TRIP REPORT: Croatia Airlines, Paris - Zagreb

TRIP REPORT

Written by Koen

Last year, I had to travel to Zagreb, which provided the perfect opportunity to fly again with Croatia Airlines. Although I had flown twice before in economy class on Croatia Airlines (from Zurich to Zagreb and Zagreb to Frankfurt), this trip was a great excuse to finally try their business class cabin. The ticket I booked was relatively complicated, as it was part of an open-jaw itinerary I booked with Air France (Tirana-Paris–Bucharest, Bucharest-Paris-Zagreb), with the Paris-Zagreb leg being a codeshare operated by Croatia Airlines. It’s always interesting to see airlines across different alliances (Air France is in SkyTeam, while Croatia Airlines is part of Star Alliance) cooperating, as it’s rather unusual.

Croatia Airlines flies out of Terminal 2D at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. It had been a few years since I was last in this terminal, which has since been fully renovated and certainly looked much better, with more shops and food outlets than I remembered. Terminal 2D also has a new business lounge - the Extime Lounge - which I will review in a separate post soon. If you fly Croatia Airlines in business class or hold Star Alliance Gold status, you will receive complimentary access to the Extime Lounge at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. Note that the Extime Lounge has a strict policy of allowing access only 3 hours before your flight.

Somehow, I lost track of time in the lounge, and when I suddenly saw on the departures screen that boarding had already begun, I rushed to the gate. It turned out that my afternoon Croatia Airlines flight to Zagreb was departing from a bus gate. On one hand, it’s always annoying to be crammed like sardines in a bus, but on the other hand, boarding by steps at a remote stand always provides a great opportunity to photograph the plane. Fortunately, we didn’t have to drive far to reach the plane, and after passing a few easyJet aircraft parked at proper jet bridges, we pulled up in front of the Croatia Airlines Airbus A319 that would fly us from Paris to Zagreb.

Just like most other European airlines, Croatia Airlines offers the typical European-style business class on its narrow-body planes, where the seats are the same as in economy, but the one next to you is guaranteed to remain empty. The cabin divider and curtains can be moved back and forth throughout the cabin depending on the demand for business class, and on my flight, the business class cabin was just three rows deep. Thanks to the blocked middle seat, you do of course get more shoulder space and personal privacy in business class, and since the average Croatia Airlines flight is under two hours, it is sufficient for the duration, even if not exactly luxurious.

That said, I found the slimline seats a bit hard and uncomfortable, and the lack of any power socket or USB charging ports on the Croatia Airlines Airbus A319 a significant downside. For what it’s worth, the only aircraft in the Croatia Airlines fleet with at-seat power outlets are the Airbus A220, which has both USB-A and USB-C charging ports, and is also the only type of plane equipped with Wi-Fi internet.

The business class cabin was about half-full on this afternoon flight from Paris to Zagreb. I was seated in 1A, and fortunately, seat 1C across from me remained empty. The flight attendant serving us in business class today came by with pre-departure beverages during boarding, offering a choice between water and orange juice.

Paris (CDG) to Zagreb (ZAG)

Croatia Airlines - Flight OU471 - Airbus A319

Plane registration number: 9A-CTG

Business class - Seat 1A

Departure: 6.30pm - Arrival: 8.20pm

Flight time: 1h50m - Distance: 671 miles

We took off on time from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, and shortly after departure, enjoyed lovely views over Le Bourget Airport, the city centre, and the suburbs of Paris, including Saint-Denis with its Stade de France, the national stadium of France.

Once we reached cruising altitude, the in-flight service began. In business class on Croatia Airlines, passengers are served a snack box containing a variety of Croatian delicacies. From what I’ve gathered from other recent Croatia Airlines flight reports and reviews, this is the standard business class offering, regardless of flight length or departure time, so don’t expect a multi-course hot meal and make sure to set your expectations accordingly. Although the business class food offering on Croatia Airlines is by no means among the best in Europe, I found the actual quality of the products to be very good, and certainly better than other airlines that distribute such business class meal boxes, like KLM does on its intra-European flights.

My snack box contained crackers with tomato salsa, arancini (dried and sugar-coated orange peal), as well as some pršut (Croatian dry-cured prosciutto), which all tasted good. To drink, I requested some red wine, which was professionally poured at my seat. Although the Croatian Merlot was certainly enjoyable, it wasn’t exactly top-shelf, as you can buy the bottle for a fiver in local supermarkets. Overall, the business class meal service left me with mixed impressions as it wasn’t exactly bad, but nothing great either. With a bit of effort, Croatia Airlines could easily serve something more premium, which would certainly elevate its business class product.

When it came to the actual business class service from the female flight attendant, I had mixed feelings as well. On one hand, she was certainly friendly and delivered service with a smile, but on the other hand, she disappeared into the galley right after distributing the snack boxes and handing out a round of drinks. Instead of checking on passengers in the cabin, she appeared more occupied with the passenger seated in 1F, whom she seemed to know. After the meal service, the woman in 1F disappeared into the galley, taking her glass of wine with her, where she continued her conversation with the flight attendant at a loud volume. Rather bizarrely, during a moment of turbulence when the fasten seatbelt signs were on, the flight attendant reappeared in the cabin to take away empty glasses, as well as the handbag of the woman in 1F, only to return to the galley and continue their chat. You would have expected her to actually ask the passenger to return to her seat during turbulence, not to pick up her handbag and bring that to the galley to continue their conversation there!

When I rang the call button later in the flight to ask for a refill, I must say the flight attendant swiftly responded and was eager to fulfil my request, although ultimately this shouldn’t have been necessary if she had been more a bit more professional and focused on all the business class passengers rather than her friend in 1F.

Just as I finished my second glass of wine on board, the fasten seatbelt signs came on again as we began our descent towards Zagreb. We flew directly over Zagreb Airport, where its contours were clearly visible through the cloud cover, before making a big U-turn to approach the runway.

Just like in Paris, we once again had a remote parking spot on the apron, this time in front of the old terminal building of Zagreb Airport. From here, we were bussed to terminal, and as I had no checked baggage to claim, I could walk straight into the arrivals hall.

It felt good to arrive again in Zagreb, as I’ve visited the city multiple times before and always had some fun adventures here.

My Croatia Airlines business class flight left me with mixed impressions about the quality of service and the onboard product. Overall, Croatia Airlines has a fairly standard European business class product, which some might find worth the premium over economy class, although for an equal number of people, it certainly won’t be worth the money. Especially if you already have lounge access through your Star Alliance Gold status or a lounge membership programme and don’t need the extra perks like increased luggage allowance that come with a business class ticket, there isn’t much of value that differentiates Croatia Airlines business class from economy class.

Images ©Paliparan

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