TRIP REPORT
Last week I was supposed to fly from Sydney to Belgrade with Qatar Airways via Doha. Around six hours into the flight, just off the Australian coast, we were informed by the pilot that there are Middle East airspace closures and that we would return to Sydney. I realised this was unlikely as by the time we would have returned it would be the middle of the night and Sydney Airport, due to its central location, has a curfew between midnight and 5AM (a second airport is due to open in September which will be operational 24/7). It seems the pilot got a similar message as we began circling shortly after we were above Australian land. Eventually we made our way to Melbourne.
When we landed there were a number of flights by Gulf carriers which were diverted there (in total 30 aircraft from Gulf carriers were grounded across Australia). We cleared immigration, collected our bags and were instructed to head to check-in. It was around 3.30AM at this point. We were informed there were no hotels available anymore and that Qatar does not allow rebooking on other airlines when the cancellation is not their fault and that we would simply have to wait until our flight was rescheduled. Qatar has just in the last two days reversed this policy and is now rebooking on around a dozen airlines (according to their website, one of them is Air Serbia).
After we were informed of this, I quickly managed to book a hotel for one night and I immediately started searching for an alternative to get to Belgrade, as I realised the situation would not be resolved anytime soon and that prices would likely increase rapidly. I was able to find a good combination for the following day by booking through China Southern Airlines from Melbourne to Guangzhou (they have three daily flights) and following a 4-hour layover, continue with Air Serbia to Belgrade. The price was very reasonable at that point. I was thankful to have done so since just a few hours later prices went through the roof and everything seemed to have sold out.
I landed in Guangzhou at around 6PM local time, with the Air Serbia flight at 10.40PM. I headed to the lounge, which is used by the majority of foreign carriers. It is large and although I didn’t check out the food, I appreciated that they had shower facilities. There was also some cool model airplanes throughout the lounge, including one from Air Serbia.
At around 09.30PM I headed to the gate. The plane (YU-ARC) was being prepared for departure. I wasn’t looking forward to flying this plane too much. Having last flown it around a year and a half ago, many seats in the cabin were not working and the IFE was not working throughout the aircraft. Thankfully, the situation was completely different this time.
I found it interesting that two of the four ground staff for this flight were wearing the full Air Serbia crew uniform. I chatted with one of them, who spoke surprisingly good English, and he told me the flight was originally overbooked but that some passengers were rebooked onto other flights and there would be two vacant seats in business, while economy was full.
At around 9.50PM, they lined us up to prepare for boarding. As we were waiting, I started chatting with one of the passengers across from me who said he was supposed to fly with Emirates via Dubai to Frankfurt but managed to get a ticket on Air Serbia instead. There seemed to be quite a few passengers in a similar situation.
At around 10.10PM, boarding began. There was a separate airbridge for business class passengers. We were greeted by one of the cabin crew and directed towards the seat. In the rush of booking, I didn’t really select my seat and was in the middle isle. The dated cabin, in a 2-2-2 configuration, was actually spotless. At each seat there was a blanket, slippers, menu and a bottle of water.
When passengers were settled in, the crew member in each aisle introduced herself by name and said they would come around to take meal orders shortly. The crew then offered welcome drinks, and I just got some sparkling water.
The menu was as follows:
There was also a wine list but I forgot to take a photo. The menu was in Serbian, English and Chinese. There was dinner and breakfast served on this flight which lasted just under 12 hours, with options for each course. The crew took the meal orders and asked if we would like anything to drink after departure. We were then given amenity kits, pyjamas and headphones.
All the announcements were made in Serbian, English and Chinese and there was a crew member who spoke Chinese. He helped out the crew particularly when taking meal orders.
In the business cabin, most passengers were either Chinese or Serbian although there was also a couple that seemed to have been rerouted due to the Middle East conflict and continuing somewhere onwards in Europe, but I didn’t catch where they were from.
Although boarding was completed relatively quickly we pushed back behind schedule, but made up for the lost time during the flight.
After takeoff, the crew offered a second round of drinks along with some mixed nuts. Afterwards they set the tables for service. All items were brought out individually to the table. I ordered the salad, beef with rice and one of the desserts. All the meals were tasty, particularly the beef which was really tender (to note I took the photo after I had started eating).
One thing I find quite funny are the spoons Air Serbia uses, which resemble a shovel and is actually quite awkward to eat from.
I didn’t really use the IFE much but during the meal service I did turn on some sitcom. The TV screen pops out from the side of the seat. Unlike my previous flight on this aircraft, IFE was working perfectly, the screen was responsive, the audio worked as well. There was a choice of Hollywood, Serbian and Chinese movies, as well as TV shows. While the interface was rather vintage, everything worked fine.
After the meal, the crew asked if I wanted anything else to drink or tea or coffee. I then reclined the seat into flat bed mode. The seat was functioning and working normally, and this seemed to be the case for all the other passengers as well since I didn’t see anyone changing seats. I should note that the crew worked really well during the meal service. Plates were cleared really quickly and the whole meal service lasted under 30 minutes.
While these seats are old, the one thing I do appreciate about them is that they are well padded, so they are comfortable. I fell asleep and didn’t wake up for the next 9 hours. Apart from being tired, what helped was that there were no seatback screens, so the cabin was completely dark, there was surprisingly no turbulence whatsoever throughout the whole 12 hours and the cabin was kept cool, which I personally prefer.
As noted, I woke up 9 hours later and around 15 minutes afterwards breakfast choices were taken. I used the lavatory for the first time, and it really was clean. Actually, it looked like no one had used it, which likely wasn’t the case but it was in good condition.
For breakfast I chose the “udon noodles with beef”, which was exactly the same meal as dinner, except they just substituted the rice with noodles. It tasted the same and was fine, although a bit more diversity for the Chinese meals could have been made. Before that, fruit was served. Unlike dinner, breakfast was served on a tray.
We landed in Belgrade 10 minutes ahead of schedule, at around 4.15AM. We parked at the C4 gate and by chance I was the first one off since the door just behind the business cabin was used. C4 is convenient since you exit just in front of the stairs that take you down to immigration. Apart from one of the airport workers that directs people where to go, immigration was empty and I used the egate and was through in a minute.
Baggage started coming out less than ten minutes after I entered the baggage claim area and was lucky to have my bag be one of the first on the belt. I took the taxi voucher and was in the city very quickly as there was no traffic.
Overall, despite my low expectations when I saw which aircraft would operate the route, I was pleasantly surprised that some work obviously has been done on the cabin. Of course, I can’t speak for economy. It also helped that this was an overnight flight and I slept really well throughout so the journey flew by quickly. I’m thankful I was able to find an alternative and not really get stuck anywhere along the way. Also, I should mention the crew was very nice, young and polite throughout. Also to note, there is no WiFi on this plane and there is a power port for charging devices located under the armrest. My next flight with Air Serbia is to Toronto this summer and I'm looking forward to see how that one goes (currently scheduled on YU-ARB).
Great report thanks.
ReplyDeleteSucha lovely report with so many surprises onboard this trip. Looking forward to read you trip report on Toronto flight.
ReplyDeleteTwo comments from my side: 1. wow that´s a lot of legroom :)) and 2. you slept 9 hours??? No matter how tired I am, I never manage to sleep more than 30-40 minutes (even on a 10 hour flights)
ReplyDeleteGreat trip report, looking forward to the Toronto one
Its plenty of legroom yessss. Given than a return flight in business is 3,000euros on a good day one would expect as much. The overall product and services solid. Most importantly safely and speedily
DeleteGreat report, thank you for posting.
ReplyDeleteDid QR paid for your new itinerary?
Thanks. No they didn't. They made that clear at the airport that they won't cover the cost if you find an alternative route yourself. However, they did refund the ticket of the eventually cancelled flight.
DeleteThis is nice report..I'd love to see one report from economy class to China routes. Food in economy on China routes is very bad, completelly unlikely to US routes...
ReplyDeleteGuangzhou is close to Australia. Many times ppl asked about returning to Australia. So, it’s not really that far away, ‘cuz you are already very close. Thx for nice report 👌
ReplyDeleteGuangzhou is further away from Melbourne than New York is from Belgrade.
DeleteGood to see that Pupin received a little glow-up. I suppose the economy seats are in better condition as well?
ReplyDeleteThanks for detailed report, looking forward to Toronto one.
ReplyDeleteAnd does anyone know what is going on with ARD since its last flight was on February 21st?
Great read, thanks
ReplyDeleteAnd how do you know so much in advance what aiplane will fly to YYZ in the summer?
ReplyDeleteAnd how do you know so much in advance what aiplane will fly to YYZ in the summer?
ReplyDeleteBecause I can see it from the seat map. Like I said, it is currently scheduled. It might change by then.
DeleteThank you for the great trip report. This report will finally put an end to petulant comments about A330 broken seats and IFE.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to compare notes on your Toronto summer trip report. I will fly same route with Air Serbia this spring and will send my trip report.
Sorry but this is a review of the business class cabin, most of the complaints about YU-ARC are regarding the state of the economy cabin.
DeleteYou think so that they maintain only business class seats or what?
DeleteNow those were some quite dynamic couple of days for u:) Great report!
ReplyDeleteThe business class looks OK, not sure its the kind of product one would actively look to fly on. The food seems pleasent enough, however i wish JU would take inspiration from an airline like Air Astana in terms of food and prsentation in both classes as they beat this hands down.
ReplyDeleteOf all the world's best airlines like Emirates, Qatar or Singapore, Air Serbia should instead take inspiration from Air Astana, airline without first class with a widebody fleet consisting of three B767? Air Astana doesn't even fly to Belgrade and doesn't compete with Air Serbia at all.
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