Review of SWISS flight from Belgrad to Zurich in Economy

Hello FR community,

This is my first ever FR here, thought I am reading reports here for quite a while now and I’m excited to share with you my experience on Swiss Airlines flight operated by Helvetic from Belgrade, Serbia to Zurich, Switzerland, and in separate FR Swiss Airlines flight from Zurich, Switzerland to Valencia, Spain.

Booking tickets

So, three weeks ago me and my brother decided that we want to travel somewhere for few days in November, and decision fell on Valencia, Spain. That was before flooding in the region, so we didn’t expect situation like that, but in the end it happened, but we decided to proceed with our travel as we booked cheapest fare that doesn’t allow us to rebook flights.

Anyways I booked cheapest fare that includes us carry on bag up to 8kg, for the following connecting flights:
Belgrade - Zurich - Valencia - Swiss Airlines
Valencia - Vienna - Zurich - Austrian
Price was 170EUR pp total which is pretty cheap.

Air Serbia flies directly Belgrade-Valencia two times per week on Sundays and Thursdays, we chose to fly with connections because dates of the flights were better for us, and price was really good.

Arriving to BEG

Our dad drove us from home to the airport, that took around 45 minutes, little bit longer than usual due to fact that we were going in the rush hour, when everyone finishes their work around 18h.
Belgrade is largest European city without metro and it really needs one because trafic is huge mess in rush hour. Railway connection from the airport doesn’t exist yet, but it should be built until EXPO 2027. Currently ways to go from city to airport are either that someone drives you, dodgy taxi or bus.
We arrived at the airport 1h and 45min before take off.

BEG Airport

As we have already checked-in online, and had only carry on luggage, we immediately proceeded to passport control and security, it took us no time at all, as there were barely any people. Then we headed into newly opened duty free area that is obliged for everyone to pass thought to get from security to gates.

With one hour until boarding, we had a lot of time to wander around. Belgrade currently doesn’t have many restaurants and food options as renovation works are carried out. Though In and Out restaurant opened recently, and Buritto Madre should be opened soon.

Toilets in Belgrade were clean and maintained during our visit.

Soon it was time for boarding, so we headed to the gate, where boarding already began. Waiting for the us at the A10 gate (furthest of the A gates) was Helvetic Embraer E2-190.

And then everyone waited in the jet bridge for about 10 minutes for plane to get ready for boarding. Gates A7-A10 use still old jetbridges without large windows, while rest of the gates at BEG all have nice massive windows all through the jetbridge.

On board Helvetic E2-190 - BEG-ZRH

We got onboard, and were greeted with female purser in her 50s I would say. She was accompanied by two younger female FAs. We made our way to 17th row and took our seats.

Seats onboard this E2-190 are in 2-2 configuration and feature USB ports.
Load factor for today’s flight was 90-95% I would say with almost every seat occupied. Boarding was completed and we pushed back on time from gate A10. Safety demo was performed by cabin crew manually. Thought during the entire flight volume on PA announcement system was very low, and when engines were turned on, you couldn’t almost hear anything from it except some words.

As we were taxiing, cabin lights were turned to dark purple. We then went to line up, and take off from Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport runway 12R. And making right turn towards Zurich shortly after taking off.

Service

As soon as captain turned off seatbelt sign, crew started distributing 0.33l bottles of water to all passagers in economy class.

I would appreciate at least small snack, but well, at least something is free. After that cabin crew started selling food and beverages from buy on board. They accepted only card as a payment method. I took photo of some of the prices that are displayed in CHF.

Before descent cabin crew also did duty free selling, and they then provided everyone with complimentary small Swiss chocolate.

Landing in ZRH

After some time we commenced our approach in Zurich Airport, as we were just one of many planes arriving in the evening wave, our approach was not the most direct one, and we made one circle in the holding pattern. Again dark purple lights were turned on, and we touched down in Zurich Airport runway 34, around 5 minutes before our scheduled arrival time.

Than we taxied to remote stand, where we left the airplane via stairs, and went onto the bus, that transferred us to terminal building.

ZRH Airport

Zurich airport is very modern and efficient, we passed through passport control in 5 minutes. And we went to take the tram to our hotel for the night, as we were continuing tomorrow morning to Valencia.

We then slept for around 4 hours, and we then continued our way to Valencia aboard Swiss Airlines A320-200. I will make trip report about that flight as well.
Here we come to end of this flight report, I hope that you have enjoyed reading it. Feel free to leave a comment down below. I will be writing more flight reports from now on for sure.