Austrian Airlines has just unveiled their new business class product, which will be installed on their 10 longhaul aircraft between November 2012 and April 2013. You can find the site dedicated to the new product here.
The seat is very similar to the product on Brussels Airlines and Swiss, with fully flat beds in a staggered configuration, so should be top notch.
Here’s a video of Austrian’s director of product management explaining the features (in German):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XOJxFaxrfc
As you’ll note (if you understand German) that’s not the exact seat Austrian will have, as the colors will be different and there will be slight design differences (armrest and lighting will be a bit different, and there will be a pouch under the screen).
It’s awesome to see that they’ll have this installed fleetwide in roughly six months, as opposed to other airlines that take a decade to install a new product (though in fairness they do have a small longhaul fleet). The best part is that if you go to the site dedicated to the new product, you can see if your route is scheduled to have the new product based on your departure date.
I can’t wait to try the new product, especially since Austrian is known to have among the best catering in the sky, with an onboard chef.
@ Jeremy -- Congrats and enjoy!
Thanks for the post. I just redeemed some UA miles for a TXL-VIE-ORD-MKE trip in C next August.
Austrian Airlines has just unveiled their new business class product, which will be installed on their 10 longhaul aircraft between November 2012 and April 2013.
@Robert, yea at first I looked at it and it was pretty cool. But totally get what you saying, it looks like it will leave you feel worse off than sleeping sitting up straight.
Not only do the seats not look "flat", they look out of alignment, where your upper back goes one way, and and your lower back goes on a different angle. It looks like instant back ache to me....
@ wwk5d -- Nah, it's more show than anything else. I suspect they just work on the presentation of the food and making sure it's served to you b someone with a puffy hat.
The seat in the extended position doesn't look 180 degrees lie-flat to me.
If the seat is the same as the ones on Swiss, the cushions are surprisingly hard. I found them pretty uncomfortable. Seems like such an obvious design flaw and an easy thing to fix.
Maybe I'm over-reading into this but whereas the JFK-VIE flight used to say TYROLEAN AIRLINES (AUSTRIAN ARROWS) it now says TYROLEAN AIRLINES FOR LUFTHANSA.
Oh geez, I want that pillow.
Just booked JFK-VIE on 1/11; website shows should have the new product (flight the week before apparently will not). Should be far superior than the original itinerary on TAP.
@ Lucky - Do onboard chefs actually do anything? I mean, how much cooking can someone do on an airplane? I do know some airlines will eggs cooked to order in FC, but what else can they really do?
Frank, I think all of these seats have a slight angle to account for the pitch of the aircraft in flight.
You know what happened? Lufthansa acquired majority ownership of Austrian and ever since it's been going down hill big time. My childhood neighbors are a family of Austrian pilots. Lufthansa is just squeezing Austrian staff so much that a lot of pilots have left to work for Middle Eastern and Asian carriers. Lufthansa=thumbs down
@Tom All OS flights are now operated by VO... I'm not sure what exactly happened there, but there was something going on...
Hmm...do you think this new seat will be on Austrian's Tyrolean-operated longhaul routes (ie: MLE-VIE)?
Booked business from NYC-VIE for 5/5/13 about 2 months ago. Lucky me!
Those don't look like 180-degree lie-flat beds to me.
She speaks German with an Austrian accent.
wowzers! big improvement from the last time I flew them....it wasn't that comfortable...but those coffee post dinner drinks made up for it.
@ HoKo -- They're not great about releasing business class space, though they do release some space.
This looks dope. What sort of availability do they usually open to *a partners?
The video shows the Brussels Airlines Business Class product!
@ Paul -- Yep, very similar.
@ Antonio -- They do show space on united.com... there just isn't a lot of space.
Looks similar to ANA B787 J class?
I never tried them because their business hard product seemed to be so behind the times. But this change would certainly encourage me to take a look at booking if the schedule makes sense.
Just checked United.com, they don't show Austrian award availability. I'm guessing you have to check ANA or EF?
I have flown Austrian in Economy many times and their food has been by far the best of any Economy product I know. Business must be real good.
I flew Austrian business class from BKK to VIE and from VIE to JFK earlier this year, and found the product and service disappointing compared to CO/UA Businessfirst. New configuration certainly looks better, but still would be reluctant to try it.