TRIP REPORT: Lufthansa, Belgrade - Frankfurt

TRIP REPORT

I flew between Belgrade and Frankfurt earlier this month, with the morning flight departing Belgrade and returning later on in the month with the afternoon flight from Frankfurt to Belgrade. The early morning Lufthansa service is operated by the plane that arrives the evening before and spends the night in Belgrade, as well as crew which arrive on the afternoon flight a day earlier so I didn’t expect any delays and the flight indeed took off on time.

It wasn’t very busy in Belgrade in the morning, which is in big contrast to the pre-Covid times when it was the busiest time of day with a big wave of Air Serbia departures. Check-in was quick. My PCR test got checked, as well as the electronic German entry form. The flight was operated by an A319 and was full that morning. Interestingly, Italians were very plentiful on this flight as they were all talking among themselves at the gate. Considering there have been no flights between Serbia and Italy since March 2020, I presume Lufthansa is a popular choice for travel between the two countries now.

Boarding was conducted in zones, with business class passengers entering first. Upon embarking the plane, the crew offered everyone a disinfectant wipe. I was travelling with another person, but since we booked just a few days before departure the business class section, which had 12 seats available, was quite full and when I was selecting seats there were no two empty seats next to each other, so we were unable to sit together. However, by the time boarding was completed, there seemed to be one no-show so I moved. We pushed back on time and proceeded to the de-icing platform. It was around -1C outside. It’s the first time I experienced the de-icing procedure at Belgrade Airport at the dedicated platform, just before entering the runway.

As soon as we took off, the crew served breakfast, which were tasty and consisted of some cold cuts, cheese, salmon, two pieces of warm bread and yoghurt with berries. Drinks were offered after the meals were served and the crew made a point that everyone had to put their masks back on (most people were eating by that point) when addressing the crew with their beverage order. The same procedure was enforced on the flight back, so the crew does make sure everyone is wearing their masks properly - no mucking around :) They were all pleasant and professional though.

As soon as passengers finished their meals the trays were cleared and the rest of the flight was uneventful. The aircraft was equipped with wifi, which was relatively cheap. If my memory serves me correctly it was 5 euros for and it worked well. In terms of seats, they are the same as in rest of the cabin with the middle seat blocked in business class. Disembarkation was conducted in small groups based on row number.

We landed in Frankfurt on time. The airport was busy and almost all of the shops seemed to be working.

On my way back I checked out the lounge which was working (and was very busy). Due to covid rules in Germany there was no food or drinks in the lounge, and everyone had to wear their mask the entire time. A sandwich, water, coffee, tea and fruit is offered to everyone upon leaving the lounge, which you can have in the waiting area in the terminal but sit-down service (at restaurants) is not available anywhere in the terminal.

The flight back to Belgrade was also full and busy, so much so that the gate agent informed everyone that the flight was sold out and that people with more than one piece of hand luggage needed to hand it over so it could be put in the cargo hold. There seemed to be quite a few Chinese passengers on the flight, as well as a lot of Serbian passengers from the United States.

The service was the same so I will leave you with some photos below:

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