Woohoo!
Back in October Austrian announced a new business class product which was supposed to be installed on their entire longhaul fleet by April 2013. Unfortunately they’ve had a substantial delay due to the certification process of the new seats, as the first aircraft was supposed to be reconfigured by November of last year.
Well, the great news is that I was just forwarded a press release indicating that the first reconfigured 777 is in service, and is operating as OS45 to the Maldives tonight.
This makes me feel much more at ease about my flight later this month which is scheduled to be operated by one of their reconfigured 777s.
Anyway, just figured I’d post this update that they seem to be making progress. I suspect they’ll still have their entire fleet reconfigured before the summer, which is great since they still have excellent award availability for then.
Not sure if bangladesh falls in Asia ir middle easr/ india
I recall thinking that the footwell was quite narrow. I also recall the footwell getting quite warm during the flight, presumably because of all the motors and electronics in the seat above it.
sdbalsl Hopefully you see this, do you by chance remember if 1k had a larger footwell? Trying to figure out what has the greatest foot space as i'm a pretty big dude.
Just flew OS51 and OS52 Vienna-Narita-Vienna in a B777 with renovated seating. In biz class, please note: odd numbered rows have a single seat on the window position- practically a first-class level seat! I sat in 3A and 1K. All other seat positions have two seats in a side-by-side config. My seats were very comfortable for the most part. Lots of room for laying out your stuff. Entertainment screen is touch and very high quality....
Just flew OS51 and OS52 Vienna-Narita-Vienna in a B777 with renovated seating. In biz class, please note: odd numbered rows have a single seat on the window position- practically a first-class level seat! I sat in 3A and 1K. All other seat positions have two seats in a side-by-side config. My seats were very comfortable for the most part. Lots of room for laying out your stuff. Entertainment screen is touch and very high quality. Programming was average. Minor seat complaints: (1) the touch screen for the seat control is located in a place where my arm naturally rested, therefore I inadvertantly changed my seat setting several times. (2) the seat cushions are air filled- during full recline I felt the air pumps activating every 10 minutes or so. Overall I give it an 8.5/10
Major delays with the New Business Class. Visit their website to confirm your flight has the new config....there's a calendar you check with....Toronto delayed until September.
I thought the press releases all said that the whole long-haul fleet of 777s and 767s would be fitted with the new interiors. And it is supposed to be done by end of April.
The 767 I am supposed to take VIE-IAD shows new config for the summer.
I have NRT-VIE on 777,
YYZ-VIE on 767 and both show the new config
seats.
777 is scattered and the 767 is 1-2-1 config
Really love it. These are for flights starting in April 2013.
@ Bryce -- They're eventually going to upgrade about half of the 767s with the new business class. I assume the others will be retired sooner rather than later.
Do you know if there's a plan as far as the 767s are concerned? Are those to be upgraded after the 777s or kinda mixed together?
@ Kai -- I would go with Austrian since it's a two cabin airline, while Swiss is a three cabin airline. I find that service tends to be better in business class when there's not a first class cabin.
Would you recommend going for OS or LX? Similar seats, but was wondering how the overall experiences are.
I've flown Austrian J across the ocean a few times...their food is fine...strong by US standards, good by European carrier standards.
BA remains the best all-in J service across the Atlantic. The backwards lie-flats keep your head above your feet (very important). Nothing to constrain your feet (unlike the little boxes your feet have to go in with these staggered lie flats). Pre-flight dining gives you more time to sleep on these short flights. Principally...
I've flown Austrian J across the ocean a few times...their food is fine...strong by US standards, good by European carrier standards.
BA remains the best all-in J service across the Atlantic. The backwards lie-flats keep your head above your feet (very important). Nothing to constrain your feet (unlike the little boxes your feet have to go in with these staggered lie flats). Pre-flight dining gives you more time to sleep on these short flights. Principally 747 service. Best in class arrivals facilities in LHR.
@ Zz -- Last time I was there I stayed at Le Meridien, which I really enjoyed. Full trip report here:
https://onemileatatime.com/four-continents-and-37000-miles-in-two-weeks-le-meridien-vienna/
Where do you stay at in Vienna?
@ Tom -- Because:
a) I love Vienna and it's a great stopover city.
b) Austrian apparently has among the best business class catering of any airline, so that's a reason to fly them.
c) While this product is somewhat common on airlines like Brussels, Swiss, etc., which airline offers a better product to Europe? US Airways is the only one I can think of, though I think their soft product leaves something to be desired.
Why are you excited about this? It is an old seating product at this point, and offers some of the least sleeping room of any of the common J products. Frankly, it is raason enough NOT to fly OS.
@ David -- I'd say it's one of the best/most economical business class options. Unfortunately they just don't release very much business class award space on the route in my experience.
How does this rate as an option to get to MLE?