Air Serbia

ARN-BEG 27 January 2014. Old plane still but fantastic service and great food. Staff did their uttermost to serve the passengers. Good wines with plenty of refills. Strange though that there was nothing sweet to drink with the coffee like for example Baileys. When the new Airbus will enter service they might be one of the best airlines in Europe.

BEG-AUH-BNE - 21 Dec 2013. Flight 50% full check-in ok but could not issue ticket or select seat on AUH-BNE component of same ticket which was disappointing. Meal reasonable goulash with gnocchi fine lights on for too long would have preferred brightness lowered soon after take-off for night flight. On arrival to AUH had be bussed to terminal crew decent slight attitude - seemed a bit annoyed that I accidentally called. Otherwise friendly during other times meal service and welcome. Plane looked good and I had whole row to myself so that was great. 7.5 out of 10. Also a bit annoyed to find out unable to earn velocity points even on EY's BNE to AUH since ticket issued by Air Serbia. I'm velocity platinum and AUH-BNE also has VA flight code. Going back in a month and checkmytrip was showing both Etihad and Air Serbia flights AUH to BEG until I advised of this hope it was not blocking others from booking.

BEG-SVO 3 Nov 2013. Check in more organized and efficient than before since line separators were used in the terminal building. Boarding efficient and departure on time YU-ANI B733 clean and well maintained with pillows on every seat. Cabin crew in new uniforms and with good and professional attitude. Catering onboard drastically improved it starts with a printed menu distributed even in economy class. Beverage trolleys are well stocked from juice coke wines to scotch (all free of charge). Real cutlery on food trays accompanied by a nice fresh meat / cheese / egg snack yoghurt and fruit salad. All together amazing transition from the old catering serving. Arrival 10 min ahead of schedule. The only improvement could be an additional inflight announcement from the cockpit who only greeted passengers at time of departure from Belgrade.

Initially I flew with JAT Airways back in September from SKG to BEG with an extremely noisy turboprop aircraft. Either due to long service or due to bad maintenance it felt bad and the service was mediocre having two stewards with basic English and average catering. On January 11 I boarded JU523 again from SKG to BEG. I boarded an Emirates leased A319 with Air Serbia livery and had four very kind stewards. I found small pillows in Air Serbia brand on the seats and overall a huge boost in standards. I asked for a seat change due to a knee problem I had for the seats right at the emergency exit corridor and was immediately granted one. The catering from two small cupcakes in foil had changed into a paperbag with a 0.25l water bottle a paper cup and a packed sandwich with options for only cheese cheese and ham or cheese and turkey plus the trolley with the bar. Given the fact that the flight takes slightly over an hour those are excellent choices. Only minor point is the training of the personnel into the new status of the airline calling once "Welcome onboard JAT Airways flight" and once "Thank you for choosing Air Serbia flight" Overall the impression I got was as if I was in a star alliance equivalent member airline.

JU 651 SVO-BEG (27th Dec). B733 YU-ANK seat 2A. Load factor 100% (both J and Y classes). Departed gate 16 min late due to late start of boarding. Cabin crew purser in early 50's but all other members significantly younger. Crew did not provide assistance with overcoats but welcome drinks served. Newspapers menu and food orders taken by purser while taxiing. Served after take off drink with warm nuts. Choice of main food between chicken with vegetables and staffed zucchini. Appetizer consisted of 2-3 shrimps and salmon. Chocolate cake for desert very tasty. Choice between 2 red and 2 white wines and good selection of aperitifs and non alcoholic drinks. Overall good meals and selection but nothing spectacular. Service was good and there is nothing to complain about but it lacked a bit of final touch to categorize it as something one remembers no refills offered (same with bread basket) but after asking I got everything. Cockpit crew made 2 announcements to welcome passengers and also gave in flight details. Arrived BEG about 15 minutes after schedule at gate A10 (operational air bridge). Luggage came in shortly but priority tag status was not observed during delivery. Overall fair rating would be 8 (out of ten). To be improved: earlier check in time of departure punctuality assistance with coats a bit more leg room appetizer could be better and a salad would be a + additional runs with bread / wine (without asking) would be nice. Absolutely not worst than AF or LH European service in business but not quite like Asian or Middle East airlines.

Flew JU656 BEG-SVO on 8/1/14. Departure on time. 100% full even though SU had a flight leaving some 20-30 minutes prior to ours. Catering in business was fantastic worth trying "home-made meatballs and stuffed peppers" and Serbian made Chardonnay! Purser and cabin staff very communicative and pleasant. Overall great flight and product even for a red-eye.

Travelled to Belgrade on 9th November YU 381 and returned to London on 16th November YU380. What a pleasant surprise. Food was very good and for a change it was served with proper cutlery!

London Heathrow to SKG via Belgrade return and feel disappointed. At the beginning of November my flight which I had booked in May to get a good price was rescheduled and now included a sleepover in Belgrade both ways with no accommodation offered. All 4 flights were late from 30 to 40 minutes without an explanation nor an apology offered. Cabin was very nice new and modern and staff looked professional but were mostly inattentive and got annoyed when asked to move out of the way so people could get to the toilet. Even when I asked for specific help I was ignored by several FAs. English was a problem on the flight back to Heathrow. Drinks get served by 1 member of staff to the entire cabin which takes about an hour. By the time I got my drink I had spent about 2 hours without a drink there is no option to buy any at Belgrade past security check and flight was so late. By the time we got our drinks the meal that had been served an hour before had gone cold the cheese on top of the salad had started to melt and the white wine (served in a small plastic cup) had gone warm. Some people were told "sorry no beef left chicken only". That was the only flight that offered a decent meal. I thought overall that a lot of effort has been made with the re-branding and it looks great but customer service is not great and there are organisational issues on board. Most disappointing was the cancellation of the daily connection between Heathrow and SKG and how we were dealt with. I will be avoiding this airline in future.

TIV-BEG return economy class. Both flights operated by ATR 72 aircraft. On both legs aircraft showing age cabin dirty and seats old and cramped. One complimentary drink offered on each flight. Cabin crew very polite in spite of their age and dressed in a little bit worn out uniforms. Still the best option on this route.

FRA-BEG return last week. Flight experience good quite old but clean Boeing 737-300 cabin crew was friendly. Inflight service very simple (consisted of a small cheese ham and pickles sandwich and beverages) but adequate for a 2 hours flight. Would fly with them again.