Trip Report: Serene Air, Karachi to Lahore (September 2019)

Trip Report: Serene Air, Karachi to Lahore
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I needed to travel from Karachi to Lahore on this domestic sector in Pakistan there are three airlines operating - PIA, airblue, and SereneAir.  I have traveled with PIA and airblue before (see the review of PIA here and airblue here) so I wanted to try the new carrier on this sector.  Serene Air is new to the market and, as per Pakistani law, it must operate domestic sectors for 3 years before operating international markets.  Everyone had kept raving about SereneAir and their all-Boeing airplanes so I had high expectations for the flight.  It was easy to book the flight through the website, but the problem is I was not able to pay for the flight.  If using a credit card, the credit card has be verified at either the airport or a Serene Air office within 24-hours, and I don't live in Pakistan so I could not do that (it seems that this is an issue with all Pakistan-based airlines as I had the same trouble with PIA and airblue before).  In the end, I had to put the ticket on a 24-hold, transfer the cash payment to someone I knew in Pakistan who could go to the SereneAir office with my reservation number and confirm my booking; it was a tremendous pain.  Once the ticket was confirmed, I received an email confirmation with my reservation details.  Most airlines within Pakistan do not offer mobile check-in so all check-in procedures have to be done at the counter.  Most airlines do offer complimentary checked luggage as well as a meal on their domestic flights, and Serene offered complimentary 30kg luggage as part of the domestic ticket.

I had arrived into Karachi earlier that evening from Sri Lanka (check out that review here) and it was very easy to connect from the international to domestic terminal in Karachi.  I had more time than expected and I was able to go to the SereneAir website to manage my reservation and there I could preselect my seat.  I had initally chosen a middle seat near the front of the plane but switched to a window seat near the back at the counter (and will explain later why I was thankful I did so).  The flight was scheduled to take off from Karachi at 7pm and arrive into Lahore at 8:45pm.  I waited until 5pm and then went to the counters where it was very easy to check into my flight, drop my luggage, and receive my boarding pass.  I then proceeded to the gate to wait for my departure.  The incoming plane arrived about an hour prior to our departure, but the airline did not seem to be in a rush to start boarding.  Boarding commenced about 30 minutes prior to departure and it was a bit chaotic as neither groups nor seat sections were enforced, after a bit of time it was a general free for all (other domestic carriers have tried to somewhat enforce the group numbers but Serene did not try at all).  

The operating aircraft was a Boeing 737 and from the outside it looked nice and freshly painted, but apparently that is where the updates stopped.  Inside the plane looked and felt worn and old, and it looks like the seats had only received a blue cover and that is it; despite the airline being new, the aircraft looked extremely worn out and tired.  The seats were laid out in an all economy 3-3 seats and the seats were basic with a tray table and a seat-back pocket; the seat-pocket only contained the safety card and nothing else.  The seats themselves were generally uncomfortable, the seat pitch was tight, and my seat the seat-back pocket was broken so it was sticking out thus making the seat pitch even tighter.  It took a while for boarding to be completed, as it was a completely full flight, but once everyone had boarded, the boarding doors were closed, manual safety demonstrations were conducted, and we took off for Lahore.  While the passengers were boarding, both English and Urdu newspapers were handed out to passengers throughout the cabin. 

The flight time from Karachi to Lahore is 1hr 30min and as it was night time, Serene Air provides a full dinner during the flight.  There were a total of 4 cabin crew on board and despite the short flight time, it took them a while to get the inflight service started (two of them seemed apathetic while one seemed somewhat customer friendly).  Two cabin crew started from the front and two started from the back providing meals as well as drinks.  The meals consisted of rice and meat, yogurt, and dessert; it was not substantial but enough for the short flight time.  Complimentary drinks included soft drinks, juices, and water but they were provided in very tiny cups (basically a shot of a drink).  Tea and coffee service followed the meal service, but given the delay in starting everything, by the time the FA's came around with coffee and tea the captain had already announced our initial decent into the Lahore area.  The FA's quickly completed their tea and coffee service and then came around to quickly collect the trays and trash, and prepare the cabin for landing.  As we departed late, we also arrived late and the airline did not seem to want to make up the time in the air.  We landed, taxied to the gate, deplaned, and went to receive my luggage (which came rather quickly).

Overall, I was a bit disappointed in my flight with Serene Air.  It is a new player in the Pakistani aviation sector and a lot of people had high praise for their service and their all-Boeing planes.  Having flown with them now and with their competitors previously (PIA and airblue - both reviews on the blog) I did not experience anything great; in fact, there was nothing on this flight that would make me want to choose Serene Air.  Given their competitors are more established, have a wider regional and domestic network, and can offer the same fares as well as same onboard service - I do not see any incentive to choose Serene Air which provided the same low fares, the same meals, and average service in older planes.