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Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Maribor, Slovenia.
Portoroz, Slovenia.
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Slovenia’s national carrier, Adria Airways.
Skytrax allows people to share their experiences with various airlines, airports, and everything connected thereto. I recently went to the Adria forum to see what people thought of Slovenia’s national carrier and found, for the most part, satisfied customers. It’s full of stuff like: “would fly Adria again,” “quite satisfied,” “no major complaints,” “overall a pleasant experience.”
I’ve flown with Adria before, and I would agree with all of the above.
It’s quite a different story, though, at the forum for the former Yugoslavian (now Serbian) national carrier JAT, where some comments made me laugh so hard I did damage to my internal organs. (It was worth it, though.)
Although JAT has been praised for its safety, their customer service doesn’t seem to have won many hearts over the years. Here are some of the better comments: (emphasis is mine)
“The flight to Belgrade was delayed one hour and a half. No explanation was offered for this. Even worse, repeatedly asking one of the ground crew about the delay only produced an empty smile and a meaningless ‘yes’ in reply. When we finally did board the plane, I found out my seat was broken. The flight attendants did not in any way respond to my complaints.”
“Delayed departures by up to an hour are common in both directions… You will not get any excuses or explanations.”
“I cannot comment on the in-flight service or the aircraft as it simply didn’t arrive in Beirut. There was no warning; indeed there were no JAT staff or handling agents whatsoever. Right up to departure time there was no indication that the flight had not left Belgrade. Eventually the word “cancelled” appeared on the screen - at 0100hrs. Next flight (MEA) 4.30pm!! Absolutely disgraceful.”
“If there would be an under 1 star rating for an airline companies I would definitely rate JAT with minus -5 star airline. Try to avoid it if you can!“
“A great advantage is their punctuality.” ???
And, finally, my personal favorite:
My first time on JAT from Frankfurt to Beograd. Accompanied with husband, son and wheelchair bound mother-in-law, the aircraft interior was well and truely worn and torn, seats terribly uncomfortable, checking the pockets in seats only found emergency card, nothing else. The aircraft type was very noisy. Cabin services appeared friendly but not of international standard. A cold meal was presented, not very appetising. Upon disembarking aircraft at Beograd, after other passengers left aircraft, due to wheelchair bound mother-in-law, only myself was promptly directed by female cabin crew to “get off aircraft” with the pointing of her hand to the exit door followed by another reply “you must leave now“. Having travelled myself around the world on many different airlines, I have never experienced such appalling behaviour. Politeness and courtesy appeared non-existent to this cabin crew member.
You can read all the comments here. Also: don’t miss Eric Gordy’s recent adventure with JAT, which is brilliantly written and also very funny. (But only because it didn’t happen to you.)
It’s also worth noting that despite all of the above, JAT and Adria are both rated as 3-star airlines. How’s that for justice?
(Thanks Martinovanje!)
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Ah well… Had you lived in socialist Yugoslavia you would have known that JAT stands for Joking About Time, so none of the above really comes as a surprise. Just put it down to local folklore
I flew JAT last year. The in-flight meal also included one of those fake chocolacte Eurokrem bars that we used to get when I was in primary school. I was blisfully unaware of the fact that they still make those - I figured they had died with Yugoslavia. Afterall, there was only need for fake chocolate because the real stuff was hard to get by… A stroll down memory lane. (Tasted awful, though :))
If you fly JetBlue, just watch what you wear. Raed Jarrar was recently barred from boarding a JetBlue flight at JFK because of some Arabic script on his T-shirt. Apparently airline officials and passengers assumed it said “I am a terrorist.”
Amusing details here:
www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/21/1348224
In the UK most of our airlines are OK but I’m starting to have grave doubts about the quality of the passengers.
On Sunday two British men of Pakistani descent were ejected from a Monarch Airlines plane from Malaga because some other passengers “mutinied” and refused to fly with them. Their multiple crimes turned out to be “Travelling While Asian”, “Wearing a Beard in a Public Place” and “Speaking In A Foreign Language”
Once I would have not thought such a thing possible but we live in very strange times
I flied JAT a month ago, Frankfurt - Belgrade. The plane was two hours late on take off, and I had to give up my seat for some dude who was being deported. That’s fine, but what pissed me off was how the crew & the cops handled my change of seats. Food used to be fine before though, gibanica & prosciutto
Just last weekend, when we - the band - flew back from Spain, I observed a Wallonian compatriot who became irate, merely for the fact that the queues for the Ryanair flight home (from Valladolid to Charleroi - boastfully aka as ‘Brussels South’, hahaha!) did not allow him to board first, but let families with kids on first and then attempted to establish some modicum of order by announcing that only the first 90 passengers would board the plane, before the rest was allowed on. Yes, these are terrible times in aviation. Sure, boarding a Ryanair flight is very much like trying to get a seat on an overcrowded bus; the flight attendants’ company instructions appear to be ’sell as much ‘food’ and useless gear as you can on flight’ (but they’re quite friendly) and it takes quite some time to get your luggage, but all things considered, especially when reading this entry and the poor Boston chap’s JAT/Heathrow experience, I would recommend it to anyone. Just make sure to stay out of the way of irate Wallonians
I like Croatia Air, BUT, they don’t have their office open or alternate means of resolving problems. It’s not that they aren’t good people, just that if some thing goes wrong it’s very difficult to resolve it on the spot.
Loved the food, nice wine too! and very little in the way of in-flight annoyance.
Well dont forget that JAT remains a state owned company as it has been since the beginning.
In practice this means that employees stay employed for years and a new crop arent brought in. That explains, if anybody was wondering, why the cabin crew are older than on most other airlines. The public sector ethos combined with the ‘I fear for my job’ is a powerful combination for poor customer service too.
If anybody remembers Robna Kuca (General Department Store of Yugoslavia - 3rd biggest department store in Europe at one time) the same thing happened there until a couple of years ago when it was closed down.
Call me sentimental but I like JAT - even if it may not have much of a future.
I flew JAT from Berlin to Belgrade last year. Actually quite impressed- food fine, staff nice, cabin clean, punctual etc. And the fact that their staff were not all under 30 was cool. Beats Ryanair anyday.