Strange as it may sound, even airlines like Smartwings can offer a business class product.

And when I was deciding where to take my family on holiday in March, the condition was that I could fly this business class and give you a personal experience.

Smartwings business class

First, a little about business class itself. Smartwings has only been offering it for a short time, starting in winter 2024.

The airline offers separate business class tickets only to the Canary Islands, specifically to Tenerife and Gran Canaria.

In cooperation with the travel agencies Fischer and Eximtours, the range of destinations is being significantly expanded to:

• Bahrain
• Salalah, Oman
• Ras Al Khaimah, UAE
• Sal and Boa Vista, Cape Verde Islands
• Hurghada, Marsa Alam and Marsa Matruh, Egypt
• Senegal

Buying business class tickets through a travel agent includes a slightly inferior package. Compared to 2 bags, you are only entitled to 1 piece of both carry-on and checked baggage and the service does not include access to the airport lounge.

Buying business class

We decided to take advantage of a cheap holiday in Oman and purchased a week-long trip to Salalah.

Business class is available as one of the additional services when choosing seats on the plane. Even for a relatively late purchase, there were 4 seats available in the business cabin, three of which were reserved for us.

When selecting seats, it is also necessary to select seats for the return flight and so you cannot pay extra for just one trip. The advantage is that business seats can be combined with economy class. On the return, business class is full, so the choice falls to the last available seats to choose from, and these are the three seats in the first row with extra legroom.

The price of one business class seat to Oman is 366 eur. For other destinations the price varies. For example, for Egypt it is half the price, to Bahrain 220 eur.

Buy a business class tour

You can forget about earning miles in any frequent flyer program.

Check-in at the airport

Even though our travel agent offers the convenience of online check-in, I opted to check-in at the airport to see if priority check-in was available and in what form.

To my surprise, the monitors lit up with a full counter for business class passengers only.

With business class travel comes an increased weight limit for baggage. Compared to the standard 20 kg, you can expand up to 32 kg.

However, your baggage is not marked with a priority label and will arrive among the last bags at your destination. On the other hand, you'll be waiting for a shared shuttle bus to your hotel anyway, so priority baggage claim wouldn't help your overall transfer time.

Airport lounge

As written above, if you are flying with Smartwings in business class through a travel agent, you are not entitled to the airport lounge.

This doesn't bother us too much, as we have payment cards that allow unlimited access to the lounges in Prague, and we also depart at 5:55am and the airport lounges are closed at that time anyway.

Boarding

Boarding the plane is absolutely great. Business class passengers have a separate line and can board without waiting in line at any time during boarding. They can be the first to board, or calmly during the boarding process.

We opted for the first on board strategy to allow room for photos...

Unfortunately, there was a baby in one hand, a stroller in the other, and before one's hands were free, the cabin was full of passengers. I have to fine-tune this.

Shortly after the passengers boarded and the only aisle on the plane was cleared, it was time for the welcome drink.

The choice of orange juice, water or prosecco. Unfortunately, the drinks are served in a plastic cup, which brings the standard down to a minimum.

Cabin and seats

Smartwings' business class is configured with a 4 and 5 row model until April 16, for 18 seats. From 17 April 2025, business class will include only 8 seats.

Although it doesn't look it from the plan, the numbering doesn't match. We have three seats in the third row, but the result is that my son sits a row ahead of us.

Fortunately, the travelers present are understanding and switch seats with us.

Unlike traditional European products, where business class is exactly the same seats as economy class with the only difference being that the middle seat is blocked off, Smartwings offers comfortable wide seats.

Sure, it's not even close to the heels of other carriers offering full business even in a cramped aircraft like flyDubai or Qatar Airways, but just saying Smartwings and business class makes this work out well.

Every seat comes with a blanket and pillow and still water in a bottle.

Needless to say, these seats are makeshift. The real business class seats are on their way around the world at the time of our flight.

Unlike the business class seats normally used, these seats cannot recline and lack a footrest. Well, the seats actually recline. By about 5°, which is quite confusing given the levers.

You'd expect the levers themselves to be electrically operated, but they're just mechanical locks.

The dining table is hidden in the armrest.

Comfort is adequate, and the space between the rows is enough to stretch your legs as well as to comfortably spread out your laptop and work.

The entire business class is separated from economy class by curtains.

In-flight services

In my case, I must highlight the work of the crew. This is undoubtedly due to the fact that our business class is taken care of by two cabin crew.

Service

Service was prompt and at a sufficient frequency that I would expect on a 7 hour flight.

The speed consisted of:

• welcome drink
• beverage offer after take-off
• first meal service and beverage offer
• sweet service
• second service and drinks offer
• sweet service

At the same time, it is not a problem to request additional drinks at any time during the flight. More on refreshments below.

IFE

If you're expecting to catch a movie, TV show or music in business class on Smartwings, forget it quickly. There are no monitors.

There is an in-house entertainment system for passengers via the MyWingsTV wi-fi network.

You can watch a limited selection of movies or perhaps a flight itinerary.

So if you have a tablet or laptop, you've got your problem half solved. Half, because you have to have a charged battery...

Sockets

There are no sockets on the plane! Which, combined with "your own IFE", is extremely comical. At least in business seats I would expect outlets.

Toilets

Our cabin, and therefore a maximum of 18 passengers, has one toilet next to the cockpit. This is an undeniable advantage on a 7 hour flight.

Unfortunately, it still happened that economy class passengers simply walked through the curtains separating the two cabins and appropriated the toilet. Fortunately, this only happened about two or three times.

In-flight refreshments

As mentioned above, in-flight service included two main courses. A light breakfast and a hot lunch supplemented by a couple of drink services.

The drinks are virtually any choice from soft drinks to alcoholic beverages. Typically it was sparkling water, juices and sweet drinks like Coca-cola, Sprite, Fanta...

Alcoholic beverages included Pilsner Urquell beer, wines and hard including whiskey, vodka, rum or liqueurs. All this at any time during the flight on request.

Drinks are served by the glass during the flight.

The retro glasses made me personally very happy.

The first course is served shortly after takeoff, about 45 minutes into the flight. It featured baked toast with cheese and ham.

It was delicious. Thanks to the huge amount of cheese and ham, one could even get full from such toast.

During the flight, we managed to fall asleep with the kids for a while. After all, getting up before 4am left us tired.

Even with the light sleep, we welcomed the offer of towels to freshen up. It's just a pity they're not heated.

The second meal is served 2 and a half hours before landing, and I can't help but be amazed that Smartwings managed to include a separate starter in their business class.

But the light appetizer of a sandwich, salad and a slice of salmon with lemon is not worth mentioning.

The sandwich is dry and the salad lacks at least a drizzle of olive oil or other dressing. The fresh salmon did not offend.

There is then a choice of three main courses:

• Fried chicken roulade with olives and sun-dried tomatoes, porridge and roasted vegetable sauce,
• Pork tenderloin with gnocchi, red cabbage and fried onions,
• Raviolis with spinach and tomato sauce

Along with the main course, there is a salad with honey dressing, bread and butter and coconut dessert with mango puree.

I wasn't too impressed with the chicken and the ravioli, so I tried a Czech classic. And I have to say that I have nothing to complain about here. Everything was perfectly seasoned, the tenderloin was great and the fried onions retained a slight crispness even after the whole trip and the subsequent reheating on the plane.

My wife opted for the chicken and she too was extremely surprised. Neither of us expected such a high standard of food on Smartwings. Even overlooking the fact that this is business class.

About an hour before landing, the sweet service is served again with mini chocolates, cookies and oranges and apple. Coffee and tea are offered. The coffee is instant, so rather just tea...

This is only followed by the approach to Salalah SLL airport.

Verdict

I'll admit, I didn't have any great expectations so the whole concept of business class pleasantly surprised me. Even so, in my opinion, this is gilded misery, or if you prefer, business class with ALE.

You have priority check-in, but you don't have priority baggage check-in.

You have priority check-in, but you don't have an airport lounge.

You have a welcome drink, but in a plastic cup.

You have business seats, but you don't have screens or outlets.

On the other hand, the product has found its customers and it is very rare that business class is not sold out.

From my perspective, business class on Smartwings is severely lacking in price-performance ratio. A month back I was able to upgrade to business on Qatar Airways from Doha to Prague for 366 eur and here I got exactly what I expected.

How about you? Will you upgrade to business class with Smartwings on your next vacation?