Austrian Airlines

✅ Trip Verified | Will never consider Austrian again. Due to travel in August but had to push flights on due to Covid restrictions in Bangkok. I was told I could rebook next year as long as I travel before 31st July. What have they done? Doubled the price of flights until that date so in essence you pay again. In August the flights return to normal. Refund policy is taxes only. Absolutely no response from customer complaints. Atrocious way to treat your customers. I will be taking the tax refund and choosing an airline with integrity who value their customers.

✅ Trip Verified | Currently sitting at the departure gate at Vienna Airport, awaiting to catch a flight to Tirana, Albania. Original flight was due to depart at 22:40, which already is a late, tiring flight. To add to that, flight was abruptly delayed by 2 hours and a half and we only got a notification via e-mail. Then the flight was delayed by a further 15 minutes. Again, 0 explanation, only an e-mail which very conveniently for the airline, led to a chat-bot. Passengers are completely abandoned here, with no Austrian Airlines staff anywhere to be seen. I used to fly Austrian quite a lot back in the day, and they had a lot of charm and class. Now they have become an irresponsible, unhelpful, third-hand airline. I would avoid them and rather go for a low-cost airline at this point. You pay less and get similar, if not better, service.

Not Verified | You can get 150 ml of water for free. This is hidden in the menu. Otherwise prices are outrageous and should put any carrier to shame. Leg room is still better than on Ryanair.

✅ Trip Verified | Check-In 47 hrs in advance, but boarding pass only after check by Austrian of necessary documentation, in this case my Covid vaccination certificate, submitted on-line and boarding pass issued some 10 hrs before departure. Pleasant surprise of empty middle seat due to A319 instead of Embraer 195 as in the past. Arrival on-time and fast airport health check - again same vaccination certificate - due to seat in front of plane. No free food or drinks anymore, but not missed since for such short flights.

Not Verified | Delays due to technical issues can happen, but no info about what was going on. Just a never-ending stream of delays, shuffling people around in the plane. We have been sitting on the tarmac for 45 mins now, but nothing happens. Can't say the crew were rude or not, as there is no interaction with them. If you want to feel like the least important piece of cargo, this is the airline for you. Never again. Swim, crawl or stay at home.

✅ Trip Verified | Me and my husband lost our connection in Vienna because the first flight was delayed and since we couldn’t pass through customs, x ray and run to the gate in 10 minutes they said it was our fault. I really thought Austrian Airlines has a better service than the low cost companies. So, in the end is better to pay less and receive the same service.

✅ Trip Verified | Worst airline staff service ever. I was treated very rudely and told my mask did not meet their requirements (strange thing that flew 4 days earlier with the same airline to get to Tirana and nobody told me anything about the mask) and to stand aside and not board my flight. The supervisor was rude and was looking for every excuse to fight, no matter how nice you were. Thanks to someone who gave me a surgical mask I made it to the airplane to find out that the staff of the airline were wearing the same mask I had been not allowed to get in the fight in the first place. If you can don’t fly with them, the amount of money you spend and the service you get are not worth it.

✅ Trip Verified | Absolutely worst experience ever. Customer service is non-existent, cabin is overcrowded, bags under seats, food and drinks are low quality and overpriced, no free wifi or entertainment, etc. I tried to prepay excess luggage on the phone because it can not be done online, I was on hold for an hour, then I was told my CC was declined. I called my credit card company and they said not only were there no issues with my card, but they didn't even show an attempt to charge the card. I called the airline back, was on hold for another hour, and told them what my bank said. They denied that they made an error, or that their system was at fault, and again told me my card was declined. I called CC company, and again, they said there was no attempt to make a charge on their end. Instead of sitting at a cafe in Altstadt, we were on the phone at the hotel. However Austrian customer service said that "you will just have to pay at check in at a substantially higher rate." Lovely, thank you so much. The end result is that shipping my bags round trip cost more than the tickets at over €800.

✅ Trip Verified | Very rude staff. I was flying with my wife and daughter (3y old) on transit flight via Vienna. Departure was late (22:00). During the boarding I was told that my family wearing masks not high quality and we can not board. We need to wear FFP2 masks. Somehow I missed the information that we should get special masks. Late I have checked the website of the airline, and it was very difficult to find the information about masks - on mobile version of austrian airlines website (booking pages, language Russian). Anyway, in my mind, the mask should not be the problem as I was sure that I can purchase it easily. But in the shop such masks were out of stock and the airline were not selling it also. Thanks to the people who shared the masks with us. But the story not about masks, but the staff of Austrian Airlines, which was rude to us. The manager of the flight on any my words or question just shut me up and threatens to take me of the flight. It was almost impossible to understand what is wrong and how we can fix the situation. Even when we managed to get the masks (very thanks to kind people) the staff was still threatening to me, when I was explaining that the passengers' lives could be easier if they just sold these masks. But the response was: "give me your passport if you what to have any discussion you will miss your flight". I just had to bow and shut up. I assure you that I was not rude and spoke without any personal insults. During boarding, my wife was brought to tears (she stood aside) and the flight attendants very nicely handed her a napkin. I fly quite a lot and have faced many situations, so I'm okay with some airline mistakes. Flying is hard these days, and the work of airline personnel has also become harder, but we are still human beings, not cattle driven for loading. It is obvious to me that my situation could be resolved very simply and without the rudeness of the staff, but the airline manager simply was a little human, who had power over people. This is also called the "concierge" syndrome. I don’t think this is the policy of the airline, nevertheless, be careful when choosing your flights.

✅ Trip Verified | Austrian airlines is very good organized airline and their crew do the best to make us comfortable. They didn't serve water as others do but for short flights doesn't matter. Only I didn't like that they accept FFP2 mask and not other masks Lufthansa does.