Part 1: Bucharest (OTP) to Cluj-Napoca (CLJ) on TAROM in economy class
Flight RO641 – Airbus A318 - Seat 2F – 40 EUR
STD 6.50am - STA 7.45am (flight time 0h55m)
Not many people in the world take a positioning flight in order to catch a better deal from a different airport than the one closest to your home. You do however need to be a wee bit crazy (read: a Flyertalker trying to optimise mileage and/or get the cheapest price) in order to position yourself for a positioning flight. That was the case with me on this trip, as the cheapest deal to the Belarusian capital of Minsk was running from the north-eastern Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca. I did not mind the quick hop to Cluj-Napoca, which is the de-facto capital of Romania's Transylvania region and the country's second most important city. Cluj-Napoca, just called Cluj by the locals, was even my home once for a full year when I first moved into Romania. It is a city in which I have many friends and which will always be close to my heart.
Domestic hops in Romania can be cheap, especially if booked in advance. The country's legacy carrier TAROM (a Sky Team member) and low-cost Blue Air (another Romanian company) are the two main airlines, although both Wizzair and Ryanair also operate the odd domestic flights. Unless schedule and price force me to chose otherwise, I always opt for TAROM as I can earn Flying Blue miles and XP (domestic hops don't earn many XP – but Romanian flights earn double the points as standard, which is nice). While TAROM does offer business class on international flights, it is not offered on domestic hops. If you are lucky though you might find yourself in a business class seat if the airline did a last-minute aeroplane swap and you happened to select a seat up front.
My journey to Cluj began with an Uber from my Bucharest home to Otopeni airport. Morning rush hour can be madness here as several airlines operate a hub out of OTP and many European legacy carriers have a plane parked overnight at the airport for an early morning flight to their hub airport. Today was no different – and it took a whopping 40 minutes to clear security (there are no priority lines whatsoever, unless you are cabin crew or a high-ranking diplomat). After clearing security, international passengers turn right to passport control and the main airport hall, while domestic passengers turn left to the small and basic domestic terminal, which only has two shops and an overpriced cafe.
The domestic terminal has bus gates only. An old-fashioned airport bus brought us to our Airbus A318 which would operate today's morning flight to Cluj. The flight seemed close to fully booked.
Even though the flight is blocked at 55 minutes, in reality it is closer to 30-40 minutes as it really is just a short hop over the Carpathian mountains. Once the plane is across, it already starts its descent into Cluj. It was a lovely summer day in June today, with clear skies and good views during the entire trip.
Amazingly, TAROM manages to do a quick service on short domestic hops. Each passenger got a plastic bag with two raisin pastries (sorry, I already ate one before I remembered I had to take a picture) and a drink.
There were some lovely views of the hilly Transylvanian countryside on arrival.
Arrival in Cluj was 10 minutes early. Every passenger managed to disembark quickly and within no-time our airport bus drove off towards the small domestic terminal at CLJ.
The airport in Cluj is not far from the city centre – on average it takes just 20 minutes to get there, with there not being that much difference between the bus and a taxi in time. Taxis (or an Uber) to the city centre is dirt cheap and unlikely to go over 25 RON (a bit over 5 EUR). That said, taxi drivers might try to negotiate a set price much higher than this if they see you are a foreigner who is unaware of local prices, even though they should by law always drive on the meter. This time, I opted to take the bus, which at just 2 RON (less than 0.50 EUR) for a one-way journey is a steal. The bus stop is right in front of the terminal with (trolley)buses departing every 10 to 15 minutes or so. You buy your tickets at a vending machine at the stop – which does accept cards.
Within 25 minutes, I saw myself standing on Piata Unirii, the central square of Cluj. It is flanked by the city's cathedral and several historic buildings – many of which seemed to be under renovation this month.
I had a full day in Cluj until my evening departure on Turkish Airlines. This being a weekday, all my friends were unfortunately working so I could not meet up with anyone. That was however also a blessing in disguise, as I would have some time to revisit some of my favourite places which I used to frequent while living in the city. I might be biased on this, but Cluj is a fantastic little city which makes for a great weekend break for those who are tired of the usual destinations like Prague or Rome. Be quick however, as the word is out and the city has become decidedly more busy than it used to be!
Next up: a tour around Cluj-Napoca, Transylvania's most fun city