Flights to Serbia

[LJW]

Am on here asking for help, suggestions.

I have been a fairly regular flyer to Belgrade, from LHR, in the last year or so choosing British Airways, which is a great direct flight.

From late September onwards British Airways are stopping this service. The alternative direct flight is Air Serbia, which I am hesitant to book due to their terrible reviews.

There are some flights that have one stop, like using Lufthansa, or Swiss Airlines. I used to be a regular user of Lufthansa, before the lock down, however due to personal experience of them having gone downhill I now try to avoid them. Also the layover is generally about an hour, which gives no time for flight delays, or you miss your connecting flight, this means you cannot be settled, as there is concern if you make your connecting flight, especially as I have had very near misses with this problem on a few occasions.

Reviews on Lufthansa seem to back my experience of them as now being not a good choice, and Swiss seem to be going downhill too.
So my question to anyone is, can you recommend a decent airline and service for a journey to Belgrade?

To HfP, why is it that service provided by some airlines to European destinations has deteriorated over the last few years? British Airways are fine if they fly to your destination, and I have always been a fan of Singapore Airlines for long haul journeys, so great that you have just done a review on them.

[JDB]

@LJW – it’s a shame BA is stopping Belgrade after such a short reinstatement as Serbia is a great destination. I’m sure the route would have been busier if it were in the 160 tier point bucket although that doesn’t seem an ideal way to choose destinations. I’m just planning my third trip and I don’t see any great problem going on Air Serbia – it’s a short flight and I’m not needing to be entertained nor fed, knowing I can eat very well at low cost in Belgrade.

[Alan TJ]

Can anyone tell me if there is a store selling Apple products at Gatwick(South) at a discount. I am looking for a pair of Airpod 2 Pro

[Richie]

@AlanTJ try contacting https://www.inmotionstores.com/airports-cities/london-gatwick-airport

[John]

Can you suck it up and use Wizz from Luton? I did in April as £18 was too cheap to resist but I was beginning to regret it when Thameslink left me stranded for an hour on a freezing cold platform… (I also really wanted to try and renew my Star Gold with Aegean on that trip, but the cheapest possibility was in excess of €300 and took an entire day, which I felt wasn’t worth it.)

I really enjoyed the IHG properties in Belgrade which were cheap redemptions, but haven’t checked whether they are affected by the recent IHG hidden devaluation

[cats_are_best]

I’ve used Air Serbia many times. It used to be JAT which had some ‘interesting’ aspects such as gaffer tape holding interior panels in place on the aged planes, though onboard service was cosy and included a decent snack in economy.

Since Etihad invested, the fleet is new, the service is no longer cosy in economy, but it’s perfectly ok, J is similar to CE. Not sure it’s because I’m basic Etihad Guest, but my EC tickets sometimes get extra vs. colleagues’ who aren’t, like being sent to fast track lane at BEG.

It’s a shame BA is dropping the route, I’ll be switching back to Air Serbia as best option.

If you’ve BAEC status, the current SAS status match might make it worth using Star Alliance though…
https://www.headforpoints.com/2024/07/06/match-your-ba-status-to-star-alliance-and-skyteam-status/