Trip Report
Recently I travelled from Belgrade to Paris with Air Serbia and returned on an easyJet flight. I managed to find a very reasonably priced outbound ticket with Air Serbia during a promotional sale. However, the return ticket was significantly more expensive, even with the discount, and exceeded the price range I am willing to pay for the lowest fare category. As a result, I opted to return with easyJet, whose ticket was more affordable than Air Serbia's, while also operating from Charles de Gaulle Airport.
For the return leg, I arrived at Paris’ main airport about three and half hours before departure, taking a direct train line from the city centre. I must admit, navigating the airport was a bit confusing at first, as my boarding pass showed Terminal 2D (it was for check-in), while the gate was assigned to Terminal 2B. Initially, I didn’t realise the terminals were connected. After spending around 20 minutes at security, it took roughly 40 minutes to walk from the train station to Terminal 2B, in total. Interestingly, easyJet allows free check-in starting 30 days before the flight, whether or not you have a reserved seat.
Recently I travelled from Belgrade to Paris with Air Serbia and returned on an easyJet flight. I managed to find a very reasonably priced outbound ticket with Air Serbia during a promotional sale. However, the return ticket was significantly more expensive, even with the discount, and exceeded the price range I am willing to pay for the lowest fare category. As a result, I opted to return with easyJet, whose ticket was more affordable than Air Serbia's, while also operating from Charles de Gaulle Airport.
As with my previous short trips, I found it more convenient and cost-effective to drive to the airport myself, rather than taking a taxi, and parking in the Tesla Parking lot. Unfortunately, since August 2025, online reservations are no longer available. At first, there was a notice saying the system is in a process of upgrading, but now the link is completely gone. This could be a bit risky, as the night before my trip, the airport website showed only 40 available spaces. Luckily, by morning, more spots had opened up, so everything worked out fine.
I got through passport control and security quickly. Compared to my last visit, Tesla Square - if it’s still called that, since the sign seems to have disappeared - has been expanded, and new restaurants have popped up right on the square. Despite these improvements, the area still feels rather dark and a bit uncomfortable.
I also couldn’t help but notice that some of the cafes and restaurants have become quite pricey, especially when compared to previous visits or to larger European airports.
The works are still visible inside the terminal, and for some reason, the acceleration bars weren’t working. I have to admit this happens quite often, though I’m not sure why.
An AI assistant has been introduced as a very useful service.
Air Serbia has rolled out a new boarding system, but from what I could see, it was slower and more confusing than ever. Passengers were called by rows that didn’t match the zones shown on the signs, and it seemed like many people were expecting a neat, sequential boarding from 1 to 4 - which only made the whole process drag on even more.
I purchased my ticket through the Air Serbia mobile app, and I noticed that the prices are no longer lower than those on the website, as they used to be. I hope that with the introduction of the new loyalty program, Air Serbia will allow passengers to enter their frequent flyer number in the app and enable offline functionality as well.
Flight JU240 to Paris was operated by a 20-year-old A320, YU-APH, even though the night before it had been listed as an A320 Sharklets. Business class had 8 passengers, while economy was roughly 80% full. Interestingly, this was the first Air Serbia flight I’ve taken where the majority of passengers were foreigners. Russian and French dominated the conversations, and the crew even addressed passengers in English and Russian during disembarkation.
The seat pitch was good, and the seats themselves were comfortable. However, the cabin was clearly showing its age, particularly the carpets, which appeared quite worn. During takeoff, part of an overhead panel came loose and remained open for the rest of the flight. The crew handled the situation professionally, promptly relocating the passengers seated in that row to available seats elsewhere in the cabin.
I would also like to give special credit to the captain on this flight. Over the course of three separate announcements, he provided exceptionally detailed updates on the flight status, routing, and weather conditions at our destination. Such informative communication is becoming increasingly rare these days and reminded me of the old days.
Compared to my previous, longer, flight with Air Serbia 2-3 years ago, the airline has made improvements to its catering. This time, we had the option of choosing between a chicken or a beef sandwich. The sandwiches also came in interesting packaging, which was a nice touch. Unfortunately, the taste itself hasn’t changed, so I hope there will be room for improvement in that area in the future.
For the remainder of the flight, products from the Elevate program and duty-free items were offered, and we landed on time at CDG airport. I passed passport control surprisingly quickly, in just a few minutes. The EES (Entry/Exit System) kiosks were not operational, but the border police officer was very efficient and notably polite.
The terminal is very spacious, with a great view of the apron for true aviation enthusiasts, and it also offers plenty of restaurants and shops.
Unfortunately, the rest of my stay wasn’t quite as pleasant, due to the long line at passport control. I joined the queue about two hours before the scheduled departure, and there were easily around 500-700 passengers ahead of me. I’m not sure whether the delay was solely due to the EES system (nobody scanned me) or the high number of flights at the same time (two Boeing 787s, two B738s, and two A320s). Either way, the line barely moved.
After an hour and a half in the line, and just half an hour before departure, my flight was called and directed to a separate line at passport control for expedited processing. I must highlight the professionalism of the airport staff, who were clearly well-trained for such situations. They distributed free bottles of water and reassured passengers.
Boarding started on time, but since it was pouring rain outside, it was done only through the front door, which made the process quite long and much disorganised. After that, due to air traffic restrictions, we had to wait an additional 20 minutes before pushback. Including taxiing to the active runway, we took off about 45 minutes behind schedule. I also noticed that the evening Air Serbia flight boarded at the same gate as easyJet.
The flight was operated by an 11-year-old A320, and since this was my first time flying with the "orange airline", I was curious to see what the experience would be like. One of the first things that caught my attention was the cabin interior. For some reason, I had expected leather seats, so I was slightly surprised to find fabric ones instead. The boarding announcements were played in French, English, and Serbian, a detail that I must admit is a nice touch.
The seat pitch was adequate for a low-cost carrier, although I couldn't shake the feeling that the seats sat a little lower than those on other airlines I have flown with. Must admit it was a bit uncomfortable to sit like that. The crew were friendly and approachable throughout the flight, and they kindly allowed me to move to the last, free, row. Interestingly, easyJet's A320 accommodates 31 rows, with the lavatories located in the tail section of the aircraft. Load factor stood around 80%, mostly of Serbian passengers, while there were also several tourists from France, and I noticed them waiting for the city bus at the arrival terminal in Belgrade.
The rest of the flight passed smoothly and uneventfully. Duty-free and buy-on-board products were offered during the flight. We landed about 15 minutes behind schedule and parked at gate A3, allowing me to reach passport control quite quickly. As the airport was fairly quiet at that time, I was already at the parking lot around 20 minutes after landing.
One thing that pleasantly surprised me was receiving an online survey from easyJet shortly after the flight, asking for feedback on my overall travel experience.
Share your travel experience by submitting a trip report to exyu@exyuaviation.com
Great trip report. I enjoyed reading it. I agree with you on prices at BEG, I find BEG super expensive in comparison with other big European airports. Plus I also find that part of airport dark
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteLove the great and dispassionate report about my home airport of CDG!
ReplyDeleteYou're not the first one to be confused with the Terminal 2B/2D thing, it's a horrible system that is luckily getting updated in 2027 with each (real) terminal getting its own number.
I wasn't aware that border control was THIS much of a mess post-EES (France is one of the rare countries that has priority access for passport control for J and elite pax, which I avail of to the fullest extent possible), but sadly I'm not that surprised either. The passport control booths are routinely understaffed, PARAFE (the automated border control) is closed half of the time, and AdP staff is often clueless and contributes to the chaos by random line reconfigurations etc.
Fun fact (and pro-tip) - Serbian passport holders are allowed to use the automated border control when exiting France (albeit not when entering). It can be a massive time-saver if the kiosks are open.
Yes, same in Italy and Cyprus, Serbian pass holders can exit through the automated border control. Exit only.
DeleteAt Rome Fiumicino, as of recently, Serbian passport holders can also enter the country using egates, not just exit. Which is great because the regular border control is crazy in summer. I don't know if you can use egates for entry in Milan as well.
DeleteI used eGates with a Serbian passport in May 1026 in both Barcelona and Milan Malpensa to both enter and leave the country.
Delete*2026
DeleteAm I seeing this right? Are standard seats really more expensive on Air Serbia than on Easy Jet?
ReplyDeleteYep. Such a rip off
DeleteWow that's crazy
DeleteThanks for this report. Must notice that you covered every single detail. Not sure but guess that high ratio of transfer pax to CDG pushes prices up for direct flights from/to BEG. Anyway I hoped easy would be more successful on this route and was really surprised that they cut it during summer months
ReplyDeleteThat's why JU CDG flights at 10.20 were great for locals
Delete