TRIP REPORT: Austrian/Air Serbia, Belgrade – Larnaca via Vienna and back
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Good morning and welcome to my trip report!
As of March 1st Cyprus removed all PCR testing for arriving passengers. It seemed like a good opportunity to go for a short holiday. Due to work obligations I had to be in Belgrade on Monday so ideally I was looking for flights on a Tuesday or Wednesday. Unfortunately for me, the only viable option was Austrian Airlines on a Tuesday morning with a five hour connection in Vienna.
Air Serbia's non-stop flight was on a Thursday which didn't suit me while there was no BEG-ATH on a Tuesday. Actually, there was a JU-A3 combination on a Wednesday but it meant arriving to LCA very late at night so I decided against it.
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| Our ten year old E95 at gate A5 |
KLM was our neighbor sitting at gate A6. Judging by how many people there were first at the check-in and later on at the gate, their flight must have been full to the last seat. Unfortunately our flight wasn't as successful with a LF of around 55%. If I remember correctly there were 67 passengers onboard.
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| Ex-JP A319 |
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| Deicing which took almost 15 minutes |
A little while later we roared down the runway.
After taking off, we made a sharp turn and headed north-west towards Zabalj, Bajmok and then the Hungarian border.
The unmotivated, relatively rude crew started their service which these days doesn't even include a bottle of water. They just give you a chocolate and that's about it. Once they are done with throwing around the freebie they start selling their overpriced products. People were mostly buying sandwiches and coffee.
I got an Almdudler for €3. One should be careful with Austrian Airlines as they don't accept cash payments, only credit cards.
After just 53 minutes we were already in Vienna.
Our E95 parked at the gate. It was supposed to fly to STR but due to the strike the flight was cancelled.
Relatively empty VIE terminal. Mind you, it didn't get much better later on. It felt more or less deserted and judging by how many people were lining up at gates, flights weren't full that day.
So much love between all these airlines ... Anyway, after five long hours we boarded our A320 to LCA which was packed to the last seat. Most of the passengers onboard were Poles. I have to say that the crew working on this flight was absolutely terrible. They all looked messy, their uniforms looked worn out and they were too casual for my liking. As always, there was not a single smile and they kept on barking orders at passengers.
As mentioned earlier, Austrian Airlines doesn't give out bottles of water. If you want to drink water you have to ask and they bring you a glass of it. Service was done by two crew members and a single cart. I have never seen such slow and chaotic process. Mind you, by the time we reached Antalya they were somewhere around row 20. There were people who wanted to go to the toilet so they sent them to the business class section so as not to disrupt the painfully slow 'service.'
Overflying Akrotiri, the biggest British air base outside the UK. Thank God LCA wasn't too far away.
Beautiful sunny weather ... in about 10 minutes I would find out that Cyprus was experiencing some sort of a cold front so the whole time I was there temperatures never exceeded 12 degrees. At night it was very cold, around 0 degrees.
We were parked at a remote stand since the return flight takes place tomorrow at around noon. Unfortunately there was yet another surprise ... paranoid Cypriot authorities decided to randomly test our flight. We were all taken to a testing facility where we waited in line for an hour to get our PCR test. Once that was completed we would be notified via SMS if we have covid or not. Normally they charge you 15 Euros for a PCR but these ones were free of charge ... lucky us.
Anyway, Sunday arrived and it was time to fly back home. As you can see here in the picture, Air Serbia was the lucky one that day and they were also chosen to be randomly tested. A total of 97 passengers came out of the JU plane.
Here is our ride for today. This is YU-APK which, before joining Air Serbia, flew for Cobalt, a now defunct Cypriot carrier. In November 2019 I flew on it to LCA and back then it still had Cobalt's interior. There were a total of 138 passenger onboard and to my surprise Russians made up maybe 30% of the passengers. Most were Serbs and from what I saw there were quite a few Germans onboard. The guy who boarded before me was connecting to Frankfurt.
Complimentary service. Unlike Austrian Airlines, Air Serbia actually gives you a bottle of water and a small snack. Given that the flight was full to the last seat, boarding was an absolute chaos and the crew was to blame. They were completely useless and actually made the process much worse. For example, if someone would stop to put his luggage in the overhead compartment, one of the two ladies would rush and force them to awkwardly stand in the seat with the luggage so that people could pass. I think it would make more sense to just board the last rows first. Anyway, I generally like JU crew but these were as bad as the Austrian Airlines ones. There were no smiles and they seemed very unmotivated.
Air Serbia buy on board is actually done with two carts so the process is fast and efficient.
Now here comes the funniest part. After reaching Istanbul we headed north and we entered the Serbian air space somewhere around Zajecar. From there we flew straight to Pozarevac, Kovin and then all the way to Indjija where we made a U turn and headed towards BEG. We were third in line for landing.
Once we landed we stopped on the taxiway. BEG closed parts of it so we had to go back onto the runway and use the exit by the terminal building. Unfortunately for us, we were among the first ones to land so we had to wait for the whole region to land before we could taxi again ... 27 minutes later we were on the move.
If I remember correctly, Athens was the last plane to land so we all reached the terminal building at the same time. We parked at gate A5 where my journey began some five days before. Air Serbia's entire regional network disembarked at the same time meaning that there was total chaos at the passport control. Luckily all passport booths were working and within 20 minutes I was outside in front of the terminal.
Conclusion:
Austrian Airlines 2/10
- Horrible just horrible crew.
- Overpriced ULCC (not even LCC).
- Onboard experience leaves a lot to be desired.
- Buy on board isn't bad but it's expensive for what is being offered.
- Officially they only let you fly if you have a KN95 mask. I don't think this is strictly enforced as our crew from Belgrade had the surgical mask while the ones to LCA all wore the KN95. After take off they went through the plane handing out KN95s and they actually stood there until you put it on.
- There is an app you can connect to after take off but it's useless. On it you can just pick your internet plan or see how many hours and minutes you have until you reach your destination.
- Luckily VIE is a decent enough airport so it compensates for many things OS lacks. At least while you are there the experience is relatively good.
- Unlike Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines won't allow you to buy the ticket unless you have Euros on your account. I didn't feel like exchanging money on my app so I just went to lh.com and booked the same flight for the same amount of money.
Air Serbia 4/10
- Crew is hit or miss. This time around it was an epic miss.
- There is some semblance of hospitality as they still give you a small bottle of water and a small snack.
- No IFE whatsoever, not even internet.
- Buy on board is decent and affordable. They actually accept cash and credit cards both for Euros and Dinars.
- The overall atmosphere inside the plane is relaxed and comfortable.
- Generally Air Serbia is meh ... not bad, not great ...just ok.
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