cesco.g

Knowing they emerged from Yugoslav JAT, how's Air Serbia these days?
Safety, Reliability, Service?

Skyborne Flyer

Check out this TR: TR
Apparently, they have dedicated recliner type seats in business in a 2x2 config, none of the fake LH euro seating. Also, hot food in J, clean, new planes, and competent and friendly service. Quite the change.

orthar

Thanks for the link, would also be interested in hearing from other posters.

amex007

I flew with Air Serbia in September and was actually not really looking forward to it. I had won a freebie with an industry related competition and it was a free ticket with JU from Abu Dhabi to Europe and back. I didn't use the outbound sectors because I only intended to visit Abu Dhabi, Istanbul, and Serbia. I had never flown JU before in any way shape or form and hadn't heard the best reviews ever.

Check in - perfectly fine, and although I was there quite early I couldn't check in until 3 hours before flight departure.

Gate/Boarding - ran smoothly. You clear immigration and enter the airside area, but security isn't until you get to the gate and that's where it can be a little cramped in the waiting area. This should probably be changed and processed prior to reaching that area.

Onboard - quite impressed actually. New aircraft, clean, spacious seats in Y and a nice J as well for a European airline. Beats blocking the middle seat of Y! The service was consistent and in Y there were 3, not 1 or 2, meal choices, plus the special meals which were pre ordered anyway. My flight was just over 5 hours so we also had pillows and blankets for the flight.

Unfortunately though, the only thing missing is some form of entertainment. I know it's an overnight flight but having more than the inflight magazine would be better - even if it's some show on repeat.

All in all I would highly recommend flying with them and would definitely not miss up the opportunity myself either

benberg2013

And the new Air Serbia Lounge in Belgrade is EXCELLENT! (accessible with J or Etihad gold) Opened around a month ago, quiet, service is excellent, tables laid neatly with cutlery. Not a huge lounge, but plenty space because no-one around. Sorry didn't take any pictures.

meelosh

Actually, you can access the lounge with EY Silver as well. Not sure, but I believe AZ J pax can enter as well.

Take note that apart from the buffet, there is a-la-carte dining available, ask the staff for the menu. It takes them 15-ish minutes to prepare the food.

Also, shower room is really nice, but I prefer it as a separate unit, and not just one of the doors in the bathroom. It's got WC, shower, a bench, everything you would expect, but also a raised door, typical of any shared bathroom. There is one in each men's and women's room. No offense to anybody now, but I'd really love if they didn't take up space with the prayer room, and made proper and additional unisex shower rooms instead.

frenchft

Agree, much better than the other one (used by *A airlines and Skyteam) wich is really so-so.

frenchft

Air serbia is really ok since the airline is managed by Ethiad and has a strong strategy partnership with them.

The short haul like BEG > OTP are done with old ATR 72 but except that the A319 / A320 are in very good conditions. Heard they will open BEG > JFK this summer with brand new A330 leased to Ethiad, can be an option for connecting in Europe.

Good if you have Ethiad or Alitalia status, brings you miles and benefits.

BEG airport is small and convenient (not a lot to do, but everything is smooth).

+ they propose a decent wifi onboard (not cheap but very convenient).

djjaguar64

http://www.businessinsider.com/air-s...terview-2016-6


New is worth sharing

lehovec

Flew with JU a while ago ATH-BEG-LHR in C. Ground service not that great but once on board excellent. Proper shorthaul C seats, pre take off drinks with warm nuts, selection of 3 hot meals of good quality, attentive crew. Would use them again without hesitation, especialy now they got their own lounge in BEG (although have not seen it yet, can't be worse than generic BEG airport lounge).

Aero137

Flew JU twice recently. CDG-BEG, and BEG-LHR a few days later, both in Biz. It's a lovely little airline.

Pros:
The food was great. On CDG-BEG I was served a Salmon dish that was cooked near perfectly. The BEG-LHR (breakfast) was some sort of meat pie, which was decent.
The flight attendants were very attentive and friendly.
They have a nice lounge at BEG. It's a smaller lounge (to be expected for an airline with just 21 planes), but has a decent spread (hot breakfast buffet when I was there), and attentive staff.

Cons:
Seats are now standard configuration for inter-European flights (all slimline seats, with blocked middle seats for biz).
Ground staff (other than the lounge staff) aren't quite as friendly.

I would definitely fly with them again.

felicidad76

I also fly them only in business class whenever I fly back from USA to visit family in Serbia, mostly from LHR.
I would also recommend them. Their lounge in Belgrade is great

AlicorporateUK

khabah

Flew JU from LHR-BEG last week for the first time on an A319. I gave into the online upgrade offer from Y to J despite reading the online reviews of how they got rid of their dedicated J seats for what are essentially Y seats in J with the middle seat blocked off. Received e-mail notification of the upgrade confirmation, but the e-mail itself was very low on information such as upgraded baggage allowance/lounge access and such. Upon arriving at LHR, I checked into the J line but was informed that all rules of my original booking applied despite paying for the upgrade - i.e. the original weight allowance for my standard Y fare, no lounge access, etc. I politely explained to the check-in agent that nowhere on Air Serbia's [horrible] new website did it explain these rules, nor on the confirmation e-mails I received. She curtly and repeatedly said "it's all online," printed out my J boarding pass and wrote "NO LOUNGE" in all caps on top of the boarding pass. Garbage.

Granted, service in the air was lovely - two very friendly cabin attendants who served the cabin efficiently, made time to chat and kept the nips of Serbian wine coming. As a vegetarian who'd been to Serbia before and knew of the Serbian appetite for meat, I had a feeling that the menu would be meat or fish as the non-meat option, and it panned out: chicken or salmon. The cabin attendant offered to bring me all the salad/appetizers associated with the meal and leave the meat part out of it, which was appreciated.

I have two more flights with JU on their ATR, so will report back. Word of advice: don't take the upgrade offer.

khabah

Aero137