Air Serbia Airbus A330 Business class trip report
Forty years ago on June 15, 1976, JAT Yugoslav Airlines started service between Belgrade and the United States, and at one point, JAT flew to New York, Chicago (via Cleveland), Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Los Angeles using DC-10s. However due to the UN sanction (because of conflicts in the former Yugoslavia) in 1992, JAT stops flying to the United States and Canada. Air Serbia, which is an Etihad Airlines partner, decides that it is time to expand into the transatlantic market, and has leased (not sure if bought) an ex-Jet Airways Airbus A330-200 to begin this five times weekly flight between New York JFK and Belgrade. 40 years ago, JU 500 was the flight number used for the JFK flights too.
When I saw Air Serbia launching service, I immediately researched on flights and fares. Ideally, I wanted to fly the inaugural Belgrade to JFK flight, but one way fare is prohibitive, and there are not many cities that I can play with. While other airlines offer decent Belgrade to US fares, Air Serbia is not one of them. I ended up settling on the JFK-BEG-ATH roundtrip flight for a little less than $4000USD including tax and fee. It is still higher than I want to pay, but since Air Serbia is an Etihad partner, I felt more confident. While I just don’t think the price tag is justified, especially the lack of any festivity for the return JFK to Belgrade flight, Air Serbia really needs to step up on many aspects of the hardware before they can claim to be a boutique airline. The recycled Jet Airways herringbone suites are not good, and I will even prefer the Etihad updated business class suites to these herringbone suites. Catering needs some overhaul and there needs to be better amenities. The only positive asset is the flight crew and the F/As are nothing but great and attentive. There are some communication issues, but they tried very hard. Considered it was the first flight, the service flow was good, and they obviously have received good training, but caterers forgot to load some items. Anyway, here is my full story:
Full album link: (I am not sure if I will write about the shorter segments between BEG and ATH, I will add photos to the album, so if you check it throughout the weekend and early next week, there might be additional photos.)
http://s1213.photobucket.com/user/Ca...%20June%202016
June 23, 2016
JU 500 JFK-BEG Lv1440 Arr0530 Airbus A330-200 YU-ARA “Nikola Tesla”
Schedule:
I don’t normally discuss the scheduling aspect of flights, but JU schedule is definitely not ideal at all. I am pretty sure that it has to do with slots. On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, the eastbound flight departs at 7:30am from Belgrade, and departs from JFK at 2:40pm, and only on Fridays and Saturdays, they have a more normal 12:55pm departure from Belgrade and 7:55pm departure from New York. The flight don’t connect well with many Air Serbia intra-European flights and the early morning departure from Belgrade almost makes no sense, and the only flights that work well is the 5am Athens flight, which I will take. Unfortunately I don’t see the issues being resolved unless JU gets many slots. Given the full load though on the inaugural JFK to BEG in economy class, I guess most passengers are point to point.
Booking:
Air Serbia’s website is pretty easy to use and I am able to book the flights, get my e-tickets quickly and choose a seat from an actual seat map. I am sure Etihad’s partnership ensures a seamless booking experience.
Check-in:
JFK has yet to put up any Air Serbia sign this morning, but I am sure that will be fixed. To no surprise, Etihad handles all the ground operations. For business class passengers, the counters don’t even feature any Air Serbia signage. There are two bell staffs handling all the first and business class passengers, and once I mention that I am flying business, they assist with my luggage. The check-in agent was polite but obviously was still not used to Air Serbia lingual yet. You can really tell a difference between flying an American and even an European carrier and Etihad right the way. With no queue, my bag was checked through to Athens and two boarding passes were given to me with the seats that I have selected. My Etihad number was in the system. But I have to remind the agent that I am not transiting at Abu Dhabi.
Main cabin check in area
TSA was a nightmare, not because of long queues, but because of the rudeness of the staffs. The TSA agents snapped at passengers, especially those who obviously are foreign tourists.
Thankfully, I managed to be by the windows, when I saw the inbound flights landed from Belgrade twenty minutes early.
The water canon salute shot was awful, as it was far away.
Coming to gate A4 – notice the flags waving from the cockpit
Eithad Lounge:
As expected, Air Serbia uses the fabulous Etihad Lounge at JFK. As expected, the lounge was nice with the bar overlooking the apron. The staffs are friendly and helpful. The agent carefully explained the features in the lounge, and I took the chance to ask if they were doing anything special for the inaugural flights. Unfortunately, the answer was “no”. They were doing a ribbon cutting for arriving passengers (quite odd if you ask me).
Buffet
Dining Room
I had a sit down meal with lentil soup and lamb rack!
Later I tried the “Shanghai” cocktail, which was a whiskey based drink.
The Etihad lounge later surprised me with this dessert plate. They felt bad about the lack of festivity and decided to do something special. It was a nice consolation price, and it was a very nice gesture.
I spent the rest of the time relaxing in the lounge overlooking the apron.
JFK’s terminal four might not fun for travelers, but still a great place for plane-spotter.
I left the lounge around 1:30pm, as I wanted to take a look at the gate.
No surprise here – there was definitely nothing telling you that it was the inaugural flight, apart from the abundant of Eithad staffs.
Close up of YU-ARA “Nikola Tesla”
A4 – To my surprise, the flight was absolutely jam-packed. There were at least six to seven wheelchair passengers, along with many families with infants and children. Not sure about the yield of the flight, but at least economy cabin was full.
Separate lanes for business class and economy class passengers…
The really nice Etihad staff checked my passport and made sure I was among the first to board. Unfortunately, we had to stand in the jetway for ten more minutes, as security checks were not completed yet. I took the chance to snap a few more pictures.
At 1:53pm, we were finally let in, and business class cabin was empty for a while, so I took the chance to snap a few photos of the cabin.
Economy class cabin – Sorry I tried to get more pictures once the flight was on the way. But the cabin was almost full with no empty row for me to try out the seats. I did not see any power outlet or USB port, but then I really got the chance to look in details.
Business Class cabin – They used the old Jet Airways business class suites, which was an improved version of herringbone seats, but I still did not like them much. Sure they are a bit wider than the first generation, but looking out the window is not an easy task. I will rather they use the more up to date business suites that Etihad Airways used. Anyway I should be grateful that they used suites type seats especially they are a much smaller airline. Anyway, they just added a bit of “blue” to the upholstery, and basically the seats are the same as before.
You can still see the wear and tear.
Control for the seats
Personal lamp
Side storage bin
Literature pocket
Entertainment console
Power outlet
Tray table
Business class cabin eventually saw a few more passengers, including a lady with a pet. I counted maybe seven passengers including me. I was not surprised, as Air Serbia was a little known airline in the US. The price was also fairly high and they did not allow people to book many city pairs. I think Air Serbia needs to lower the price a bit to get some recognition. I could see people using JU for some flights to Eastern Europe, Russia, and Greece.
Printed menus were already placed at each seat (and yes they recollected them at the end of the flight.)
Newspapers and magazines (mostly Serbian) were passed out, along with amenity kit and noise-canceling headsets.
Pre-takeoff beverage of orange juice or champagne was offered, and bottled waters are already placed at the holder.
Hot towel on a tray
