Stuttgart, Germany to Belgrade, Serbia on Air Serbia

We had some Etihad miles expiring a few months ago (all from a crazy cheap trip to South Africa in April 2015), so we decided to book four inner-Europe flights each on Air Serbia with our expiring miles.

Air Serbia A319-100

This hop from Stuttgart to Belgrade was our first redemption.  We had been staying out by the Stuttgart Airport for a few days, so we took the 8am Star Inn Hotel Stuttgart Airport-Messe shuttle to the airport for our 9:45am flight.

We checked into our flight and dropped our checked bags at the Air Serbia desk.  Then, JT sat and wrote up a deal alert post and Katie returned the glass bottles we had bought from the airport grocery store back to the store. With the refund and a little cash she bought JT a coffee drink.

Departures board before security at Stuttgart airport

We went to security around 9am.  There was a long line, and we had the misfortune of picking the slowest line.  We figured people were just being stupid, but it seemed that this line was just much more conservative than the others.  Although the signs said to only remove laptops and liquids, after going through the line we were told that we had to remove all of our electronics and have everything scanned again. JT was even told that his backpack was ‘too full’ and they removed some extra items randomly for extra scanning. It was a pretty ridiculous process.

The process also took a long time.  We hustled though the airport to an immigration desk with just one agent but luckily no line. We quickly exited the Schengen Area and went to our nearby gate. We ended up being two of the last four passengers to board.

The flight was just one hour and 40 minutes.  The A319-100 plane was about 70% full, but we had an empty seat in our row.

Air Serbia A319-100

A quick drink service – including complementary wines – and a cold half sandwich were served.

Snack and drink service on our Air Serbia flight from Stuttgart to Belgrade
Sandwich on our Air Serbia Flight from Stuttgart to Belgrade

Once we landed in Belgrade, we noticed various stored/abandoned aircraft. We parked at a bus gate.

Air Serbia A319-100 in Belgrade

Being bused to the terminal ended up being a good thing, since we effectively got a bus tour around the airport.

Planes in ‘storage’ at Belgrade airport – including a Air Yugoslavia plane

Multiple flights had just arrived when we reached immigration.  Many foreign visitors have to buy a visa on arrival, but US citizens don’t need a visa. Regardless, we were in a line with all of the foreign visitors – but it moved relatively quickly.

Once past immigration, we gathered our bags from baggage claim.

Cute baggage claim at Belgrade airport

Once we had our bags, we withdrew some cash from an ATM and headed to the departures level to catch a bus into the city. We had planned to take the 72 bus (150RSD/person onboard), but an A1 bus (300RSD/person) stopped and the driver convinced us to ride his bus instead.

The stop for the airport buses outside the departures area.

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