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…
Continue reading: Austrian Airlines unveils new business class product, to be installed fleetwide by April 2013
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
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.
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.
Just checked United.com, they don't show Austrian award availability. I'm guessing you have to check ANA or EF?
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.
@ Antonio -- They do show space on united.com... there just isn't a lot of space.
This looks dope. What sort of availability do they usually open to *a partners?
@ HoKo -- They're not great about releasing business class space, though they do release some space.
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.
Hmm...do you think this new seat will be on Austrian's Tyrolean-operated longhaul routes (ie: MLE-VIE)?
@Tom All OS flights are now operated by VO... I'm not sure what exactly happened there, but there was something going on...
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
Frank, I think all of these seats have a slight angle to account for the pitch of the aircraft in flight.
@ 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?
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.
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.
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.
@ 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.
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....
@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.
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.
Thanks for the post. I just redeemed some UA miles for a TXL-VIE-ORD-MKE trip in C next August.