Review: Belavia Business Class Embraer E190 (MSQ - NQZ)
From Minsk (MSQ) , Belarus to Nur-Sultan (NQZ) (Astana), Kazakstan on July 28, 2022.
After a great day in Minsk, it was time to fly to Nur-Sultan, the capital of Kazakhstan.
Booking process:
Due to sanctions placed on Belarus by the European Union, flights are pretty limited. So, flights are only going to Russia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and all three Caucasus countries, as well as occasional charter flights to Egypt. Also, all foreign carriers except Aeroflot (the Russian national airline) have canceled flights to Minsk. So, our only option was Belarus’ airline— Belavia.
Also, at least around our dates, flights out of Minsk were almost entirely sold out. For instance, for the five days surrounding our flight out, the only flight there was space on was the one to Nur-Sultan. We booked our flight on Belavia’s website for about $500 per person each way (most flights out of Minsk were sold out due to high demand, hence the high price), and we booked Business Class because it was strangely only an extra $40.
Check in and Security:
We had our tour guide drop us off at the airport at 6:15, two hours before our departure.
Since we didn’t have any bags to check, we went to the kiosk to print off our boarding passes. Then, we went through the business class security section, which we were through in under five minutes since we were the only ones.
Then came passport control, where the lady was perplexed about our one day stay in Belarus, but thankfully after making a few phone calls let us through.
The Lounge:
Because we flew in Business Class, we had access to Minsk’s airport lounge. There were a bunch of packaged snacks and drinks to power us through our 1 hour stay.
This lounge is unmistakably Soviet from the marble, furniture, and general air of emptiness. I’ll leave some photos here— just check out that bed. So random!
Soon enough, it was time to board our flight to Nur Sultan, which after a seemingly endless stream of remote stands, it was so nice to board via a jet bridge.
The Flight:
The flight attendants were super friendly, offering us drinks before departure. My mom also pointed out this was the first time she’s ever been given a drink in a crystal glass on a plane. Super classy!
Shortly after takeoff, we got dinner. My mom had the salmon, and I the chicken. Honestly, it was delicious: much better than it looked. On the side, we had some mozzarella, ham, and three mini rolls of bread. I was also so impressed by the two sets of cutlery.
Then, my mom and I reclined our seats to get some rest before our 3:15am arrival into Nur-Sultan.
The arrival into Kazakhstan was easy. A flight had just landed from Germany, so the arrivals hall was quite busy, but we made it through in about 15 minutes.
Overall, this was a super comfortable flight. I highly recommend Belavia should you happen to find yourself in Belarus anytime soon.