Jan 17, 2008 08:06 PM
8292 Views
I had to travel to Germany this November(sorry, I am writing the review so late) and my first choice was NOT this airlines. Since I had to travel at very short notice, I did not have liberty to choose the airlines.
My route was Mumbai-Vienna-Koln
Austrian Airlines was one of the only two options available to me. Frankly I had no past experience of this airlines and hence I did not want to take this one. But I finally selected Austrian because they gave me confirmed ticket right at the time of booking. So far so good I said.I did not know that the best things were yet to come.
The luggage screening was very swift and the check-in counter looked empty. "Oh! nobody takes Austrian Airlines".I thought then.still not knowing how wrong I could be.
Check-in was fast even, probably fastest ever for me. I could select my seat preference(was flying Economy class) and the lady was ready to listen to me and offer my choice. I had selected'Indian Vegetarian' as food option.
The waiting at airport was same like in case of any other airlines(of course).
Boarding the plane was easy, cool and no rush or push.
The flight looked very neat & clean when I entered. The colour combination of seats in red and green looked a little too bright - but was ok. The in-flight crew was smiling and for some reason I thought that they really looked pleased(and not that usual artificial smile).
The seats was little disappointment, compared to other international airlines. The seats were cramped and the armrests were not at all comfortable. Good that each seat had individual screen and portable remote control. They were showing some english movies.
The staff served nice drinks and juices(by the way, they were serving water and juices throughout the flying time - which never happened on any other airlines before).
The food was EXCELLENT. Nicely presented, tasty, warm and nicely prepared. I really enjoyed it.
I could not sleep well and that was too bad -(remember I said that the seats were cramped). So you all can really believe me when I said that the cabin crew was serving drinks throughout the flying time.
The flight arrived almost 30minutes before time at Vienna, I think it was around 5:00am local time there. The Vienna airport was boring. Most of the shops were closed but fortunately a couple of coffee shops were open.
My connecting flight was Tyrolean Airlines - small jet. Nothing much to mention about that one.
Overall a nice and truly international experience on Austrian Airlines.
P.S. - I would like to know more experiences from all of you out there on this airlines - especially their service level in business class.
