I was looking forward to trying out Business class on Air Serbia because they had actual, proper Business class seats. Most European airlines fit their short-haul aircraft with the same all-Economy configuration as Lufthansa. But not Air Serbia... or so I thought.
Turns out that Air Serbia recently replaced all of the seats on its A319 and A320 aircraft with Recaro slimline seats - starting from row one. These are exactly the same seats that Lufthansa uses on their narrow-body aircraft. On one hand, this is disappointing as Air Serbia's short-haul Business product used to be better than pretty much every other European airline. On the other hand, I understand why Air Serbia would have wanted to do this from an economic point of view. I was the only Business class passenger on this flight, so they were able to shrink Business class from two rows to one, while adding several rows of Economy seats (which they're actually able to sell).
The reconfigured Business cabin:
While the hard product was disappointing, this was more than made up for by the soft product. As soon as I boarded, I was warmly welcomed and immediately offered a glass of prosecco & a (cold) towel.
I was also offered a blanket and handed a menu. There was a comprehensive range of drinks available and for dinner there was a choice of salmon or chicken.
In the "welcome on board" spiel, a special welcome was given to frequent flyers of
Etihad partner airlines - including
Virgin Australia. I thought this was interesting, given that
Virgin Australia is not a partner of Air Serbia and you can't earn or redeem Velocity points with Air Serbia.
The inbound aircraft had arrived on time, and boarding was completed by the scheduled departure time. But as usual, TXL was congested and we were held at the gate for nearly 50 minutes by ATC. The flight was subsequently late, but this was not Air Serbia's fault.
I had a browse of the in-flight magazine, which included a special feature for its 90th anniversary and an interview with the airline's Australian CEO. I also came across this...
Dinner was served shortly after takeoff. A Serbian mezze plate was served as a starter, and I chose the chicken - served with vegetables and a potato rosti - for the main course. Dessert was a raspberry cheesecake. All of the food was delicious. (Sorry about the poor lighting in my photo...)
As the only passenger in front of the curtain, the service was very attentive. Almost too attentive, in fact! Drink top-ups were offered continuously.
I was also impressed with the attention to detail in the service. At one point, the flight attendant spilt a little bit of red wine on the tablecloth and immediately replaced the whole tablecloth!
The service on my flight was genuinely good and I would not hesitate to fly Air Serbia again. Next time, hopefully I'll get to try out their Belgrade lounge which I've heard is excellent.
