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Business class deal: £500 Europe-China o/w
[Air Serbia]
Air Serbia has very few routes outside Europe, whereas Tianjin, a Chinese city just next to Beijing, is one of them. Air Serbia operates two weekly flights from Belgrade to Tianjin.
If you are looking for a business class flight from Europe to China, the best sweet spot is Berlin to Tianjin, which costs only £564.
Even better:
- This is Business Freedom fare, which implies free cancellation and change
- One free stopover is permitted
The ticket is issued in C class, accruing 175% miles in Etihad Guest. You can book a return ticket for around £1,200. Other cities than Berlin are available too but they are more expensive.
[Xiamen Air]
Xiamen Air, a Skyteam member, has some equally attractive fares between China and Europe as well.
- Valid for many European cities, including London, Barcelona, Rome and Athens
- You need to depart from / arrive at Xiamen in China
- Can be booked as one-way or return, valid at both directions
- XMN-AMS is operated by Xiamen Air, whereas the European leg is by KLM
As far as I know the trip must origin from or end in Xiamen, although this post on Flyertalk has a contradictory statement.
Your chances are the best for January departures, but there’s scattered availability in February too.
Remember that you can get a further £10 discount by booking on Trip.com’s app.
If you have a French, German, Italian, Spanish or Dutch passport you can now visit China visa-free for up to 15 days. Failing that you could always do transit-without-visa as long as you are flying to a third country afterwards.
Business class deal: Air Serbia Berlin – Tianjin o/w for €650
Air Serbia launched a new route to Tianjin, China earlier this year, and there’s now a pretty good price for travelling there from Berlin in business class.
You can check the flight price on Air Serbia’s website or via Skyscanner. The flight operates only weekly and you’ll be looking at Thursdays. The sale seems to be wide open in August, September and October.
€653 is a very solid deal for a one-way intercontinental flight in premium cabins. I glanced over the fare rules and it appears to be fully refundable and changeable. Unfortunately you can only credit to Etihad Guest, and the fare bucket C earns you 175% miles.
The fare rules also mention one free stop-over permitted. However when I tried to search multi-city it always came up considerably more expensive. I’m not sure if you can book a one-way flight first and then call up to request a stop-over for free.
Tianjin is one of China’s ports that participate in the 144-hour transit-without-visa program. You don’t need a visa for flying into the city as long as you are continuing to a third country within 144 hours.
My review of Air Serbia Premium Lounge, Belgrade
My flight back to London departs at 10.20am, but I wanna review the Air Serbia Premium Lounge so got in quite early.
As you can imagine, Belgrade airport is fairly small and it has only two lounges: the Business Club which is used by the majority of the airlines except Air Serbia, and accepts Priority Pass.
The Air Serbia Premium Lounge is about 10 metres away. admitting the following passengers:
- Business class
- Etihad Guest elites
- Priority Pass
- Economy Comfort, under a current promotion
Economy class booked using miles falls into the Comfort category and thus is eligible for complimentary access to the lounge. As they accept Priority Pass however, gaining access shouldn’t be a problem anyway.
The lounge is separated by a wall with the business area on the left:
And dining area on the right:
There’s a fancy VIP room which is by reservation only.
In terms of food options there’s a decent breakfast spread:
There’s only bottled water in the fridge though. For anything else including soft drinks you’ll need to request it from the bar.
The bathroom is posher than the rest of the lounge. There is a shower room you could use to refresh yourself.
As it’s the flagship (and only) lounge of Serbia’s national carrier, I had high expectations and can’t lie about being disappointed. It’s so tiny to start with and has no natural light, and I’ve been to many independent airport lounges (especially the Plaza Premium lounges) that are better. Anyhow the food is decent and they’ve got a shower room, so feel free to stop by for a bit before your flight but it’s not worth too much of your time.
My review of Air Serbia A319 business class
After almost ten phone calls to Air Serbia’s call centre, I finally managed to book my business class ticket from Heathrow to Belgrade using Etihad Guest miles. I don’t think many people have ever travelled with them, so it’s worth writing a brief trip review.
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