Austrian Airlines is upgrading its catering on long haul flights as of mid-June 2023, and is promising ”Austrian pleasure above the clouds” (lol?).
Continue reading: Austrian Airlines Improving Business Class Catering
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Thanks for this. i have options to return to the US late June including Austrian. I think this has sealed the deal — Austrian in biz it is UNLESS LH F comes available.
“Austrian pleasure above the clouds” (lol?).
Reminds me of the Indiana Jones scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsVGtLAYRDA
"Austrian has the best business class soft product of any Lufthansa Group airline"
Well, I have to admit I prefer LX over OS. Not to mention the mess at VIE.
There's definitely an improvement needed of Longhaul planes at OS. Those 767's are more than outdated. Is there currently any other European using them?
I think even most low-cost and charter airlines in Europe have phased out their 767s.
But in general, the LH Group’s fleet planning has been a mess from transferring LH planes to Eurowings and the back-and-forth exchange of A330s/ A340s between Swiss and Edelweiss.
Like even before Covid, it was a mess.
Same here. Flew LX many times and flew OS last summer (YUL-VIE and VIE-ORD) and I really wasn't impressed with the catering. Hoefully most of that was covid related cutbacks, but the 4 LX flights I took during the same period were all better. Vienna really isn't a food city aside from the desserts.
These changes sound nice at first, but...didn't they offer soup with the appetizer pre-Covid? So that's something they are bringing back as an improvement, not something new. Also, while it's nice that one of the mains will be Austrian, it's still only a choice of 3 mains, which is the number of main dishes they currently offer. And having a separate cheese trolley isn't something extra, it's just cheese being served after dessert, not with dessert.
Don't get me wrong, it's nice to see changes/improvements, but it seems these changes are just superficial window dressing and nothing more.
Austrian uses DO&CO catering while the rest of LH group uses Gategroup. Unfortunately that won't change any time soon. When LH sold LSG Skychef Europe to Gategroup, it signed a long-term contract for Gategroup to cater flights from LH's Frankfurt, Munich and Zurich hubs. For Frankfurt and Munich, the catering operations are still partially owned by LH through a joint venture.
While I've never flown Austrian, I know that British Airways also uses DO&CO for business class, and no one raves about BA catering. It must be that Austrian pays a DO&CO a premium for a high quality product, as an airline caterer ultimately delivers something within the airline's per meal price point.
Exactly....the airline tells the catering company exactly what they want on the flight. So no matter what catering company BA uses in the U.S., the product should be the same rather they fly out of SFO, LAX, JFK, etc.
But Lufthansa uses DO&CO catering in their First Class lounges at Frankfurt...not sure if they do at Munich as well.
People may not rave about BA's food, but it is pretty good and gets good reviews in most trip reports. I think BA's long term reputation for bad food precedes it, as most people who fly BA these days are surprised in a good way at how much better the food is.
I'd put OS J catering, pre pandemic, in competition for second or third with QR, with TK beating both.
what a joke, QR win, this is simply no comparison, LH group serve red and white wine 10usd in business (tested recently on LX JNB to ZRH) and 17-25usd (exception was one Barolo) in first class (LH HND-FRA), yes i checked all the menu in wine-searcher after I realised that everything was meh.
My last year flight with OS last year was not better than LX. And this antic plane (seat, toilet).. food was nothing to remember, and no dine on demand, who like the forced wake up time ?
For now, I will just avoid LH group. End of the story.
I flew, business class, from Vienna to NYC in April. The best food and the most attentive service that I’ve ever had in business class - apart from Etihad, which was also outstanding. Far far better than United, for example.
I would only fly OS long-haul business on a perdominately daytime flight. You can only appreciate the meal services then, and I imagine the sleeping arrangements on a nighttime longhaul would be a disaster.
No one goes to Austria for the food and I certainly wouldn’t fly Austrian for the catering…
I was also surprised by that comment. VIE is my home airport and it's extremely easy airport to travel to/from/via. The only downside I see is the abysmal OS lounge, and the painfully slow bag delivery (often 20-30 minutes wait upon arrival) but those are fairly minor issues.
Did they bring back the ability to upgrade Y catering? I once upgraded and got the schnitzel in Y. I found it kinda fun and the food was outstanding.
@ Arnold,
One of the easiest I wouldn't call it, we have much more better ones but also worse.
That's an embarrassment of riches in terms of whipped cream in that Einspanner (and looks very similar to the one you had back in January).
This isn’t the Einspänner - mocca with a cap of whipped cream - but the Eiskaffee: double espresso with vanilla ice and a decking of whipped cream. Has pretty much the same calorie load as the Strudel.