TRIP REPORT
Recently travelled Athens - Belgrade and it was my first time on Air Serbia’s E195. I redeemed some leftover Etihad Guest miles for the ticket and since the difference in points between economy and business was small, I took the opportunity and booked business.
At Athens Airport, check-in had already begun when I arrived. While there was a long line for economy, the business one was empty, so I checked in quickly.
Athens Airport was crowded as usual and the line at passport control was long and slow. Thankfully, I could use the fast track lane although even there was a wait.
I went to the lounge. Air Serbia uses the Skyserv lounge in Athens, which is very decent with some good food choices. The biggest benefit of this lounge is that it does not get too crowded unlike the other two lounges I have used in Athens - Aegean and Goldair, which are also excellent but extremely crowded, especially the Goldair one.
Our aircraft was parked at a remote stand, so we were bussed to the E195. The one operating the flight today was the one they still have not painted so it was in an all-white scheme. Of course, many of the Serbian passengers on the bus immediately began moaning, laughing and loudly commenting as we pulled up to the plane and saw it, as they are seemingly only used to flying with the A380 on these short hops.
I was seated in the first row. It was a first to see the plane without a front wall or partition. I don’t know if this is the case on all the other E195s or just this one but basically you have the galley in full view in front of you. It felt a bit exposed but at least it was good for legroom.
Unlike some airlines, Air Serbia does not block the seat next to you on the E195 in business, which has a 2-2 layout. The leather seats themselves are very comfortable and well padded. I would say they are the old-style seats, not the slim ones you get nowadays on most planes. On this plane, there is a curtain partition between business and economy.
Shortly after being seated, the cabin crew, which consisted of two females and one male member, came around with the menu. The crew was very nice, especially the purser which was working in business. I can’t remember her name, but I have seen her on an image on one of Air Serbia’s social media pages. In any case she was really lovely from takeoff to landing and it was really apparent that she liked her job.
Sitting at the front, with no wall, I could hear all the conversations the crew had with ground staff. The ground staff informed them of 6 business class and 110 economy on today’s flight. I was impressed by the number of transfer passengers on this flight. While I would say most were Serbian, the guy sitting next to me was transferring to London Heathrow with an evening stopover in Belgrade. The person behind me was going to Nice and those across to Valencia.
We were all set to go when, I’m assuming the pilot, noticed that the ground staff wrote some wrong information on the load sheet. So, the load sheet had to be reprinted with the correct information and considering we were on a remote stand, this took time. As the pilot informed us, we missed our slot and we had to wait around half an hour before we were able to push back.
Before departure the crew took down the meal orders. I also noticed that there have been some changes made to the introductory onboard announcement. For example, we were informed of which languages the crew spoke, with Serbian, English, Romanian, Italian and Spanish spoken on our flight (the purses truly did converse in Spanish with the Malaga bound passengers). I also noticed a sentence at the end of the announcement where passengers were asked not to ruin the cabin and property on the plane. It was said in a nicer way but that was the point.
After taking off, the purser prepared the meals. I got to hand it to her, she did a great job considering the tiny galley space where she had to assemble each meal. Since this plane does not have ovens, all the meal choices are seemingly made of items that do not need reheating.
I ordered the third option on the menu, along with a coke. The crew member also came by with a breadbasket which had several options.
I didn’t use the lavatory but there was one at the front which was only used by business class passengers and the purser turned away two or three people who came in from economy. But she was polite about it.
We landed in Belgrade and parked at the very last gate and It was a long track to passport control. All the egates were in operation so I quickly scanned through and went to pick up my bag.
Overall, the flight with Air Serbia was enjoyable and good value for my remaining Etihad miles which I wanted to use up before they seemingly become worthless on Air Serbia. I did find the seat without the wall a bit odd but at least I had a good view of the galley. The seats are very comfortable, and I also noticed how huge the windows were.
Share your travel experience by submitting a trip report to exyu@exyuaviation.com
The food looks good indeed for a flight of just over an hour. I've flown JU business several times ans its fine. Within Europe its not really ever 'good' value for money, but if a company pays i let them. But as the reviewer said they used points so it wasnt pricy. Overall a solid flight.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review
Thank you. Very nice report. It's nice to see that they've made progress in terms of menu selection. These Embraers seem to be a good choice for JU.
ReplyDeleteBut this sentence: „Of course, many of the Serbian passengers on the bus immediately began moaning, laughing and loudly commenting as we pulled up to the plane and saw it, as they are seemingly only used to flying with the A380 on these short hops.“ If there's one thing I can't stand about our people, it's this provincial snobbery.
+1
DeleteThis is so annoying. Also if they were to fly on these planes or ATRs on Austrian for example, they would find it completely normal and a sign of their efficiency and economical thinking or whatnot..
Seeing an all white aircraft makes people moan pretty much everywhere in Europe. It isn't just a characteristic of our region.
DeleteThat’s true 10:26.
DeleteSo I'm not the only one . On my flight from BEG to SKG on 9th of january the day before yesterday , I didn't lough but I asked myself : Don't they have the money for painting ??
DeleteThey are not complaining about the colorscheme but about the size of the plane. And for your information, the plane was not painted so it could get into service as quickly as possible. It will be painted when it goes for regular maintenance.
DeleteThat's bizarre. The E195 is far from a small plane.
DeleteIt is bizarre and that's why the author mentioned. Very common in Serbia to complain about everything.
DeleteI also believe people are moaning about white planes, just doesn't inspire confidence.
DeleteWhite planes are lighter than those with extensive liveries, so white planes should inspire confidence that aircraft will take off from an earlier spot on the runway.
DeleteThanks for nice and intersting report! It is a lovely way to spend miles before the change.
ReplyDeleteOvde stalno čitamo kako je usluga u avionima JU jako loša i da je treba unaprediti, Imam utisak da bi pojedini hteli besplatan šampanjac u ekonomskoj klasi, pa i tada bi verovatno našli neku zamerku. Bravo za recenziju, odlična je.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteНе, људи се не жале на услугу него на стање кабине.
DeleteExcellent report. The dropping of Etihad Guest from JU makes me happy. I'm looking forward to a good new program because I've flown several JU flights and never received a single mile.
ReplyDelete+1000
DeleteSame. Also JU offer a network that in many cases faces no competition (I mean within the Yugosphere) which means some people (like me) fly all the time around the region, and would be very happy to have a proper miles system.
DeleteSame, never figured how to use it.
DeleteGreat trip report, thank you very much!
ReplyDeleteI hope they put a partition of some kind between the galley and the cabin because the flight attendants must hate that they are in full view of the passengers over there.
I fully agree.
DeleteDo they have charging ports in business?
ReplyDeleteNo.
Delete"Of course, many of the Serbian passengers on the bus immediately began moaning, laughing and loudly commenting as we pulled up to the plane and saw it, as they are seemingly only used to flying with the A380 on these short hops" It sounds a bit racist tbh, like no other nations don't complain about similar stuff
ReplyDeleteWell, Serbs do complain and behave badly only when flying JAT/Air Serbia. It's always been like that. Aboard foreign aircraft, they are all 'mica mala'.
DeleteOnly a true Serbian knows how we love to sigh and complain, no foreigner would know what was going on. The author probably overheard all the conversations and jokes so nothing racist about it.
DeleteIt's not racist as all. Same as a Serbian person will park in the middle of the rode while visiting his homeland with his four blinkers on his car with Austrian car plates but in Vienna he will park in the prescribed parking spot and pay the fee.
DeleteSame as a Serbian person will politely stand in line at Frankfurt airport passport control for an hour, be interrogated at the passport booth and then say thank you when he passes while upon seeing 10 people in line at Belgrade Airport he will loudly complain, huff and puff and say "Ovo ima samo kod nas".
"Ovo ima samo kod nas" hahaha I have heard that one many times.
DeleteVery strange logic not to block seat in business. I mean in this particular case the flight would end up being overbooked, but still the business pax need some extra comfort.
ReplyDeleteI also flew E195 several times, but never with such configuration of 118 seats, only with 120 seats and I’m pretty sure that there was a wall in front of first row when I was boarding the plane. It wouldn’t be bad to install this on JU’s planes.
I am very glad they announce languages spoken by crew members :) Great addition that makes the crew more approachable.
ReplyDeleteThank u for the report.
ReplyDeleteIf no proper Biz Class seats, than seat right next need to be empty, otherwise it is a reason less to buy a more expensive biz class ticket
Front row without wall to galley is horrible
Food looks ok but JU needs to improve if they want to pick up high yield biz class market from western Europe or other markets
JU has now a certain market size, so next strategical goal should be, to invest into the product and this on board and on the ground in BEG
KLM does not block the seat next you on Embraer planes either. For meals they serve a box.
DeleteKLM always blocked it, KLM Cityhopper didn't but they changed that last year. Same with AF HOP!
DeleteKLM (Cityhopper) still doesn't block adjacent seats on 2-2 aircraft. AF (Hop!) made the change last year and now they do.
Delete@15:15 if they want to pick up high yield biz class market from western Europe
DeleteThey did, read the text of this trip report.
Serbian influencer mica.asceric just posted a video from his BEG-PVG flight. It's shameful what the experience was like and quite a contrast to what we see here today.
ReplyDeleteAre you implying that this trip report on here of a 1hr20min flight from Athens is dishonest and images are AI generated because someone had a different experience on an economy class flight to Guangzhou (not Shanghai as you claim) where he only shows the food? In the one sentence description he wrote crew was excellent btw.
Delete"It's shameful what the experience was like"
Apart from the food which looks small but decent, he didn't share anything else from the flight.
Oh and btw, he didn't realise that the TV is in the armrest (he is sitting in an exit row seat, so he thought the display tv was his tv) and also there is a menu on this flight in economy, which he didn't show.
DeleteAhahahah his first trip on a big plane, didn't know where his screen is. Making a fool of himself for everyone to tease and ridicule him.
DeleteGreat trip report, worth reading even if no pics were provided. Brilliant observations, had so much fun reading it!
ReplyDelete