cost structure than JU?

- With Aegean transitioning to a neo fleet which features a new interior as well as a new streaming service, I don't think we can compare them to JU anymore. Aegean's management has committed itself to providing a superb service and on turning ATH once again into a major transfer hub. So far they seem to be doing a good job. Just the other day they announced non-stop flights to Erbil.

- I firmly believe Air Serbia has a nicer brand which it doesn't know how to use. Aegean's new uniforms are atrocious and they look like characters from Star Trek. Their overall branding is not bad but it doesn't make you think of Greece in any way. JU on the other hand has a nicer and more elegant livery, better crew and nicer uniforms but none of these matters if their cabins are falling apart, their staff is demoralized and if their ground handlers treat their paying customers as cattle.

Aegean is a Star Alliance member, they have their own FF and corporate program, they have a superior onboard product and a growing network. Besides pricing, why should an average passenger chose JU over A3 when flying between Athens and Belgrade? Our flight was not just full, I noticed many transfer passengers from Italy and France. If Aegean starts attracting transfers from BEG to Western Europe then this might become an even bigger problem for JU. These additional passengers might enable A3 to offer, for the first time ever, more than daily flights to BEG. They are already going daily to BEG next summer. They are slowly but surely consolidating their position in BEG. These Western passengers will end up flying on A3 (among others) only as long as JU keeps on decimating their network - like they did a few weeks ago.

Air Serbia needs to understand that cutting costs when it comes to passenger experience will cost them more than to offer free drinks and snacks like Aegean does. The strong branding they had back in 2013 is more or less gone due to bad business decisions over the years. They need to reset themselves (да се саберу) and to start implementing a whole new business paradigm - one where customer satisfaction is key.

Bragging about opening premium check-in desks while serving 4 day old sandwiches is not the right way.

Thank you for reading this looooong trip report, I hope you enjoyed it. I wish you a Happy New Year and many safe and enjoyable flights in 2025!

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