AUSTRIAN review : 5 May 2008 : by P Desmet

Customer Rating : 4/5

JFK-VIE in Economy on an old Boeing 767. Boarding was chaotic. Cabin crew did a great job in assisting the crowd finding their seats. Service was great. All seats with individual monitors, but no AVOD. In many seat rows, the screens did not work however and some passengers around me complained about inoperative reading lights. Cold breakfast served about 2 hours before landing. On time arrival in Vienna and swift disembarkation with buses.

AUSTRIAN review : 28 April 2008 : by Damian Heritz

Customer Rating : 4/5

YYZ-VIE-LWO and VIE-YYZ With 15 teenagers. Transatlantic planes had no mini TV's, very strange as Austrian boasts about them on their widebody fleet in coach. The plane had no legroom, and broken winged headrests. Crew fantastic, and always serving drinks. Food delicious, but the IFE was depressing. 2 disney movies on a flickering screen. Both had singing cats. Good for the kids, not everyone else. Vienna Airport was packed, and very boring. Plane to Lviv a Dash8-400. 3 FA's for 70 passengers, very good! Extreme turbulence, so FA's took away meals, and assured passengers it was fine. They ended up serving meals near the end, and it was good. Return to Toronto was on another ancient plane. Food great, FA's better than before. Landed on time in Toronto, and every bag made it both ways - all 17 of them. Overall, a good airline, but they really have to get new planes across the Atlantic.

AUSTRIAN review : 23 April 2008 : by L Jensen

Customer Rating : 1/5

BKK-VIE Boeing 777 economy. Tiny seat pitch with 10 seats across 3-4-3 seating instead of 9 seat across with the usual 3-3-3 or 2-5-2 on other airlines combined with cabin crew who only just did the minimum amount of work possible. Cabin crew handed out food trays and collected them and were otherwise hard to spot during the 10.5 hour flight. I will choose Thai or other Asian carriers any time so this will likely be our last flight with Austrian.

AUSTRIAN review : 23 April 2008 : by T Cogan

Customer Rating : 1/5

VIE-BKK Business class. The seats are dire given they are supposed to be new and lie flat (which they most certainly are not). The food is OK and service is at best average. Also rather annoyingly you cannot have entertainment on demand. I shall be going back to flying direct from London with EVA who have improved hugely by doing the same as Austrian, but properly and not on the cheap !!

AUSTRIAN review : 23 April 2008 : by S Chandra

Customer Rating : 4/5

Business class Chicago to Delhi return. Food excellent, IFE system was ok but was not on demand. The lie flat seat was really uncomfortable. Staff pretty attentive.

AUSTRIAN review : 22 April 2008 : by David Leman

Customer Rating : 1/5

Dubai - Vienna. Probably the worst flight I have ever experienced. A tiny 737 for a 6 hour long haul flight. No seat back entertainment, very poor food - a small cheese roll for our dinner, the cabin was freezing cold, I noticed others around me with their blankets up near their chins and the lady next to me was literally shivering - worst of all the seats did not recline. I took this flight only as the Emirates flight was a couple of hours too early for me, but for the 6 hours of being freezing cold, uncomfortable and hungry and I paid over $700 for the privilege, I thought I was on a US domestic flight!

Austrian review - by T Foran

16 April 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

YYZ-VIE-IST Business Class. The flight from Toronto had Air Canada check in staff who were petty and officious about a half a kilo extra in carry weight. The flight left on time, service friendly, food and drink excellent, apart from the main course which was not up to par. Austrian has curiously un- ergonomic business class seats that require study and patience to attain any semblance of comfort. The entertainment console's image was out of skew at the top, so people's heads drifted considerably to the side when viewing. One has to wonder why Austrian selects such junk for their passengers to view. We had a 4.5 hour lay over in Vienna. While the lounge was stocked with acceptable food and drink, there were no couches to stretch out on, no showers, and the experience amounted to uncomfortable tedium. VIE to IST served better than standard food. But the trip left us considering whether Business Class was worth the cost. Should it not be a complete experience?

Austrian review - by V Rosendahl

2 April 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

ATH-VIE-CPH by A320/A319. Seat pitch acceptable for average sized persons. Smooth transfer at Schwechat, apart from extensive security procedure. Courteous cabin crew in spite of economy class being full on both flights. Hot meals served on both sectors with complimentary soft drinks, wines and coffee. Signature Viennese music in cabin before take-off and after landing. Austrian is representing the charm of flying before the introduction of no-frills, low-budget airlines!

Austrian review - by R Turcott

25 March 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Excellent service once on the plane! (Flights were delayed in Chicago, Vienna and Tel Aviv.) The cabin were very attentive and pleasant. Meals excellent, beverages were offered often. Movie selections good. One complaint would be the leg room in the middle section of seats. They were pretty cramped.

Austrian review - by Ortrun Bergmann

25 March 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

PEK-VIE-LNZ in business. PEK-VIE a Boeing 767-300 with comfortable seats. A five course lunch followed by a second meal before arrival. Cabin crew friendly and attentive. VIE-LNZ operated by Austrian Arrows.

Austrian review - by Oleksandr Martynenko

12 March 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

FRA-VIE-LWO in C. Overall, a very very positive experience. The best part was the inflight service. Comparing Austrian intra-European service in C with that of Lufthansa, Austrian is best by far. The meal services have been fantastic. Their Do&Co menus are very delicious. The seat pitch is a little bit small, but for an hour flight adequate.

Austrian review - by Peter Hollitscher

9 March 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

LNZ-VIE-YYZ and return. the short haul flight Linz - Vienna was operated by Austrian Arrows with a Dash 8. they served on this 35 minutes flight a cold breakfast with a choice of coffee or tea. Vienna-Toronto Austrian used an old Boeing 767-300 of Lauda Air. Lunch was served, and a snack before arrival. Cabin crew were friendly and attentive.

Austrian review - by David Worcester

7 March 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-VIE-LCA. Notwithstanding the usual scrummage at T2 security, everything went well. LH lounge was tranquil and boarding ok. Once onboard Business class service was evident - newspapers, drinks followed by breakfast. Prior to landing, chocolates were offered. On the Vie-Lca leg, after a long queue at security to enter the gate compound, a relatively quick boarding followed. Prior to push, newspapers and magazines were offered, followed by menus during taxi. After take off, lunch orders were taken (choice of 2 hot main courses), followed by a welcome drink, canapes. Table cloths were laid for lunch, complemented with a cheese selection and a dessert served separately. A business class only bus transferred us quickly to immigration.

Austrian review - by J Hrabusaj

21 February 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

CDG-VIE. Boarding on time - quite surprising as my previous experience was that the last evening flights (from CDG as well as from VIE) were constantly late. For half an hour, we were sitting in the plane standing at the terminal hearing pilots starting and immediately stopping the engines. Explanation from the cockpit came only at the end announcing problems with one of the computers. Seats refurbished according their new color scheme, but the rest of the interior worn out. They should think about renewal of their A320/A321 fleet if they want to keep their 4-star ranking. Newspapers only French and German, they've stopped giving newspapers in English. Good that they've waived their policy that food in economy on European flights was only for sale. This was shifting them to a low cost segment.

Austrian review - by T Cogan

7 February 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Vie-Bkk Business class. First time I have used Austria since my last poor experience about 3 years ago. I thought given the push on new seats and so on that we might see a big improvement. Sadly not the seats are better but not really lie flat and you just keep slipping down and waking up. Also entertainment not on demand so you have to wait till movies run their course. Cabin crew average at best. Won't be using them for a long time to come.

Austrian review - by Aidan Foley

7 February 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

ORK-SLZ return operated by Austrian Arrows FK100. Travelling with wife and two small children (6yrs and 9 mths) the staff were magnificent. Prior to departure kids were given toys and sweets, the aircraft had the most generous legroom I have seen in a long time. The meal was very tasty. Cabin staff kept coming back with hot rolls and hot/cold drinks. I can't speak for mainline Austrian but hats off to this little gem of an airline. It just shows up what other carriers have forgotten about; a little bit of customer focus. Major carriers take note! Smiling doesn't cost!

Austrian review - by S Leach

4 February 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

DXB-VIE Flight on 737 - a small plane for 6hrs flight. Plane branded Lauda Air. Seats comfortable with decent legroom. IFE only a small screen every few rows. Biggest problem was that the queue for the rest rooms at times went back half way down the plane. (737 only single aisle). This slowed cabin service. Would be 4 star if the plane was more in line with the competition for such a journey.

Austrian review - by Richard Coxo

21 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

BRU-VIE and VIE-PEK in Business class. BRU-VIE operated by Tyrolean, small Fokker 70 but excellent catering, their Do&Co food was a very tasty Thai chicken red curry. Vienna airport has not changed, still small and uninteresting, but spent a happy couple of hours in the large Business lounge in the main area between the two controls. Only one small gate for VIE-PEK, "priority service" for business in fact meant "jump the queue". Senator lounge after control was completely full as usual, so went into the first gate, waited, then the second gate, waited, then boarded. Old B-767 but with the new business class seats. Large screens but still these seats that are not quite flat, and space for your feet is very small. IFE very old-fashioned, films could not be started, stopped or paused, and it crashed regularly. Nothing much to watch in any case. Food was excellent, cabin crew attentive, and the inflight chef breakfast was as ordered and presented very well. It is obvious that faced with old planes and a terrible colour scheme, they have given up on everything else and have concentrated on feeding you well. Which isn't bad - and they could make you a proper coffee, if you wanted one, from the Viennese coffee-house concept.

Austrian review - by F Cremonini

15 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Brussels-Vienna-Brussels in Economy (Red Ticket, bought less than one month in advance for 120Euros taxes included). Airbus A-319 on both flights - a Frequent Traveller, so could use Business class check-in and lounge. Legroom ample and seating is comfortable. Meal and drink service outstanding for such a short flight - hot meal on both flights from Do & Co. Flight attendants very attentive. Perfect flights and good fare - excellent value for money, I would fly Austrian again.

Austrian review - by John Clift

13 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-VIE-ESB and return business class. All fights late, regular A321 / Fokker 100 seat pitch minus middle seat. Flight to VIE outbound had a ill passenger laid out on seats in front of mine with all family continually mulling around pushing and shoving. VIE-LHR, the passengers from rear of plane just came and sat in empty front seats. Extortionate fares, poor service and crew who could not care. No choice to use them for this route but never use them for other flights. This is not business class at all.

Austrian review - by T Jeans

10 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

INN-EMA. Austrian Arrows charter flight operated by Tyrolean. Flying as it used to be. Comfortable plane, hot meal with wine and metal cutlery. Friendly cabin crew who took polaroid photographs of the children on board, and worked hard throughout the flight. Both outbound and return flights on time and the F100 spotless both ways. Only a pity that the handling and car park arrangements at East Midlands were truly shambolic.

Austrian review - by Michael Smolders

5 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

VIE-LHR Business Class. Last minute gate change at airport immediately followed by a flight delay. No regular updates provided on flight departure time. Once flight was ready for boarding, no priority boarding calls by rows or class. So one mass of upset passengers surged forward to the gate. Once onboard, no complaints. Service was excellent and the food was good. Happy to fly with Austrian again.

Austrian review - by Rav Singh

27 December 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-VIE-DEL, return Economy. A tale of two halves. Outbound flight to Vie on standard aircraft, served the usual sandwich with drinks. VIE-DEL not a good flight. Cabin very worn and dated, no PTV's, overhead screens did not work properly. FA's were dismissive and non-attentive, food barely edible. Return flight different - PTV's, great crew who did the rounds often with water and soft drinks. I would fly them again depending on which aircraft they used. Good value for money.

Austrian review - by Ankit Sethi

16 December 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

DEL-VIE-YYZ. Good food and =service was pretty good by the crew. There was no place to sit at the airport in Vienna - really poor arrangements.

Austrian review - by Stefan Schulz

12 December 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Vienna to Beijing overnight business class. The service was rather poor, I had the last seat in Business Class 6K which meant that the food I wanted was no longer available, both for starter and main course. Distribution of Journals ended before they got to our row. What had looked very promising was in fact in the end rather poor service. The entertainment programm did not work very well either.

Austrian review - by Martyn Page

30 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

VIE to BKK overnight business class. Their fancy lie flat seats should have been comfortable, but weren't. While trying to sleep I was often awoken by cabin crew brushing into me. Don't they realise that we are paying a vast amount of money in order to obtain something approaching a decent night's sleep? Then, despite filling in breakfast cards well in advance, the cabin staff were unable to provide the right breakfast for me or several people around me. One of the toilets was not working. There is a "chef" on board but his role seems limited to wearing a puffy white hat and frying bacon. I'm sure he's very good at it. Once again, being given a small slab of very ordinary milk chocolate is not enough to send this customer away happy. I will not be flying Austrian business class again - it's simply not worth it.

Austrian review - by Robert Bushby

21 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR to VIE and back. Outbound on a A321 and back on Austrian Arrows (Tyrolean) F100. Aircraft clean, schedule met, staff pleasant both at check-in and on-board. Only marginal downsides were the meals in each direction, somewhat indeterminate pasta but that is just our opinion so overall a good experience and if we had a choice we would use them again. One more thing; we saved some euros by presenting our boarding pass stubs at attractions in Vienna for free entry, the information on this is tucked away in the in-flight magazine but not too prominently so enjoy the read!

Austrian review - by Ferenc Schottner

15 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

BRU-VIE-ZAG return Economy. Nicely maintanined A319 to VIE, CRJ to ZAG. Service excellent, warm food and even a small pastry between VIE and ZAG. FA smiling, good language skills. One hour delay coming back in VIE, waiting for 20 transfer passengers. We were continuously informed about the situation, cockpit was on the PA at every ten minutes with updates.

Austrian review - by C Podolski

12 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

VIE-LCY-VIE in Economy. Austrian has added London City Airport to its network just a few days ago. Fast connexions and cheap transfers to and from the city and a hassle free (but crowded) charming small terminal at LCY. Austrian uses the Fokker 70 Jets for its LCY-flights. Legroom is ample and seating is comfortable. Meal and drink service fabulous - hot breakfast on the morning flight, hot dinner on the evening flight, from Do & Co. Flight attendants very friendly and attentive. Perfect flights except for one thing - the terrible green, blue and red colours of the airplane interior! Makes you want to wear sunglasses even at night.

Austrian review - by S Wilson

6 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

VIE-PEK return in Business Class on 767. Lounge at Vienna very disappointing, not enough room, and relatively mediocre with no showers (particularly inconvenient as I was transiting to LHR on the return and wanted a shower to freshen up before the short hop). Boarding easy, seats angled lie flat were narrow (2x2x2 in a 767 always is), but quite comfortable and eventually adjustable to a sleepable position after some fidgeting. Service first class, some of the best food in business class - the onboard chef makes a huge difference. So much choice, excellently cooked, range of coffees, drinks, desserts, but quality also impeccable. IFE not AVOD, but choice adequate and worked, but seemed a bit dated. Certainly would fly Austrian long haul business class again, just a shame that Vienna airport while small and easy to transit through (in rapid time) has disappointing lounges.

Austrian review - by Paul Jacobsen

1 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

BCN-VIE-ARN in Economy. Being green the cabin interior is surprising at first, but I liked it. Cabin crew was attentive and friendly. I was even offered headphones! But the in-flight programme was the usual ads and comics. The real plus is the snack offered by Austrian on its European flights: a hot snack and tasty dessert prepared by Do&Co. I wish the portions were more generous. Transfer at Vienna was seamless although the advertised 30min connecting time could be too short if there are queues both at passport and security controls.

Austrian review - by R de Graaf

28 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

BKK-VIE in a Boeing 777 in business class. Lie-flat seats in a 2+2+2 layout. Seats very uncomfortable. They are flat, but in a relative steep angle. In addition, there is no foot rest to keep you from sliding down. Inflight entertainment not on-demand. Austrian has started a marketing campaign on this, and there is a supposed "chef" on board, including the costume and hat. This does not reflect in the food, however. After take-off you can fill out a form which breakfast choices for the next morning, including how you want your eggs done, etc. Nice initiative, but when breakfast came, my eggs were not done as requested and the hot chocolate I requested and was looking forward to never came. When I asked, the hot chocolate "was not available on this flight". No excuses for the eggs and this fault was not corrected. I am not a very demanding passenger normally, but I cannot avoid submitting this relatively negative review here. Will avoid Austrian for long-haul in the future.

Austrian review - by Tommy Desmet

28 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

BRU-VIE-SZG return A321 outbound Vienna and during the Vienna-Brussels flight. Legroom was quite good despite the economy class configuration! Meals and drinks were very good and the service was professional. At Vienna we had a connection time of about 40 mins. whilst "running" to get our plane (which was the last one of that day) to Brussels the crew waited to have all passengers and bags on board.

Austrian review - by M Weigle

23 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

SZG-VIE-SOF and back. Austrian has improved catering during summer. SZG-VIE is only 35 min but still good Service. Staff friely and polite epecially Tyrolian/Arrows and Lauda Air Staff. Seats are not comfortable on Q300/400 - old and worn out but its only a hop. To SOF on 737 or Fokker 100 they are OK. Pricing is strange because you pay the same Economy and Business if the return flight is within five working days so it pays off to use Business.

Austrian review - by Boris Drenkov

18 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

SOF-VIE-MUC in Economy. Flight attendants were friendly and efficient. The food was exceptional considering that it was real warm food with fresh bread and tasty pastries for dessert. Daily newspapers in German, Bulgarian and Russian. The first leg was absolutely full, the second around 40%.

Austrian review - by J Smith

2 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

VIE-YYZ, in Economy on a 763. Online check-in a pain - I checked in early to secure good seats but didn't have access to a printer. All airlines I've travelled on prior this this allow you to easily reprint your boarding passes from the quick check in kiosks, however with Austrian, I could only access one boarding pass and not my travel partner's. We ended up having to line up anyway to get this second pass printed out. Boarding the plane, we were quite disappointed to find out it was an antique, Star Alliance-branded plane, which looked as if it hadn't been updated in about 20 years. It must have been a used plane acquired from KLM, as the toilet signs were in English and Dutch. Service decent enough, FAs were a bit brusque (probably frazzled by the noise problem) but the food was of better quality than most airlines.

Austrian review - by P Cotsapas

31 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LCA-VIE-GRZ return, economy class. First leg on A319. FAs were efficient enough, though they seemed to try to remain invisible for as long as possible. The breakfast was mixed. As always on Austrian, the bread was fresh and delicious. The transfer in Vienna was smooth (if prolonged). Second leg (30-minute hop) on CRJ-200. In comparison to the first flight, the (only) FA was friendly and chatty. I was surprised that we were served pastries (very fresh) and water and/or coffee. My only complaint about the return leg is that although Austrian advertises that you can smoothly connect flights in 30 minutes at VIE, I was there for an hour and a half and still my luggage remained in Vienna! It was delivered to me the next morning.

Austrian review - by J Vandenbroucke

27 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

BRU-VIE-BRU, Economy class in A320. Free newspaper and decent food. Staff friendly and helpful. Paid only 127 euro for a return ticket ("red ticket").

Austrian review - by John Bauman

27 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-BKK Business. Flight was outstanding all the way. 40 mins connection in Vienna which was suprising. Very attentive staff and excellent food. New speciality coffee menu was original and choice of food very good. Usual business seat configuration to Vienna ie. three seats with the middle kept free but still had good legroom. Vienna onwards in true business class. Comfortable flat bed seats although the 2-3-2 configuration was a bit strange. Clean, smart cabin on both planes. Good choice of entertainment and absolutely nothing at all to complain about. They may become my preferred choice in future.

Austrian review - by Jean-Louis Vergaert

19 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating : n/a

Larnaca to Vienna, business class – 3 key facts describe the abysmal level of business class service with Austrian Airlines: their business seats are exactly the same as economy, with the middle seat left open - there is not even an effort to widen the seats with special armrests, and no middle table. They serve wine from 1 liter bottles, closed with plastics caps – and the wine effectively tasted like coming from the cheap supermarket. There is no menu, no drink list, no pillow, no blanket, and the food is barely eatable. Definitively one of my worst business class experience - and we don't talk about a short hop, but a 3 hours flight.

Austrian review - by Johan Vranken

17 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

BKK to BRU via VIE in economy. Check in at Bangkok a mess due to computer failure. Long lines even at business counter (have senator card) because all boarding passes had to be written by hand! Flight to Vienna on old 777 with very narrow seats in economy (10 abreast). Crew friendly and efficient. Dinner and drinks were poor but breakfast ok. Vienna senator lounge ugly but nice food and drinks, even hot breakfast! Vienna to Brussels, 737 from Lauda Air. Flight almost empty. Worn out interior but crew cheerful and great food and drinks - hot breakfast with eggs, tomato and ham! All in all a not too bad experience but Austrian should take better care of its senator card holders by at least giving them decent seats even if travelling in economy..

Austrian review - by A Hossain

13 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Just flown long haul with Austrian on their Boeing 777 aircraft. Very disappointed to see such a densely packed economy class cabin - 10 abreast seating rather than 9 abreast seating. I shall avoid flying Austrian on routes where they use the B777 aircraft.

Austrian review - by Vivian Blaxell

4 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

IST-VIE-MUC. Actually Tyrolean the whole way in economy. Surprisingly good, in comparison to the LH product on this route. Unsmiling but polite, hardworking FAs, who managed a meal service in the CRJ in moderate to bad turbulence over the alps. Food better than LH, wine worse. Turquoise seats, yellow antimacassars, sky blue touches, and that OS red, - but please OS, tone it down a bit. But the price, about 200 Euros less than LH makes up for the color madness, and of course there's always the porno shop at VIE to while away the hours in transit. Not at all bad Austrian.

Austrian review - by Nick Fortuna

22 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Moscow-Vie-GVA and return in Economy. Have Senator card, priority check- in without waiting. Departure and arrival on time on all sectors. A320 from Moscow to Vienna must have been refurbished and they squeezed an extra two rows in with tightening pitch to LCC levels. Food tasty. Showed Wild Hogs on drop down TVs. From Vie to Gva on CRJ-50. They managed a hot meal during such a short flight - a nice touch. Service mechanical and unsmiling. Gva to Vie on DH-8. Again, a hot meal was served. Had no idea they had full galleys on those noisy planes. Vie- Moscow on A321 with generous pitch. Especially chirpy crew with Do&Co catering - just like the old Lauda Air days. We used telephone check-in on all 4 sectors - a handy feature. OS has good frequency to Moscow and this year a decent airport at Domodedovo.

Austrian review - by Erich Koller

11 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Economy Class from Vilnius (VNO) via VIE to ZRH. Both legs were comfortable and the food for free was a real nice surprise. Cabin staff friendly and aircrafts, despite being rather old (F100 and D8) were clean and well maintained. Flights on both legs on time and smooth tranfer in VIE was granted.

Austrian review - by Mourad Chakroun

3 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Have been nicely surprised by the new Austrian Economy product for shorthaul flights. Last week I was off to Berlin. The flights were operated by Austrian Arrows F100 & F70 aircraft. Very comfortable. Outward we got a snack box consisting of a fruit salad and some ham and cheese. A hot croissant also served. Coffee, Tea and cold drinks followed. On the way back, dinner was a snack box of a ham salad and apple strudl. A warm bred was served. Free alcohol and soft drinks were available. This is a great improvement from the Buy on Board which was unpopular with those high prices in Economy.