TRIP REPORT
Recently travelled Athens – Belgrade and it was my first time on Air Serbia’s E195. I redeemed some leftover Etihad Guest miles for the ticket and since the difference in points between economy and business was small, I took the opportunity and booked business.
At Athens Airport, check-in had already begun when I arrived. While there was a long line for economy, the business one was empty, so I checked in quickly.
Athens Airport was crowded as usual and the line at passport control was long and slow. Thankfully, I could use the fast track lane although even there was a wait.
I went to the lounge. Air Serbia uses the Skyserv lounge in Athens, which is very decent with some good food choices. The biggest benefit of this lounge is that it does not get too crowded unlike the other two lounges I have used in Athens – Aegean and Goldair, which are also excellent but extremely crowded, especially the Goldair one.
Our aircraft was parked at a remote stand, so we were bussed to the E195. The one operating the flight today was the one they still have not painted so it was in an all-white scheme. Of course, many of the Serbian passengers on the bus immediately began moaning, laughing and loudly commenting as we pulled up to the plane and saw it, as they are seemingly only used to flying with the A380 on these short hops.
I was seated in the first row. It was a first to see the plane without a front wall or partition. I don’t know if this is the case on all the other E195s or just this one but basically you have the galley in full view in front of you. It felt a bit exposed but at least it was good for legroom.
Unlike some airlines, Air Serbia does not block the seat next to you on the E195 in business, which has a 2-2 layout. The leather seats themselves are very comfortable and well padded. I would say they are the old-style seats, not the slim ones you get nowadays on most planes. On this plane, there is a curtain partition between business and economy.
Shortly after being seated, the cabin crew, which consisted of two females and one male member, came around with the menu. The crew was very nice, especially the purser which was working in business. I can’t remember her name, but I have seen her on an image on one of Air Serbia’s social media pages. In any case she was really lovely from takeoff to landing and it was really apparent that she liked her job.
Sitting at the front, with no wall, I could hear all the conversations the crew had with ground staff. The ground staff informed them of 6 business class and 110 economy on today’s flight. I was impressed by the number of transfer passengers on this flight. While I would say most were Serbian, the guy sitting next to me was transferring to London Heathrow with an evening stopover in Belgrade. The person behind me was going to Nice and those across to Valencia.
We were all set to go when, I’m assuming the pilot, noticed that the ground staff wrote some wrong information on the load sheet. So, the load sheet had to be reprinted with the correct information and considering we were on a remote stand, this took time. As the pilot informed us, we missed our slot and we had to wait around half an hour before we were able to push back.
Before departure the crew took down the meal orders. I also noticed that there have been some changes made to the introductory onboard announcement. For example, we were informed of which languages the crew spoke, with Serbian, English, Romanian, Italian and Spanish spoken on our flight (the purses truly did converse in Spanish with the Malaga bound passengers). I also noticed a sentence at the end of the announcement where passengers were asked not to ruin the cabin and property on the plane. It was said in a nicer way but that was the point.
After taking off, the purser prepared the meals. I got to hand it to her, she did a great job considering the tiny galley space where she had to assemble each meal. Since this plane does not have ovens, all the meal choices are seemingly made of items that do not need reheating.
I ordered the third option on the menu, along with a coke. The crew member also came by with a breadbasket which had several options.
I didn’t use the lavatory but there was one at the front which was only used by business class passengers and the purser turned away two or three people who came in from economy. But she was polite about it.
We landed in Belgrade and parked at the very last gate and It was a long track to passport control. All the egates were in operation so I quickly scanned through and went to pick up my bag.
Overall, the flight with Air Serbia was enjoyable and good value for my remaining Etihad miles which I wanted to use up before they seemingly become worthless on Air Serbia. I did find the seat without the wall a bit odd but at least I had a good view of the galley. The seats are very comfortable, and I also noticed how huge the windows were.
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