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Austrian 352
Brussels (BRU) – Vienna (VIE)
Wednesday, January 30
Depart: 10:10AM
Arrive: 12:00PM
Duration: 1hr50min
Aircraft: Airbus A319
Seat: 2C (Business Class)
Upon boarding I was greeted by the super-friendly purser and took my seat in row two. Intra-Europe business class is nothing more than coach with a blocked middle seat with improved food and service, though that’s perfectly fine for such a short flight. Today there were three rows of business class (the cabin size is flexible based on demand, and they simply move the divider/curtain with every flight), though there were only two other passengers. They both sat in row one, while I had rows two and three to myself.
The legroom was fine by coach standards, maybe 31″ or so.
Seat 2A
Legroom in 2C
View from 2C
Seats 2D & 2F
View before pushback
Boarding was completed within about 15 minutes, at which point the captain made his welcome aboard announcement informing us of our flight time of 1hr20min. As we pushed back the safety demo began, and by the time it was complete we were almost ready for takeoff on runway 25R. It was a rather rainy day and we hit some chop on the climb out, though once we broke through the clouds it was a beautiful day.
View after takeoff
About 15 minutes after takeoff the meal service began. I’ve come to expect intra-Europe food to be beyond crappy. Lufthansa used to serve decent food in business class within Europe a few years back, though as of late it has been nearly inedible. That’s why I was shocked when I was served a delicious, hot meal. It consisted of a salmon starter, shepherd’s pie, hot bread roll, and tiramisu for dessert. Truly one of the tastiest meals I’ve had in the sky, let alone on an intra-Europe flight. I didn’t realize DO & CO does the catering for Austrian’s intra-Europe flights as well, which I guess explains why it was so good.
Lunch
The purser working business class was also phenomenal. She was all smiles and about as attentive as I’ve seen on any airline, and must have been around the cabin every five minutes to offer drink refills.
Airshow
Intra-Europe flights are about as boring as it gets, so I spent the remainder of the flight getting started on my trip report, though before I knew it we began our descent into Vienna.
The landscape outside got progressively whiter as we flew east, so my eyes were glued to the window for most of the descent.
View approaching Vienna
10 minutes out the seatbelt sign was turned on, and we began our final descent.
View on descent into Vienna
We touched down in Vienna right on-time, though our taxi to the gate took about 10 minutes.
On the ground in Vienna
Within five minutes I exited the terminal, at which point I took the train into the city, and then a taxi from there to the Hotel Imperial.
Terminal
Terminal
On the whole this was probably the most pleasant intra-Europe flight I’ve ever had. Not only was the service phenomenal, but the food was great as well. I’ll be doing everything I can to fly Austrian intra-Europe in the future.
some comments re: vienna
1. parking is difficult in vienna. and it has one of the best public transport coverage, along with no-turnstile entrances. there are multiple choices going b/t city--airport, from the local s7 train at 4 eur, to express train (11 eur?), to booked-taxis (~30 eur), to walk-up taxis (40-50 eur). they are all clean, fast, efficient. in fact the local train is a great choice if you dont have luggage
2. there...
some comments re: vienna
1. parking is difficult in vienna. and it has one of the best public transport coverage, along with no-turnstile entrances. there are multiple choices going b/t city--airport, from the local s7 train at 4 eur, to express train (11 eur?), to booked-taxis (~30 eur), to walk-up taxis (40-50 eur). they are all clean, fast, efficient. in fact the local train is a great choice if you dont have luggage
2. there are no schemes for complimentary upgrades, thus the business cabins are usually 1/3-1/2 full.
3. y cabin on the LH family gets either a sandwich or a big tart or some kind of similar light snack. which are much much tastier than the "hamburger" on USA-domestic F flights. i.e., these are the kind of foods one would actually pay for.
Euro business is the biggest rip off in modern history. At least in Australia, our "domestic" business is 38" seat pitch, which is like premium economy on international flights.
And on transcontinental flights from Melbourne and Sydney to/from Perth, we have international angle flat beds because it is approximately a 5-hour flight.
I love Austrian. The food is great and they play classic music while the plain is on the ground. Who could ask for anything more?
@ WebRobby -- Both of my Austrian flights went to a gate, fortunately.
@ wwk5d -- Economy seemed pretty full, though obviously not oversold or they would have moved the curtain. Didn't see what the people in coach were served, though typically it's something like a sandwich.
@ austinsmith -- Are you just staying in the city or visiting surrounding areas? If the former, definitely don't rent a car, as Vienna is very walkable and...
@ WebRobby -- Both of my Austrian flights went to a gate, fortunately.
@ wwk5d -- Economy seemed pretty full, though obviously not oversold or they would have moved the curtain. Didn't see what the people in coach were served, though typically it's something like a sandwich.
@ austinsmith -- Are you just staying in the city or visiting surrounding areas? If the former, definitely don't rent a car, as Vienna is very walkable and has great public transportation. The whole trip took about 45 minutes, 30 minutes on the train and 15 minutes in a taxi.
I love that... When we broke through the clouds it was a beautiful day. That's one of the great things about flying, it's always sunny above the clouds.
Austrian is probably the most under-rated European airline as far as service and soft product. It's a shame that they are now owned by Lufthansa which means the product will probably only get worse over time.
Going to Vienna in July and still in decided if renting a car at the airport, city, or not at all. How much did it cost for the train and taxi? How long did it take you to the hotel?
12 seats for 3 passengers? How many people were in economy? Otherwise, while that does seem exclusive for the people in business, it does seem a bit inefficient...
Also, what do people in economy get served? The meal seems like a fancy version of economy class meal, portion wise, anyway...does that make sense?
VIE Terminal G is probably one of the friendliest terminals in Europe and I always appreciate my layovers there. It has seats with tables and power for laptops, free and decent Wi-Fi and even rest areas.
And, by the way, thanks for the great report.
I flew DXB-VIE on Austrian and I was agitated to be on a remote stand on both legs of the journey. Was yours like that?
Nice report. But some of my most interesting flights have been intra-Europe, such as Zurich-nice or Paris-Milan , right over the alps. Madrid-Venice was awesome scenery as well.