I had a choice to make.
I arrived into Belgrade at 5pm and had a connecting flight at 7am the following morning. While a hotel may seem 100% logical during a 14-hour layover, three factors worked against it. One, time. I’d lose 45 minutes going to the hotel and 45 minutes coming back. Two, money. I’m cheap when traveling alone. That mindset allows guilt-free splurging when traveling with my family. Three, I had work to accomplish. A lot of it. Better not to even be tempted by a bed when I could sleep during my 10hr flight to New York and arrive back in the States refreshed and jet-lag free.
So turning down a hotel was not an easy choice, but the right choice for me. I can still do all-nighters with relative ease provided I can rest the next day.
After arriving from London, I stopped by the transit counter for my boarding pass to New York (remember why I booked it on two separate reservations). The agent asked me if I was going to “stay here” or “get hotel” and I said I would remain.
Down the hall I found the Air Serbia Premium Lounge and entered. A man in front of me was trying to sweet talk his way in, but was denied and left embarrassed. I handed an agent at the front desk both of my boarding passes. Upon examination, a curious look spread over her space and she asked me, “You’re not traveling until tomorrow?”.
Correct, I stated. She fetched a supervisor, explained the situation in Serbian, and then the supervisor said, “Sir, you cannot come to this lounge now. Too long a visit.”
I was visibly taken aback.
“What do you mean too long? It’s just until my next flight.”
“Yes, but this is not an overnight lounge.”
“Do you close at night?”
“No, but it is not for sleeping.”
“I just need to work, not sleep.”
“I’m sorry sir, come back before your flight.”
“What time should that be?”
“Maybe a few hours before.”
A puzzled look spread across my face and perhaps realizing the foolishness of her made-up rule or just deciding it wasn’t worth it, the agent said, “Well, okay you can stay. But you cannot take your shoes off. And you cannot lay across the couch.”
“I’m not planning to take my shoes off. I just need to work. I won’t even eat anything if you don’t want me to.”
“Of course you can eat something sir. You are most welcome here. We just want to make sure this is not a sleeping lounge.”
I nodded in agreement. She escorted me to a couch in the back of the lounge and told me not to hesitate to contact her if I needed anything.
I don’t know what that was about, but it ended well. Furthermore, I understand that most connecting passengers are not going to spend the night in the lounge. Perhaps I was the first one.
Irony of ironies? When the night shift came on, the agent assigned to watch over me brought over a pillow and blanket and invited me to lay down on the couch and “sleep for awhile”…
I did not sleep. Next up: a review of the lounge itself.
It’s a cultural thing. My family is from the Balkans and the guy trying to sweet-talk his way into the lounge is, unfortunately, par for the course. The airline employees were confronted with a situation they hadn’t encountered before and obviously didn’t know how to deal with, and after dealing with that joker, probably feared that you were a more cunning version of the same guy. More than anything, they just wanted to make sure you weren’t trying to take undue advantage of the lounge amenities. Odd situations can be jarring and, given the potential consequences of making a mistake, the staff here decided to (erroneously) err on the side of caution. The agent who offered you the blanket and pillow is obviously more in tune with the rules of the lounge, and simple hospitality.
A similar thing happened to my dad 20 years ago on the way back to the USA after visiting family in Macedonia. My dad is a huge fan of the music he grew up with and bought a whole suitcase’s worth of cassettes and CDs while he was over there to add to his collection at home. At the security counter, they searched his bag, and the perplexed customs agent insisted that “you have to tax on these cassettes.” My dad correctly pointed out that he paid VAT when he bought them. This escalated into a shouting match until a senior supervisory officer stepped in and apologized and waved my dad through, but not before excoriating the junior officer about how customs are paid on arrival, not departure, and that the next time he’s confronted with a non-standard situation, to consult the rule book rather than make arbitrary decisions.
Correct me if I’m wrong but you didn’t technically have access to the lounge?
Separate tickets right? So not technically a connection… So your business class flight was departing the next day; so you don’t have access the previous day… your arrival flight was in C, but Air Serbia doesn’t offer arrival services either right?
FDW
I think they are pretty straight forward. If u r transiting through BOM, gvk lounge won’t let you in until 3Hrs prior flight time.
U bought a business class to JFK and can’t afford a 50€ hotel ha ha ha
It has nothing to do with being able to “afford” and everything to do with what I considering convenient.
You like attempting undermining Serbia Airline! It s a bad try!!!
Why next time you try travelling by other airline. More suited to you and your needs. If the same happenned in England the rules wpuld apply without exception whatsoever so there would not be a pillow or blanket for you either.
What was it that you wanted to say?
Calm down. Read my lounge review — I go out of my way to praise Air Serbia and will do the same on my Belgrade to New York trip report.
I guess you were just lucky on this one. As others mentioned above you were not officially connecting since you had a separate booking number for your next trip. So basically, you showed up in the lounge 14 hours before your flight. I don’t think this qualifies as a layover since you were not on the same ticket. I also agree with her concerns about sleeping lounge. I can only imagine the type of people they have to deal with. You should probably change the title of your post. They didn’t almost ruined your day but actually they saved your day.
I absolutely dispute this separate reservation business. I was connecting to New York by definition because my layover was under 24 hours. It was not a stopover or destination in BEG, merely a connection that was booked on two tickets for convenience.
I assume you probably did not check luggage but assuming you did in London, would they make you claim it in Belgrade and check it again to NYC? I wonder if they would make you get your luggage in Belgrade and check it again. Just trying to understand how hey would handle two separate reservations with a 14 hour in between.
I did not check bags, but it would have been no problem to check them through in London.
I think the issue was merely the length of stay, not that I was connecting on two tickets. The lounge agent only remarked on my length of stay.
We spent the night at EY’s first class lounge at AUH. It was not pleasant. We also spent the night at QR’s first class lounge at DOH. It was infinitely better. QR had rooms with beds and showers! Not even close.